THE GREEK CYPRIOT-PKK CONNECTION
* View by Ata ATUN
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Oct 29 2007
The Greek Cypriot-Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) connection exists
not only on a simple level and is not just a tiny connection to a
Cypriot passport numbered C015198, valid 1995-2005 and issued to
Kurdish terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan under the fake name Lazaros
Mavros. The latter actually is the founder of the Kurdish Solidarity
Committee (KSC) in Cyprus.
When Apo — the Kurdish terrorist leader Ocalan — was captured by
the Turkish counterterrorism team in Nairobi on Feb. 15, 1999 around
8:00 p.m., he was carrying a Greek Cypriot passport officially issued
by the Immigration Office of the Ministry of Interior of the Greek
Cypriot administration.
In Nairobi, he was accommodated in the residence of the Greek Embassy
and was looked after by Maj. Savvas Kalenderidis of the EIP, the
Greek intelligence agency.
Despite the Greek Cypriot side’s desperate denials of its role in this
passport issue, its link with the PKK in particular and international
terrorism in general has been proven with various reports, press
articles and other official documents.
Indeed, not only the Greek Cypriot officials but also other non and
semi-official figures and organizations have, at times been reported to
be supporting and morally and materially harboring the PKK and other
terror groups, such as the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of
Armenia (ASALA). The prevailing mentality has always been "the enemy
of my enemy is my friend." That has finally backfired, as seen in the
Kurdish violence against the Greeks in connection with the arrest of
Apo and his subsequent repatriation to Turkey.
The Greek Cypriot-PKK connection was first established by Dr. Vassos
Lyssarides, the honorary president of the socialist Greek Cypriot
party the Movement of Social Democrats (EDEK) and the former speaker
of the Greek Cypriot Parliament, right after the Turkish intervention
of 1974, with the motto "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
With the financial backing of the Greek Cypriot administration he
established terrorist camps in the Troodos Mountains of southern
Cyprus in 1976 for the accommodation and training of ASALA and PKK
terrorists to fight against Turkey.
Recently, the very same Dr. Vassos Lyssarides was sent to Damascus
on an inducement mission to stop the ferry service from Famagusta
to Lattakia, relying on his past cooperation with Syrian officials
in PKK business. During his discussion with the new generation of
Syrian officials, he was kindly turned down and showed out, when he
hinted to disclose the old files if the ferry service from Famagusta
to Lattakia was not banned.
He also acted as an advisor to the USSR during the Cold War era on
the very important subject titled "NATO and the Strategy of NATO
in the Eastern Mediterranean Region." During one of the "anti-NATO"
meetings held in Athens in 1976, he stated that "a medium similar to
the Vietcong’s in Vietnam, against [the] US is already organized in
Cyprus to wipe out the Turkish Cypriots from Cyprus."
During the mid-1970s Lyssarides, the journalist Lazaros Mavros — the
non-fictitious owner of Apo’s passport — and Theophilos Georghiades,
the notorious Greek Cypriot narcotics smuggler, jointly established
the KSC in Nicosia, the capital city of south Cyprus, with the aim
of supporting and harboring the PKK in the Greek sector of the island.
By the end of the 1970s, in more than 30 camps in south Cyprus Greek,
Greek Cypriot, Armenian and Kurdish terrorists, as well as terrorists
from various other countries were under the training of Cuban, Libyan
and Greek army officers.
Up until the present day no Greek Cypriot politician has ever labeled
the PKK a terrorist organization.
Even Mr. Yiannis Kasulides, the DISY presidential candidate who
promotes himself as a mild-mannered politician seeking a sustainable,
peaceful solution on the island, made various statements lending
official support to the PKK in their terrorist attacks against Turkish
civilians and troops during his days as minister of foreign affairs,
which clearly defined his perspective on Turkish Cypriots and the
Turkish people.
Even today, the funding provided by the Greek Cypriot Orthodox Church
to the PKK, the organizational activities of the KSC by non-Kurdish
Greek Cypriot members, the funding of the printed material supporting
PKK activities by the Greek Cypriot administration, the medical
treatment and rehabilitation of PKK terrorists in Cypriot hospitals
who were wounded during their attacks against Turks and official
permits to campaign for the collection of funds to benefit the PKK
in south Cyprus show and clearly prove the strong connection between
the Greek Cypriots, the Greek Cypriot administration and the PKK.
The Turkish Cypriots are being forced by the international community
to establish a joint state with the Greek Cypriots, who have harbored
hostile feelings against Turks for centuries.
Somebody probably has pink dreams of a joint state in Cyprus under a
unitary or a federal government umbrella, which in reality does not
have a chance at survival. Two neighboring states in Cyprus is the
inevitable and long-lasting solution for the island.