Saturday, July 10, 2010

Cratos Premium: The new Sun City

For years Turkish propaganda has successfully painted Cyprus as an issue between two rival ethnic communities, Greeks and Turks, in an attempt to legitimize the ongoing Turkish military occupation of the island’s northern territory. By twisting history and religion, Turkey has been able to mislead millions into believing that the issue at hand in Cyprus is between two feuding ethnicities, rather than about an illegal military occupation that causes all Cypriots to suffer. Cyprus is less of an ethnic conflict and more about two religious communities divided by imperialism and the colonization.

In Turkey’s continued campaign to separate Christian and Muslim Cypriots into ‘Greek’ and ‘Turkish’, the Turkish government has allowed the Turkish company BOZGROUP to build the largest tourist resort on the island in its illegally occupied territory. The BOZGROUP has invested over $220 million into the Cratos Premium Hotel-Casino-Port-Spa in the occupied city of Kyrenia, in hopes of luring unsuspecting tourists to the self pro-claimed ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ to party the night away on the graves of innocent women and children. What is the ‘TRNC’ one may ask, well its nothing more then a code name for the Turkish Military used in order to masked Turkey’s military occupation and paint it into a peace mission protecting the ‘Turkish Cypriot’ community. The majority of which are Turkish settlers brought to the island after the 1974 illegal invasion, in hopes of changing the ethnic makeup of the island.

Which brings us back to the issue at hand. The Cratos Premium tourist resort and the recent controversial cancelation of Jennifer Lopez, who was scheduled to perform at a concert celebrating the opening of the resort, as well as the 36 anniversary of the Turkish invasion of the island. Lopez’s cancelation came as a result of an online campaign initiated by the Cyprus Action Network of America, CANA, which was supported by AHEPA and thousands of individuals on facebook that wrote the celebrity. In an official statement, Ms. Lopez claimed she ‘would never knowingly support any state, country, institution or regime that was associated with any form of human rights abuse’. J.Lo’s appearance was to be used to bring ‘legitimacy’ to the illegal entity in the North, which proclaims itself independent from the internationally recognized government in the South.

The question now is whether other celebrities, like Sean Paul who is scheduled to perform in the Occupied Zone in August, will follow in J.Lo’s footsteps and boycott Cratos Premium, Cyprus’ own ‘Sun City’. Some of you reading may remember Sun City, the luxury casino and resort in South Africa, which was boycotted in 1980s by Artists United Against Apartheid. With musicians today boycotting shows in Israel over human rights abuses against Palestinians, as well as boycotts against performing in Arizona over a new immigration law, it is not too farfetched to imagine a similar boycott against Cratos Premium in order to bring attention to Occupied Cyprus and perhaps finally see the removal of Turkish troops and settlers from the birthplace of the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite.

Friday, July 9, 2010

ANC Australia, AUA Australia, AHC (NSW) release joint statement

SYDNEY: At the invitation of the Australian Hellenic Council (AHC NSW), the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) and the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) held a three-way conference in Sydney to discuss genocide awareness in Australia.

The conference, which was held to address the significant shared concerns of the three public affairs organisations, brought about an atmosphere of cooperation on issues of human rights, genocide recognition and freedom of speech.

Executive Director Mr. Varant Meguerditchian, who led the ANC Australia delegation at the three-way meeting, stated that with the AUA and the AHC, ANC Australia had begun a process to build a coalition in opposition to genocide and its subsequent denial.

He said: "ANC Australia, the AHC and the AUA as representatives of those Australian communities who were subjected to genocide in the early part of the 20th century have a moral obligation to raise genocide awareness in the political and public spheres.

"By combining the collective will of the Armenian-Australian, Assyrian-Australian and Australian Hellenic communities we are presenting a united front in opposition to genocide denial in Australia."

AHC NSW Secretary Dr. Panayiotis Diamadis added: "Raising public awareness shall serve as the building block to recognition and condemnation of the first genocides of the 20th century."

