BY MAURICE WILLIAMS

Turkish troops and their supporters attacked an August 11 demonstration of Greek Cypriot motorcycle riders who were protesting the military occupation of northern Cyprus. One Greek Cypriot was beaten to death and 50 others injured in the melee that occurred along the 112-mile United Nations-patrolled demarcation zone that separates the Mediterranean island into Greek and Turkish Cypriot sectors.

Greek Cypriot president Galfcos Clerides condemned the killing as "yet another barbaric violation of human rights by the Turkish occupation forces." Ankara invaded Cyprus in 1974, occupying the northern third of the island.

The bikers protest began nine days earlier in Berlin and involved a delegation of 200 international cyclists who were traveling to meet 7,000 Greek Cypriot riders. The delegation included 10 bikers from 14 countries in Europe, 40 bikers from Greece, and a few from Canada and the United States. The demonstration originated in Berlin, organizers said, because that city was divided until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

When protesting bikers broke through the barbed wire barricades erected by UN troops they were besieged by volleys of rubber bullets and buckshot fired by Turkish forces. Members of a nationalist Turkish group, the Grey Wolves, joined in and beat demonstrators.

Tensions have simmered between Athens and Ankara over Cyprus as well as a territorial dispute involving mineral deposits in the Aegean Sea. On January 31, Greek and Turkish fleets came within minutes of opening fire on each other. More than 20 ships from both countries were deployed for war moves four miles off the Turkish coast. The Associated Press reported that both regimes have been upgrading their military forces in recent months.

The Greek and Turkish governments have been competing for oil pipeline deals with Moscow and other former Soviet republics.

At the same time, Turkey's prime minister Necmettin Erbakan met with Iranian leaders August 12 in Tehran and signed a $23 billion deal to import natural gas from Iran. The pact defies recent U.S. legislation that penalizes companies investing in the oil or gas industries of Iran or Libya. "Turkey will not permit any third country to interfere in the growing trend of cooperation between Turkey and Iran," Erbakan said in an interview with Turkish and Iranian reporters.

According to the Financial Times, Ankara "has been pressing Washington to relax the embargo on Iraq," which would allow Baghdad to "export 200,000 barrels a day to Turkey - half the country's oil needs."  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home