Killings of Greek Cypriots
When Turkey invaded Cyprus on 20 July and 14 August 1974 the Turkish invasion forces and the Turkish Cypriot militias which supported them murdered over 5,000 Greek Cypriots including civilian men, women and childern. Nothing was done to prevent these illegal killings taking place because they were part of a deliberate attempt to bring about the destruction of the Greek Cypriots.
In its judgement concerning Turkey's invasion in Cyprus and aftermath (20 JULY 1974 - 18 MAY 1976) the European Commission of Human Rights decided the following:
By 14 votes to 1 the Commission, after examining a number of killings at specific places, held that the evidence before it constituted "strong indications of killings committed on a substantial scale" (para.346). The Commission concluded: " In view of the very detailed material before it on other killings alleged by the applicant Government, the Commission, by fourteen votes against one, concludes from the whole evidence that killings happened on a larger scale than in Elia. There is nothing to show that any of these deprivations of life were justified... " (Report, p.165)
" The Commission has found violations of a number of Articles of the Convention. It notes that the acts violating the Convention were exclusively directed against members of one of the two communities in Cyprus, namely the Greek Cypriot community. The Commission concludes by eleven votes to three that Turkey has thus failed to secure the rights and freedoms set forth in these Articles without discrimination on the grounds of ethnic origin, race and religion as required by Art.14 of the Convention (Report, para. 503)
In its judgement concerning Turkey's invasion in Cyprus and aftermath (19 MAY 1976 - 10 FEBRUARY 1983) the European Commission of Human Rights decided the following:
"The Commission, by fourteen votes against one, considers that the evidence before it constitutes very strong indications of violations of Article 2 of the Convention by Turkey in a substantial number of cases. The Commission restricted the taking of evidence to a hearing of a limited number of representative witnesses and the Delegation, during the period fixed for the hearing of witnesses, heard eye-witnesses only concerning the incident of Elia. The evidence obtained for this incident establishes the killing of twelve civilians near Elia by Turkish soldiers commanded by an officer contrary to Article 2.
In view of the very detailed material before it on other killings alleged by the applicant Government, the Commission by fourteen votes against one, concludes from the whole evidence that killings happened on a larger scale that in Elia.
There is nothing to show that any of these deprivations of life were justified under paras. (1) or (2) of Article 2. "
"Having found violations of a number of Articles of the Convention, the Commission notes that the acts violating the Convention were exclusively directed against members of one of two communities in Cyprus, namely the Greek Cypriot community. It concludes by eleven votes to three that Turkey has thus failed to secure the rights and freedoms set forth in these Articles without discrimination on the grounds of ethnic origin, race, religion as required by Article 14 of the Convention. "
According to international law this continues a crime of genocide perpetrated by Turkey against the Greek Cypriots under Article 2 (a) of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, by "Killing members of the group".