The Armenian-Australian, Australian Hellenic and Assyrian-Australian communities represent a sizable portion of the Australian voting public. They see recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the Hellenic Genocide and the Assyrian Genocide as an issue of fundamental importance.

Mr. Hermiz Shahen, AUA Regional Secretary for Australia and New Zealand, stated that "our commitment to genocide awareness was all about influencing Australian government policy to bring an end to the cycle of genocide".

Based on the shared concerns of their respective communities, ANC Australia, AHC and AUA have released the following joint statement, outlining their agreement to focus on genocide recognition:

Whereby, Australia is signatory to the UN Genocide Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and has demonstrated leadership on international human rights issues; whereby, the people of Australia provided food, clothing and shelter to victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide, the Hellenic Genocide and the Assyrian Genocide as part of an international humanitarian relief effort known as the Near East Relief; and whereby, throughout World War One, Australian servicemen witnessed the systematic annihilation of the Armenian, Hellenic and Assyrian peoples in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 - 1922; ANC Australia, the AHC and the AUA commit to their moral responsibility to seek recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Hellenic Genocide and Assyrian Genocide by the Federal Government of Australia as a measure aimed at preventing similar crimes against humanity from ever occurring again.

Copyright (C) 2008 ANC of Australia. All Rights Reserved. Newsletter by KayWeb Systems

__________________________________

Want to make a (tax deductible) difference?
Visit www.missionarmenia.com today and click on 'Make a donation'!
__________________________________

Dr Armen Gakavian
16 Acacia St
Eastwood NSW 2122
Australia
Email: armen.gakavian@gmail.com
URL: http://www.realchange.nareg.com.au
____________________________________________________________________
The opinions expressed are those of the author(s)and not necessarily those of HEC.
Hellenic Electronic Center (HEC) www.greece.org

Thursday, July 8, 2010

EXCLUSIVE: Jennifer Lopez Out of Controversial Turkish-Occupied Concert.

For Immediate Release: July 8, 2010
Contact: Nikolaos Taneris, New York, Tel (917) 699-9935

NEW YORK- The Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA) Press Officer Nikolaos
Taneris after direct consultation with American celebrity news sourcce TMZ.com
managed to finally get a statement from a rep of Jennifer Lopez, she repeats the
concerns raised by our grass-roots campaign on human rights, the statement says
" "Jennifer Lopez would never knowingly support any state, country, institution
or regime that was associated with any form of human rights abuse." TMZ also
reveals she was misguided by Turkey and its allies it says she 'withdraws'
"claiming she never would have agreed to perform had she known the "relevant
circumstances"

TMZ EXCLUSIVE FOLLOWS:
Online and On TV

**Please feel free to use the story below with proper link and credit**

http://www.tmz.com/2010/07/08/jennifer-lopez-jlo-northern-cyprus-greece-turkey-concert-show-outrage/
Jennifer Lopez Out of Controversial N. Cyprus Concert
50 minutes ago by TMZ Staff

Jennifer Lopez has officially "withdrawn" from a concert in a European territory
currently under military occupation -- claiming she never would have agreed to
perform had she known the "relevant circumstances" surrounding the intense
political situation.

Lopez was scheduled to perform in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus ... an area
that neither the United Nations nor the European Union recognize as an
independent sovereign state ... because of the way it was illegally occupied by
the Turkish military in 1974.

In fact, multiple Greek and Cypriot politicians expressed anger after reports
surfaced claiming Lopez had agreed to perform at a swanky hotel in Northern
Cyprus on July 24.

But a rep for Lopez tells TMZ, "Jennifer Lopez would never knowingly support any
state, country, institution or regime that was associated with any form of human
rights abuse."

The rep added, "After a full review of the relevant circumstances in Cyprus, it
was the decision of management to withdraw from the appearance. This was a team
decision that reflects our sensitivity to the political realities of the
region."



