First it was graffiti found scrawled on walls all the way from the Ledra Street crossing to the Presidential Palace and then the theft of President Papadopolous’ body from his grave and finally the assassination of Andis Hadjicostis, the managing director of Sigma TV.
In every case, Turkish or Turkish Cypriot criminals quickly became suspects and the disruption of the Cyprus Talks the motive. In Cyprus Today (5/12/2009) the GC police were certain that the graffiti was the work of people “almost definitely from the north.” Then when it came to the theft of Papadopolous’ body, former GC foreign minister, Giorgos Lillikas, was quick to announce:
“The people who did this, on the anniversary of his death and the eve of the memorial service, wanted to send a message to Cypriot Hellenism – that they had eliminated the symbol which embodied the resistance of Cypriot Hellenism to catastrophic plans.”
Then we have a London Daily News editorial [1] pointing to Turkey as the source of the Sigma TV’s assassins and saying that “summary intelligence sources contacted by the London Daily News indicate that there has been a sustained and co-coordinated attempt by Turkey in Cyprus to mix things up.” Well, mixed up is certainly the right term to describe their conclusions.
The only problems is that the links between these events are confusing. The graffiti and the theft of the ex-President’s body might make sense as an attempt to scupper the talks but the assassination of the anti-settlement [1] MD of Sigma TV does not. Why kill someone who is going to use the media to persuade GCs to vote NO if there was a referendum?
If these events were linked then there may be an explanation much closer to home. In the case of the theft of the body, Cyprus Mail [2] is quoted as saying that in the initial investigation, “three young men serving in the National Guard were taken in for questioning by the cops but were subsequently released as they all had alibis.” Why on earth would the National Guard become involved? The Guardian’s coverage of the assassination added one small piece of information, missing in other accounts: “no shell casings were found at the scene.” A sign of professional assassins who knew that these casings would easily identify the weapon used and who had plenty of time to collect them. The plot thickens.
Sources
[1] The London Daily News
[2] Cyprus Mail
[3] Guardian
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