Ecevit: United Cyprus equals war
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit warned the European Union and United Nations yesterday that their policies on Cyprus could pitch the island back into the ethnic violence of the 1960s and 1970s. In stern comments to his party’s deputies in Parliament, Ecevit said international attempts to unite the island into a single state would only bring a return to fighting between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. If the wishes of certain foreign circles, the EU and the UN secretary-general are agreed to and Turkish Cypriots are forced to live alongside Greek Cypriots on the island, they will be confronted with worse than the genocide that was faced before the Turkish peace operation, Ecevit said. We will not be willing, we cannot be willing, to allow Turkish Cypriots to fall under Greek Cypriot domination. The details of any settlement are the subject of lengthy debate and Ecevit’s comments highlight to what extent the issue of the return of Greek Cypriot property in the north is a thorny one. They must know that if they persist on this issue they will take on a heavy responsibility, Ecevit said. If the two states are forcibly united, then the following day Greek Cypriots from the south will raid the north. They will invade the houses in the north – Turkish houses. [The Greek government yesterday rejected Turkish claims that Greek warplanes had violated Turkish air space on November 2.]