Tune in to TMZ on TV weekdays Monday through Friday (check http://www.tmz.com/tmztv/
for syndicated/local listings)


####

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-------------------------------------------

ΑΙΜΑΤΗΡΗ ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ - BLOODY TRUTH (Download the Greek and English PDF book) Learn
the Truth about the Turkish terrorist organizations Volgan and TMT and the
Turkish Bizonal Bicommunal Federation plan. Volunteer for our information tables
to distribute the book.

http://cyprusactionnetwork.org/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/BLOODY_TRUTH__The_Book.266130049.pdf

--------------------------------------------------------------

####

========================
Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA)
2578 Broadway #132
New York, NY 10025
New York: Tel. 917-699-9935
Email: cana@cyprusactionnetwork.org
www.cyprusactionnetwork.org
========================

The Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA) is a grass-roots, not-for-profit
movement created to support genuine self-determination and human rights for the
people of Cyprus .

To be added to CANA's Action Alert e-mail distribution list, or to introduce
CANA to a friend or colleague, please forward the pertinent name and e-mail
address, with the subject heading "Add e-mail to CANA distribution list", to
cana@cyprusactionnetwork.org

You are encouraged to forward this action alert to five or more individuals who
may have an interest in our e-distributions or in CANA’s mission.

You may post any CANA article, press release or action alert on the internet as
long as you credit CANA and the author(s).

GRASS-ROOTS POWER: AVALANCHE AGAINST JENNIFER LOPEZ PERFORMING IN OCCUPIED CYPRUS

For Immediate Release: July 8, 2010

Contact: Nikolaos Taneris, New York, Tel. (917) 699-9935

NEW YORK—Following the initiative taken up by Cyprus Action Network of America
CANA on June 30, 2010 to respectfully protest American celebrity Jennifer
Lopez’s illegal visit to Turkish-occupied Cyprus, thousands of Greek-Cypriots
in the homeland and the diaspora answered the call by bombarding multimedia with
the truth and media began to listen. Beginning with a report by Helena Smith of
the GUARDIAN UK on July 5 th, an avalanche of international news reports have
been issued citing the illegal Turkish invasion and illegal Turkish-occupation
of Cyprus in regards claims of Lopez’s illegal visit to Turkish-Occupied Cyprus.
We also have gained the support of Greek-Cypriot advocacy groups in Cyprus and
around the world, below follows extensive links documenting all our successful
efforts to send out a cry for help worldwide for justice for CYRPUS. Moreover
the call for justice was made by two Greek-Cypriot Refugee women, Mrs. Fanoulla
Argyrou who wrote the letter “Dr. Ms Jennifer Lopez, 800 Greek-Cypriot women
were raped by Turks in 1974…” which has been translated following massive
demand in Greek and Spanish and circulated in three languages was quoted by the
Guardian and international media syndication, and Refugee mother and President
of CYPRUS' MOVEMENT OF REFUGEES & DISPLACED MOTHERS Markella Isaia-Chakka's
letter to Jennifer Lopez has made such an impact that it was also translated in
French. The campaign starts to permeate in the French-speaking world, as the
Agence France-Presse has syndicated the story, and it has also been reported by
the largest French TV network TF1.
http://lci.tf1.fr/people/2010-07/jlo-cree-un-incident-diplomatique-a-chypre-5918233.html

1) The following lists links to international news on our campaign from UK,
America, CANADA, Europe, Africa, Israel, and Asia:
UNITED KINGDOM

Guardian UK:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/05/jennifer-lopez-northern-cyprus-gig

Telegraph UK:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/7873956/Jennifer-Lopez-urged-to-cancel-Cyprus-concert.html

Independent UK:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/anger-as-jennifer-lopez-set-to-rock-north-cyprus-2020327.html

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)

AHN All Headline News
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7019201615

ABC World News:
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=11106809

The Hollywood Reporter:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/music/news/e3ifb9f290da772a7b4eedd4821d38db1d5

