Date: 13.10.2005
Eupro Responds to London Greek Cypriot High Commissioner’s Flawed Correspondence From: Keith Lloyd Eupro, the London-based North Cyprus lobby group, which represents the interests of hundreds its members, most of which are property owners in the TRNC, has received a copy of a letter emanating from the Greek Cypriot High Commissioner in London. The letter is being sent to UK based companies that have shown interest in trading with the TRNC. Eupro has now received complaints from several recipients - including the organizers of the forthcoming Property Investors Exhibition to be held at the ExCel Center in London’s Docklands. This raises the concern that there are many more of these letters that have contributed to the continued isolation of Turkish Cypriot businesses. Eupro Chairperson Ian Betts reports that the letter “… is a palpable travesty of misinformation, and is a flagrant breach of the High Commissioner’s diplomatic status.” “The Greek Cypriot response to the recent landmark TfL decision is to attempt to shelter behind The High Commissioner’s diplomatic immunity. To counter this, Eupro has lodged an official complaint with both the British Foreign Office and the British High Commission in Lefkosa.” Ian Betts told Property North Cyprus. He went on to say, “We would expect that at the very least, the Greek Cypriot High Commissioner would be told to desist from this undiplomatic behaviour and make a clear retraction of his letter; if he fails to do either of the stated aims, the British Government should ask for his immediate removal. This is a clear and further indication that Eupro still has a great deal of work to undertake, however, we are concerned that the Greek Cypriot administration will be free to continue their campaign without hindrance, unless the Government of the TRNC, and local business provides us with a much higher level of support than has been the case to so far. Some support has been pledged by the business community, but to date only a few enlightened companies have fulfilled their promise. Eupro needs to create serious financial funds so as to allow us to access the services of a top quality professional PR / lobbying group, to be retained in London, as well as allowing Eupro to continue pursuing numerous legal issues through the extremely able services of its London based legal advisers, Addleshawe Goddard, who were the lynch-pin of the recent successful TfL case which saw the ban on North Cyprus holiday advertising on London’s famous red buses lifted.” To date, Eupro have received a favourable response to their recent complaint against The Guardian and south Cyprus journalist Helena Smith for their biased reporting in favour of Greek Cypriot legal actions against TRNC property owners, and await the paper’s reaction to the Press Complaints Commissions recommendations. At this moment Eupro report that it would be precipitate to anticipate that reaction, but they will publicise the outcome as soon as they have some firm news. -ENDS- 500 words – picture of HC letter by separate files. © RAKL 2005. All rights reserved.