To whom it may concern,
We are contacting you regarding your live concert taking place in the occupied by Turkish forces, northern part of the Republic of Cyprus. By performing in an illegal entity, a result of the brutal Turkish military invasion, you are in practice giving your support to the illegal use of force, contrary to the UN charter and many Security Council resolutions specifically condemning the so called “TRNC”. In addition, your actions ignore the extensive and on-going violations of human rights which occur from the day Turkey invaded Cyprus, a country which is a full member of the European Union since 2004. The pseudo-state that you promote, the so called “TRNC”, is recognized only by Turkey and represents nothing more but four decades of pain and suffering of the 200,000 refugees, the families of the 1619 missing persons and the descendants of the thousands of brutally murdered soldiers and civilians.
UN Resolution 550 (1984), “Reaffirms the call upon all States not to recognize the purported state of the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” set up by secessionist acts and calls upon them not to facilitate or in any way assist this the aforesaid secessionist entity.” The Council of Europe, responding to Cyprus΄ Interstate Applications, has found Turkey, through the relevant reports of the European Commission of Human Rights, responsible for serious violations of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, in the part of Cyprus occupied by Turkey (Cyprus v. Turkey, Joint Apps. 6789/74 and 6950/75, 26 May 1975; Cyprus v. Turkey, App. 8007/77, 10 July 1978). In addition, the European Court of Human Rights in its decision regarding the Fourth Interstate Application by the Cyprus Government against Turkey, (Cyprus v. Turkey, App.25781/94, Judgment of 10 May 2001), finds Turkey guilty of gross violations of human rights in Cyprus and in continuing violation of a number of articles of the ECHR (Articles 3, 8, 9, 10, 13 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol 1 to the Convention). Furthermore, in the landmark case of Titina Loizidou, a Greek-Cypriot refugee from Kyrenia, the European Court of Human Rights held that the denial to the applicant of access to her home in the occupied by Turkey territories of Cyprus and the loss of control of her property was imputable to Turkey and its subordinate local administration. The Court ruled that Loizidou remains the legal owner of her property in Kyrenia, and that Turkey is in violation of the European Convention not allowing her to access her property (Loizidou v. Turkey, (Merits), Case no. 40/1993/435/514, Judgment of 18 December 1996).
We understand that you might have been unaware of the situation in Cyprus until now. We do realize that it is unrealistic to expect everyone in the world to know about the injustice taking place in our island over the past 41 years. But we do request that you give adequate thought to our complaint, and consider whether you ought to excuse such an injustice by participating in the concert.
Thank you in advance for your co-operation and understanding.
Yours sincerely,
Spyros Demosthenous,
on behalf of Metopo Cypriot Student Movement UK