Improper Magazine
http://www.theimproper.com/?p=9570

CANADA:

The Toronto Sun:
http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/celebrities/2010/07/06/14621171.html

AUSTRALIA:

The Sydney Morning Herald:
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/people/jlos-birthday-trip-turns--political-20100706-zysr.html

ASIA

The Malaysian Insider:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/showbiz/article/anger-as-jennifer-lopez-set-to-rock-north-cyprus/

Asian News International/DailyIndia.com:
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/384651.php

SOUTH AFRICA

Eyewitness New Africa
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=43521

EUROPE:

Network TF1 France
http://lci.tf1.fr/people/2010-07/jlo-cree-un-incident-diplomatique-a-chypre-5918233.html

France 24 France
http://www.france24.com/en/20100706-anger-jennifer-lopez-set-rock-north-cyprus

Interia Poland

http://muzyka.interia.pl/pop/news/jennifer-lopez-i-wojna-o-cypr,1502672

Rambler media group: Russia
http://www.lenta.ru/news/2010/07/06/lopez/

Holland The Netherlands: Bruno.nl
http://www.bruno.nl/nieuws/5464/jennifer-lopez-schokt-griekse-cyprioten.html


ISRAEL:

Ynet in Israel, look for mention of Cyprus Action Network of America, written
backwards the Hebrew way, in English:
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3915836,00.html


SITES, BLOGS, NEWSPAPERS IN CYPRUS, GREECE AND GREEK CYPRIOT DIASPORA
Numerous news sites and literally hundreds of websites and blogs followed the
story of the protest against Lopez’s illegal visit including Digital Spy,
OneIndia, Yahoo News, Philippine Daily Inquirer, ContactMusic.com (UK), USA News
Week (USA), and award winning journalist Tony Phyrillas’s blogs the Talking
Politics with Tony Phyrillas and Reading AHEPA. As well as Greek-American news
site the Hollywood Greek Reporter, and major Greek newspapers and news services
in Greece and Cyprus such as daily newspaper Simerini and Eleftherotypia in
Athens as well Voice of America based out of Washington DC and The National
Herald in New York and the London newspapers Eleftheria and Ta Nea.
Simerini

http://www.sigmalive.com/simerini/news/local/282274http://www.sigmalive.com/simerini/world/epikairotita/283454
http://www.sigmalive.com/simerini/columns/antistaseis/282784


Eleftherotypia:
http://www.enet.gr/?i=issue.el.home&date=06/07/2010&s=to-anagnwstiko-ths-teleytaias-selidas


Kypriako Pontiki
www.pontiki.com.cy

Ta Nea London
www.greeknews-tanea.com


Eleftheria London
www.eleftheria.co.uk

Voice of America:
http://www1.voanews.com/greek/news/turkey/Jennifer-Lopez-Cyprus-Turkey-07-06-2010-97900079.html

Hollywood Greek Reporter:
http://hollywood.greekreporter.com/2010/07/04/jennifer-lopezs-decision-to-celebrate-birthday-in-occupied-cyprus-creates-political-turmoil/

Tony Phyrillas

http://talkingpoliticswithtonyphyrillas.blogspot.com/2010/07/stop-jennifer-lopez-from-visiting.html
http://williampenn61.blogspot.com/2010/07/stop-jennifer-lopez-from-visiting.html

SUPPORT FROM CYPRUS DISPLACED MOTHERS AND REFUGEES:

Mrs. Markella Isaia-Chakka President of CYPRUS' MOVEMENT OF REFUGEES & DISPLACED
MOTHERS has sent the following letter to Jennifer Lopez. The original letter
is in the PDF link and Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA) has permission to
distribute through our activists, please distribute widely

http://cyprusactionnetwork.org/cyprus_mothers

The French Translation is made available on the website of Agora Dialogue links
follows below:
À L’ATTENTION DE: Madame Jennifer Lynn Lopez

http://agora-dialogue.com/?p=8663

GRASS-ROOTS POWER: THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS AND FRIENDS

