"NO country is immune from racism,'' UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said this week in connection with the Anti-Racism Conference being staged in South Africa. He praised the work of the international criminal tribunals dealing with the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda as good examples of UN work against intercultural hatred. "With recent convictions for genocide, rape, war crimes and crimes against humanity, we are seeing important steps for accountability and against impunity,'' he said. Unfortunately, in the case of Cyprus, Turkey continues to enjoy impunity despite its conviction by the European Court of Human Rights for its continuing war crimes and violation of international law. In addition, the UN Commission on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination earlier this month branded the enforced partition of Cyprus and the resulting apartheid as a violation of the relevant International Convention. It called for an end of the Turkish occupation so that "all human rights and freedoms will be enjoyed by all Cypriots, irrespective of their ethnic origin...in particular the right of freedom of movement and residence, and to own property throughout Cyprus.'' The people of Cyprus are grateful to Annan for his prolonged efforts for a Cyprus settlement. The people cannot but wonder, however, when the UN Secretary-General will finally put his foot down, or bang his fist on the table, or whatever, to let Rauf Denktash and his Ankara patrons understand, once and for all, that the impunity they have been enjoying for their crimes in Cyprus has been tolerated long enough. Let him make it clear to Denktash, at least in this latest attempt to get the reunification talks going again, that his demands for the legalisation of the enforced partition and his apartheid policy can never, ever, be accepted, and shouldn't even be on the table. The United States and Turkey's other friends may have their reasons for tolerating Turkey's impunity, but Annan, as the UN Secretary-General cannot ever even be suspected of thinking the same way.
