More than One Side To Turkish Invasion

To the Editor:

Andy Dabilis stated in his February 15 column (Letter from Athens: “Neverending Cyprus Problem Indeed Will Never End”) that the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 was unlawful and that this unlawful invasion was made possible only because there was no resistance to the invasion from the United States, the United Kingdom, or the international community.

Nowhere in his column does Mr. Dabilis mention that the Turkish justification for the invasion was due to the attempt by the Greek military dictatorship in Athens and a group of Cypriot followers of Nikos Sampson to overthrow Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus for the purpose of unlawfully unifying the independent island of Cyprus with Greece to the detriment of the Turkish minority living in Cyprus.

Without the unlawful attempt to overthrow Makarios and unify Cyprus with Greece, the Turks would not have had any provocation for their invasion of Cyprus to protect the Turkish minority.

Rather than blame the Turks for protecting the Turkish minority in Cyprus, Mr. Dabilis should be grateful for the fact that the unlawful attempt of the Greek junta to unify Cyprus with Greece led to the fall of the junta and the restoration freedom and democracy in Greece.

Peter G. Sokaris

Albany, NY

TNH Should Cover Exiled

Royal Family More Often

To the Editor:

Re: “Royal Retrospective” (editorial, Mar. 15).

The Royal Family managed to keep the Greek nation to the “right,” away from socialism and communism. After Constantine was voted out in 1974, seven years later the country voted in a socialist government and the rest is history…look where the nation is today. Unfortunate and sad for the Greek people who are suffering.

As a subscriber to your newspaper for many years, it would be nice to see more articles on the exiled Royal Family rather than having to go to YouTube or the Internet, but you said it all: the paper “does not have sympathy for the Royal Family – quite the contrary.” But they are still newsworthy to many.

George K. Lavas

Rockville Centre, NY