Despite the millions spent on high profile public relations specialists and
media agents to bring the American star Jennifer Lopez by Turkey in order to
falsely “legitimize” the crimes against our people and the theft of our
homeland, it was our grass-roots, our ordinary people who turned it on them and
instead the entire world was reminded of the truth. The truth that Turkey is
guilty of crimes against humanity that include the illegal-invasion and ongoing
illegal-occupation of our people, our heritage, our culture. This is a power
that comes from the beating heart of our ordinary people. We cannot, of course,
ignore the world around us, nor fail to think clearly about how best to tackle
the challenges ahead. We owe that to ourselves and to future generations. The
bottom line is this: Stay active, speak out, stand strong.
Many thanks to our friends and supporters on the tough road to the final
victory—worldwide recognition of the Turkish crimes perpetrated against the
Greek-Cypriot people and full restoration and full restitution. In other words:
Justice.

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING GROUPS, ASSOCIATIONS AND SITES:

THE MOVEMENT FOR FREEDOM AND JUSTICE IN CYPRUS, CYPRUS' MOVEMENT OF REFUGEES &
DISPLACED MOTHERS ,ADOULITI KIRENIA, EFYLAKAS,TO KYPRIAKO PONTIKI newspaper in
Cyprus www.pontiki.com.cy, American Hellenic Council AHC, HELLENIC ELECTRONIC
CENTER (HEC), AMERICAN HELLENIC EDUCATIONAL PROGRESSIVE ASSOCIATION AHEPA,
METOPO CYPRIOT STUDENTS MOVEMENT UK, THE NATIONAL HERALD ETHNIKOS KIRIX, NEOS
KOSMOS newspaper AUSTRALIA, daily newspaper Simerini in Cyprus, award winning
Greek-American journalist Tony Phyrillas, Hollywood Greek Reporter news site ,
www.agora-dialogue.com , http://hellenicvanguard.blogspot.com/,
www.parisstylianides.com and many websites and blogs in Greece and Cyprus and
around the world, the Cyprus IndyMedia Collective, http://CyprusIndyMedia.org
along with all the other groups above that are endorsing this campaign.
IndyMedia is an independent, grassroots global organization with branches all
over the world; the Cyprus local is 100% in support of this campaign.

And Most especially the Facebook group with 17,0000 members and climbing
“AGAINST JENNIFER LOPEZ PERFORMING IN OCCUPIED CYPRUS”

http://www.facebook.com/pages/AGAINST-JENNIFER-LOPEZ-PERFORMING-IN-OCCUPIED-CYPRUS/129154837124167

--------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
ΑΙΜΑΤΗΡΗ ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ - BLOODY TRUTH (Download the Greek and English PDF book) Learn
the Truth about the Turkish terrorist organizations Volgan and TMT and the
Turkish Bizonal Bicommunal Federation plan. Volunteer for our information tables
to distribute the book.
http://cyprusactionnetwork.org/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/BLOODY_TRUTH__The_Book.266130049.pdf--------------------------------------------------------------
####
========================
Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA)
2578 Broadway #132
New York, NY 10025
New York: Tel. 917-699-9935
Email: cana@cyprusactionnetwork.org
www.cyprusactionnetwork.org
========================
The Cyprus Action Network of America (CANA) is a grass-roots, not-for-profit
movement created to support genuine self-determination and human rights for the
people of Cyprus .

To be added to CANA's Action Alert e-mail distribution list, or to introduce
CANA to a friend or colleague, please forward the pertinent name and e-mail
address, with the subject heading "Add e-mail to CANA distribution list", to
cana@cyprusactionnetwork.org

You are encouraged to forward this action alert to five or more individuals who
may have an interest in our e-distributions or in CANA’s mission.

You may post any CANA article, press release or action alert on the internet as
long as you credit CANA and the author(s).