Cypriot Students Teach Minister Bağış a Lesson

The Initiative of Students from Northern Cyprus protested the statement of Minister for European Affairs Egemen Bağış that "Northern Cyprus could be connected to Turkey". The group of Northern Cypriot students who are studying in Turkey's capital Ankara issued a press release in protest of Chief Negotiator and Minister Bağış.

The students gathered on the centrally located Yüksel Avenue at six o'clock on Saturday evening (10 March). They walked towards Sakarya Avenue and carried banners featuring the slogans "Turkey, Greece and England, take your hands off and withdraw your language from Cyprus" and "Remember your place, Bağış, the sovereignty of Cyprus is held by the Cypriots".

Suphi Toprak read out the press release on behalf of the Initiative of Cypriot Students. Toprak announced that they were going to continue their struggle until Cyprus was free of all colonialists.

The student declared, "All dark forces of Turkey and rulers of the island have to know that Cypriot Turks will keep clear of these games. The co-ordinated struggle to be given by Cypriot Turks and Cypriot Greeks will lead to the cleaning of the island from all the imperialist forces, all occupants, from the armies of Turkey and Greece and from the UK bases".

At the end of the press release, the students shouted slogans like "We are not a servant, we are a colony", "Occupant Turkey, get out of Cyprus" and "Long live the brotherhood of Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian peoples",

Cypriot student Celal Özkızan said in an interview with bianet that Bağış's words were expressing the policies continued by the NATO member Turkey. "Cyprus is a colony of Turkey. We want Cyprus to be independent. Yet, we want this independence to be based on anti-imperialism and the brotherhood of the peoples", Özkızan said. (SK/HK)