Chapter 5 - Evidence obtained

Introduction

60.       Commission was faced with special difficulties in its investigation which are described in Chapter 6 below.

61.       The Commission's Delegation, in its provisional programme [41], considered that investigations should be carried out in such parts of Cyprus as might be necessary with a view to:

-         finding out the best way of obtaining relevant evidence concerning the alleged violations, and

-         hearing witnesses and visiting localities which might be useful for this purpose.

The Delegation therefore proposed to interview first a number of community leaders, e.g. mayors of localities in which violations of the Convention were alleged to have taken place, and to that effect:

-         to invite the applicant Government to indicate a limited number of such persons and the alleged violations with which they were concerned, and

-         subsequently to invite the respondent Government to propose relevant witnesses concerning the same allegations.

On the basis of the information so obtained the Delegation intended to fix the programme for its further proceedings.

62.       At the Delegation's meeting on 19 June 1975 the applicant Government submitted a list of community leaders and other representative witnesses who, in the Government's view, could testify on the alleged violations in view of their capacity; the Government also made certain proposals as to localities to be visited by the Delegation.

63.       During its visit to Cyprus from 2 to 6 September 1975 the Delegation heard 14 of the 29 witnesses proposed by the applicant Government. It also heard three further witnesses, who were refugees from the Kyrenia area, and members of the Delegation interviewed eleven refugees in refugee camps.

64.       The respondent Government, although invited to do so, did not propose any witnesses or file other evidence [42].

65.       The Commission's establishment of the facts in the present Report is based on submissions made and evidence received up to 18 May 1976 [43].

I. Witnesses and persons interviewed

1.         Witnesses

66.       During its visit to Cyprus the Delegation heard the following witnesses [44] who had been proposed by the applicant Government in view of their capacity:

Mrs. S. Soulioti	Chairman of the Cyprus Red Cross Society, Nicosia
Mr. P. Stylianou	Chairman of the Pancyprian Committee of Enclaved Persons, Nicosia
Mr. A. Pirkettis	Member of the Pancyprian Association of Prisoners Expatriated and Detained in Turkey, Nicosia
Mr. P. Hadjiloizou	Inspector of Police in charge of investigations regarding complaints of Turkish atrocities, Athalassa Nicosia
Dr. X. Charalambides	Physician, former Deputy Mayor of Kyrenia, Nicosia
Mr. A. Odysseos	Barrister-at-Law, former Chairman of the School Committee of Morphou, Nicosia
Dr. Hadjikakou	M.P., physician of Famagusta, now Larnaca
Mr. M. Savvides	M.P., President of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nicosia
Mr. A. Andronikou	Director-General of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation Nicosia
Mr. L. Tryfon	Chairman of the Cyprus Land and Property Owners Association, Nicosia
Mr. A. Anastasiou	Director-General of the Ministry of the Interior and Defence, Nicosia
Mr. G. Iacovou	Director of the Special Service for the Care and Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons, Nicosia
Mr. J. Kaniklides	Barrister-at-Law, Larnaca, formerly Famagusta
Mr. A. Azinas	Commissioner of Co-operative Development, Nicosia.

67.       The Delegation also heard as witnesses the following refugees from the Kyrenia area:

Mrs. M. Kyprianou, Nicosia; formerly Elia

Mr. V. Efthymiou, Nicosia, formerly Karavas

Mrs. S. Efthymiou, Nicosia, formerly Karavas.

68.       All the above witnesses, with the exception of Mrs. Kyprianou, gave their testimony in English. A full verbatim record of the hearing of these witnesses has been produced as a separate document [45].

2.         Persons interviewed

69.       Members of the Commission's Delegation, through interpreters, interviewed eleven refugees in the camps at the orphanage school of Nicosia and at Stavros on 5 September 1975. The interviews are recorded in a separate document [46].

II. Other evidence

1.         Inspection of localities

70.       Members of the Delegation visited in Nicosia:

-         the demarcation ("green line") separating the area controlled by the applicant Government from the north of the city;

-         the refugee camps mentioned in para. 66 above.

2.         Films

71.       On 4 September 1975 the Delegation saw a set of short news films compiled and presented by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation, the subjects and sources of which were [47]:

Subject	Source
Press conference of girls who alleged that they were raped (Date of filming - 25.8.1974)	CBC
Arrival of released prisoners of war brought from Adana (Date of filming - 27.10.197)	CBC
Interviews with three released P.O.W.s speaking of how they were treated. One described how P.O.W.s were killed	CBC
Interviews with people from Davlos and other villages of north-east Cyprus who alleged that they were expelled from their homes in June 1975	CDC
Interviews with woman from Kyrenia on her experiences (Date of filming - end of July 1974)	CBC
Arrival of people who had been interned in Gypsou, Voni and Vitsadha (Date of filming - November 1974)	CBC
Interview with wounded P.O.W. (He describes how he escaped death in mass execution and how he was later recaptured.)	CBC
Arrival of released P.O.W.s, relatives waiting	CBC
People enclaved in Turkish-held villages	RAI & VISNEWS

3.         Reports statements and other documents

a)         Reports of other international bodies

72.       The Commission has taken note of various reports on the events in Cyprus in 1971 and 1975 by the Secretary General of the United Nations and the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe which were publicly available [48].

b)         Statements

73.       Numerous statements by individuals were submitted by the applicant Government as evidence of the violations of the Convention alleged in the present applications. The names of the authors o these statements were omitted "for security reasons" but the Government offered to indicate them should the Commission so require, and three authors of such statements [49] have in fact been heard as witnesses by the Delegation.

c)         Other  documents

74.       Further documents have been received from:

-         the applicant Government in support of their submissions, and

-         witnesses giving evidence before the Delegation [50].

75.       Mr. Orek and the Turkish Information Office also gave the Delegates collections of reports and other publications on events in, and aspects of the administration of, Cyprus since 1963. These were received by the Principal Delegate who explained to the donors that they could not form pert of the Commission's case-file unless they were submitted by the respondent Government and shown to be relevant to the present applications [51].