I would like to comment on the your use of the words "Turkish Cyprus" in the article at http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3220711,00.html and ask that you consider using the more accurate phrase of "Turkish occupied Cyprus" As stated in the article, "During the time the Israelis were incarcerated Israeli officials were unable to visit the two, as Israel does not maintain diplomatic relations with Turkish Cyprus. " This is because Cyprus is under occupation, and your article give the reader the impression that "Turkish Cyprus" is an independent country that you do not have diplomatic relations with. The truth of the matter as you are well aware, is that it is a country that is under Turkish occupation since 1974. I hope you can change future references to the Area of Northern Cyprus to clarify, and more accurately inform reader that it is still under military occupation by Turkey. Tony

agree with previous comment please can you refrain from using the term turkish cyprus in any further articles. this is an occupied area of cyprus with no international law and diplomatic proceedure

It is ridiculous to suggest that Israeli embassy officials could not deal with the Turkish Cypriot authorities because they have no diplomatic relations with Northern Cyprus. The courts, police, and other authorities in the North are dealing with foreign embassies every day.

Tony is wrong. Northern Cyprus is not under occupation. Cyprus has been divided since 1963when Greek Cypriot forces attacked Turkish Cypriots throughout the island, forcing them into defensive enclaves. In 1974, Turkey intervened to stop the annexation of Cyprus to Greece and to protect Turkish Cypriots from further massacres. They will remain until Turkish Cypriots no longer feel threatend by the Greek Cypriots. Turkish Cypriots voted for the UN Plan which would have re-united the island in 2004. Greek Cypriots voted against.

recognation of a country is not necessary to being as a state in international law. an independent political authoritiy and a permanent community lives in restricted territory are enough to being a state. all the world and also aliens can not recognize officialliy northern cyprus, but there is a republic, more democratic then greece and greek cyprits.

Jimmy The fact that I and others are unable to occupy our homes, the area is patrolled by 30-40,000 Turkish troops would suggest that the Island is under occupation. Without wanting to make this discusion political, these two reasons alone are enough for the majority of Cypriots rejecting the Annan Plan.

What is so unfortunate for the great people of Turkey, is that Turkish media/historians are very careful how they rewrite history. Laws are in place till this day that can put you behind bars for hurting "Turkish Identity". The recent Orhan Pamuk case proves this. Several writers sit in Turkish prisons till this day because this law has been applied to them. Unfortunately for them, they are not famous like Orhan Pamuk. What the world knows as the truth in Cyprus, and what the Turkish People have been taught are two very different things. Only Turkey recognizes the regime in Northern Cyprus! The rest of the world does not. The supreme court in southern Cyprus recently returned a home to a Turk that lost it during the war. That's democracy and taking the high road. Greek Cypriots are only permited to "visit" occupied Northern Cyprus for 24 hours. Now that says it all. You will not see this happening in Northern Cyprus until the day comes that there is a vote that will determine if Tukey is to enter the EU.

I dont think Tony or Joe really understand (or want to understand) what has happened in Cyprus. The loss of property and other rights by Greek Cypriots was caused by their merciless attack on the Tukish Cypriots in 1963. The British Prime Minister (Sir Alec Douglas-Home) said that if they could not treat the Turkish Cypriots as human beings they were inviting the partition of the island. That is why Turkish troops are there. Turkish Cypriots had to abandon their homes in the South, and they still cannot get them back if they live in the North. It is the Greek Cypriot (not the Turkish Cypriot) government which prevents Greek Cypriots staying overnight in the North. The whole world (except the Greek Cypriots) thought that the Annan Plan was a fair and reasonable deal. If Greek Cypriots had accepted it most of them would have their property back by now and the rest would be compensated. Turkish troops would have started to withdraw. PS there are more Greek troops and settlers in the south than Turkish troops and settlers in the North.

With the Armenians, The Kurds,and the Greeks, Turkish history is out of touch with the actual accounts. What neighbor has good relations with Turkey? Great strides are happening in Turkey, but the peoples perceptions of all of the above groups are so out of touch with reality. I have spent several months in Turkey this past year, and have this information first hand. I love Turkey, but I have found that they are the masters at rewriting history. I traveled with a Turkish friend to Athens recently and he was blown away. He was in shock. He had been taught that everyone was impoverished, a very backward country. He found the total opposite. He now questions the history he was taught. Smyrna/Izmir? The expulsions of over a million Greeks? Never mentioned. Please!!!! The reason that there are more Greeks in Cyprus is just that, there are and always have been more Greeks in Cyprus! All the churches that are now mosques in the north is a total disrespect for others history and religion. In fact, all of What is now Turkey/Anatolia was occupied by the turks which came from north of persia centuries ago. It is in their blood. It is what it is!

I agree with Don. Has Joe never heard of the Greek massacres of Turks in Crete? Does he not know of the mosques destroyed by Greek Cypriots in S Cyprus, and of the churches eg in Kyrenia, Bellapais, and St Barnabas preserved by the Tukish Cypriots in the North even though not needed for worship. It is simply not true that there have always been more Greeks than Turks in Cyprus. Cyprus is only 50 miles from Turkey. However, the Greek Cypriots have allowed massive immigration of Greeks since 1963. Take off you blinkers Joe. You Greek Cypriots are all the same. You see only what you want to see, and that is why you have made such a mess of Cyprus. Everyone is to blame but you.

Alice, sorry but i happen to be Cuban, i am not Greek or Cypriot. What is so interesting is that you nor Don have addressed my previous emails about censorship in Turkey. Sorry, but I choose to side with the rest of the world on the Cyprus issue. I have been through most of western anatolia and it is filled with Greek history and ruins, but no Greeks. Whatever happened to them? Long before the Turks were in what is now Turkey, Cyprus was filled with Greeks. Crete is part of Greece. Except for the 400 years of ottoman occupation. Even Turkish history books agree on this!

I agree with Alice. This conversation is about Cyprus. Joe is talking nonsense about Cyprus so he tries to divert it to Turkey. The whole world agrees that the Annan Plan was a fair deal, and the Greek Cypriots ought to accept it. I dont know much more about Turkey than Joe appears to, but I do know that Turkey was raped by the Allied Powers after WWI , and that Attaturk was right to throw them all out, including the Greeks. And Joe, what about the massacre and expulsion of Turkish people from Greece, and the persecution of the Turkish people of Northern Greece. So far as censorhip is concerned, has Joe not noticed that Pamuk has been released by the Turkish courts.

Liz: Read #7. I do acknowledge that Pamuk has been released. I mention that several other Turkish writers aren't as famous as Pamuk and still sit. in jail. As far as massacres of Turks in Greece, they were an occupying force. They were there for 400 years! Greeks have the right to defend themselves. So its ok to expulse Greeks from Izmir but Greeks cannot expulse Turks from Greece? The difference is that those Greeks were expulsed from what had been greek for centuries, the turks were expulsed from an area that was never Turkish only occupied by Turkey. Have you been to Efes (Ephesus)? The majority of tourists that go to Turkey to look at old history and ruins are mostly looking at Greek/Roman history. It is what it is.