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NICOSIA, October 24, -- Cyprus on Tuesday
described as "shocking" a report by a US-based group
that said some Greek Cypriots who were captured by
Turkish forces in 1974 were used as guinea pigs in
biochemical laboratories.
"The government is taking very seriously into
consideration the shocking content of the American
report on our missing persons, but is not in a
position to verify it," Foreign Minister George
Lillikas was quoted as saying by the
English-language Cyprus Mail.
"It is a human tragedy with many families of the
missing persons involved, who suffer a lot more when
such reports are published," Lillikas said, adding
that he would pursue meetings with the report's
authors once the full text had been viewed.
According to UN figures, an estimated 1,500 Greek
Cypriots and 500 Turkish Cypriots have been reported
missing following inter-communal clashes in 1963-64
and the Turkish invasion of 1974 which led to the
division of the eastern Mediterranean island.
Published in September by the International
Strategic Studies Association, a Virginia-based
non-profit defense and strategic policy group, the
report analyzed the "growing confrontation" between
Turkey and separatist Kurdish PKK fighters.
The section on Cyprus cited unnamed "references"
which "have not been confirmed or verified," and
alleged that the experiments took place as many as
10 years after the Turkish invasion of the island.
"There were many references... that during 1984-1988
many missing Greek-Cypriots and Greek soldiers
captured during the Turkish invasion in Cyprus in
1974 ended in the secret biochemical laboratories of
the Turkish army and were used as guinea pigs."
The report "was done by a number of staffers based
on field research largely from within Turkey," the
group's director, Greg Copley, told AFP by phone
from Alexandria, Virginia.
In addition to field reports, the "references"
mentioned were "based on books and newspaper
articles written at the time, articles in Western
media and Greek media, also accounts given by Kurds
who were in the same facility," he said.
"We have been hearing a lot of material from a lot
of sources. When we couldn't get documentary reports
we had to go with what people were reporting,
firsthand knowledge of these facilities."
By going forward with publication, "we thought it
might shake something up," he said.
Copley added that he had "already met with Cypriot
government officials and more meetings are being
discussed."
Cyprus has been partitioned since 1974, when Turkish
troops occupied the north in response to an
Athens-backed Greek Cypriot coup seeking union with
Greece.
The breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,
declared in 1983, is recognized only by Ankara.
The island's division remains a diplomatic headache
for the European Union, which Cyprus joined in 2004
despite the lack of a reunification deal, and a
major stumbling block for Turkey's bid to join the
bloc.
AFP
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