Missing Presumed Alive: Prisoners used as guinea pigs

Fair Use/Public Domain, 1994'Shocking reports that missing were used as guinea pigs by Turkey'By Jean ChristouAN AMERICAN defence and strategic policy report saying some of the 1974 missing Greek Cypriots ended up as guinea pigs in Turkish biochemical experiments was described as "shocking" yesterday by Foreign Minister George Lillikas.Commenting on the report in the subscriber bulletin "Defence and Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy", which hit the headlines at the weekend, Lillikas said the government is expecting a full report on the claims.According to the American article, which examines "the growing confrontation" between Turkey and the Kurds, between 1984 and 1988 many missing Greek Cypriots and Greek soldiers captured during the invasion ended up in secret Turkish biochemical laboratories. Here there were used as guinea pigs, the article said. However it added that the allegations were unconfirmed.It said that Theophilos Geogiades, the Greek Cypriot civil servant and chairman of the Cyprus Committee for Solidarity with Kurdistan, was murdered by the Turkish secret service MIT in March 1994 because of what he knew about the experiments.Georgiades was gunned down outside his house only a week after he had attended an international conference held in Brussels where he had revealed data on Turkey's methods for the suppression of the Kurdish problem, according to the report.It also suggested that he knew about the experiments on the captured Greek and Greek Cypriots."His accusations brought a substantial reaction in Turkey," said the report. "And after he returned to Cyprus he was killed in the yard of his house by gunshots fired by unknown people. It was rumoured he had information about missing Greek Cypriots and he was in contact with PKK Kurds who had managed to escape from a secret biochemical laboratory of the Turkish army outside of Ankara and which operated under the supervision of the Gulhane Military Medical Academy," said the article."These Kurds had witnessed the conducting of biochemical experiments on Greeks and Greek Cypriot captives."Speaking at the House Finance Committee yesterday, Lillikas said the government is expecting to receive the report and will take steps to verify the content."It is a human tragedy with many families of the missing persons involved, who suffer a lot more when such reports are published. Therefore we have to be very careful before we announce our positions," he said.Government spokesman Christodoulos Pashardis said the report was being taken seriously but it could not yet be verified.He said government officials would be requesting a meeting with the report's author as soon as the full text was received."The government is taking very seriously into consideration the shocking content of the American report on our missing persons, but is not in a position to verify it," he said."The government will investigate the content of this report very seriously and responsibly, but has no evidence so far to confirm that it stands."The Defence and Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy is a periodical that is exclusively circulated to senior government, defence, intelligence and industry officials in more than 170 countries worldwide. It is affiliated to the Washington-based International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA). ISSA took over publication of the Defense & Foreign Affairs publishing in 1998 and which provides strategic information and analysis to governments worldwide. It also incorporates the Global Information System (GIS), an encrypted on-line intelligence service for governments.Cyprus Mail 24 October 2006Please sign the petition http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Joa...

Channel: News & Politics
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: djagamemnon

Length: 01:00
Rating: 4.36
Views: 3242

Tags: Biological  Chemical  Crimes  Cypriot  Cyprus  Guinea  Kurdish  Kurds  Missing  Persons  pigs  Turkey  Turkish  Turks  War  Weapons  

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