Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in support of Motion M-239 tabled on May 1 by the hon. member for Saint-Denis. In her motion, the hon. member is asking that the government "support all measures leading to the demilitarization of the Republic of Cyprus in such a way as to enhance prospects for a peaceful and lasting resolution of the dispute regarding Cyprus".
I commend my colleague for this initiative. It was with her and other parliamentarians that I travelled to that country in January 1995. This visit has been an unforgettable experience for me. Unfortunately, we were able to visit only the southern part of the island, that is the Greek part under the control of President Glafcos Clerides, whose government has been recognized by the international community. We could nevertheless see, in the distance, the ghost city of Famagusta, a city now abandoned that played a major role in the history of Cyprus.
Cyprus combines oriental and occidental values. A small island 240 kilometres long by 100 kilometres wide, with a total area of 9,251 square kilometres, lying in the eastern Mediterranean Basin, Cyprus has a history that goes back more than 3,000 years. Unfortunately, this country has sustained the effects of the antagonism between the Greeks and the Turks dating back to the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
Cyprus was also marked by 82 years of British occupation. Indeed, Cyprus was a British colony from 1878 to August 1960, when it achieved independence. At that time, 81 per cent of the 574,000 residents of the islands were Greek speaking and 18 per cent were Turkish speaking. In Parliament in Nicosia, 35 seats were allocated to Greek speaking Cypriots as compared to 15 to their Turkish speaking fellow citizens, or a 70 to 30 ratio.
Within just a few years, an interethnic spark of violence degenerated into a bloody conflict affecting the whole island. The Turkish Cypriots decided to create a separate government they called PTCA, which stands for Provisional Turkish Cypriot Administration.
In 1964, UN peacekeepers, including a Canadian contingent, took over from the British troops. That year, Greece dispatched approximately 5,000 troops to Cyprus while Turkey built its military strength up to 10,000 on the island. That is how the green line, or neutral zone between the Turkish and Greek neighbourhoods of Nicosia, came to be.
From 1964 to 1974, Cyprus experienced a relatively calm period and had a great president in the person of Archbishop Makarios, who governed well and was a leader of the group of non aligned countries. I had the honour of meeting him in Chile, during a visit in that country. In 1974, the dictatorship of the colonels in Greece organized a coup in Cyprus. Ankara took advantage of the situation and sent 7,000 troops, who occupied one third of the island.
We must look for a negotiated settlement in Cyprus. In his May 1994 report to the security council, the UN secretary general stated that the security council was facing an already familiar scenario, namely the absence of an agreement essentially because of a lack of political will on the Turkish Cypriot side.
In my opinion, we must first end the occupation of the island by about 40,000 Turkish troops. The UN secretary general also identifies Cyprus as one of the most militarized zones in the world, in terms of its soldiers and civilians. In November 1993, the secretary general said that the security council found unacceptable the status quo in Cyprus, which was established and maintained through the use of force.
Part of the solution lies in the proposal made by the President of Cyprus, Glafcos Clerides, to completely demilitarize the island. The proposal was submitted to the UN in December 1993 and reaffirmed on many occasions since. It involves the dismantling of the Cypriot national guard and the surrender of all military weapons and equipment to a UN peacekeeping force.
I support Motion M-239 to demilitarize Cyprus. I am very touched by the support of Dr. Oscar Arias, the former President of Costa Rica, who is leading an extraordinary campaign to end armament. Costa Rica is already a demilitarized country, as is Panama and, more recently, Haiti. I support the demilitarization of these three countries. The money thus saved could be used to promote the island's economic and social development.
The UN peacekeeping force must continue to play a lead role in this peace process. This demilitarization proposal has already been supported by the U.S. House of Representatives and the European, Australian and New Zealand parliaments, as well as the Commonwealth heads of government at their 1995 meeting in New Zealand. It is now the turn of this House of Commons to support this initiative, which will, I believe, lead to peace and stability for this island.
I thank the Cypriot community of Canada, particularly those in Quebec, for constantly keeping the problem of Cyprus before us, and for bringing legitimate pressure to bear so that a solution may be found to this problem as soon as possible.
Being a member of the Commonwealth like Cyprus, Canada ought to play a more significant role in peace keeping and in finding a solution to the Cyprus problem. This problem has gone unresolved for far too long. I urge the Canadian government to step up its efforts in this area.
On the one hand, I find it deplorable that Canada pulled its peacekeepers out of Cyprus in 1992, after 29 years of presence on the island. The presence of the UN peacekeeping force is indispensable as an aid to negotiation and political settlement of the Cypriot question.
On the other hand, the mediation overtures begun by former Prime Minister Joe Clark, representing Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, have unfortunately not led to the anticipated results.
I also find it deplorable that Canada is represented by only an honourary consul in Cyprus. The situation there, and the size of the Cypriot community here in Canada, justify the presence of a full time career consul general.
I hope that the Republic of Cyprus, as my colleague has said, will be able to join the European community in the near future. This will help solve the problem.
Greek and Turkish Cypriots have lived peaceably together for four centuries. The 1974 crisis left more than 3,500 dead, 3,000 of
those Greek Cypriots. As well there are another 1,619 missing, whose fate is as yet unknown.
During my visit, I was made aware of this tragedy of the thousands of missing persons, when I spoke of having become familiar with the same phenomenon of the disappeared in Chile, Argentina and a number of other countries. The disappeared represent a very serious problem today. I might mention as well that, in Cyprus alone, there are also more than 200,000 displaced persons.
Cyprus, a country I came to love very much during my visit, has played a great role in the past. Since 1974, however, its people remain separated, because no solution has been acceptable to both the Greek community in the south and the Turkish community in the north.
I also saw that the area we visited is experiencing a very strong economic upturn, and the standard of living is very high. Thousands of tourists every year visit the island. I would like to see every part of Cyprus benefit from prosperity and a still higher standard of living.