TURKEY - May 10 - Court Of Human Rights Hits Ankara.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg delivers a strong rebuke to Ankara, finding it guilty of widespread human rights abuses arising from its 1974 invasion of northern Cyprus. (The case was brought by the government of Cyprus, which argued that the 27-year Turkish occupation of the north of the island had trampled on almost every article in the European Human Rights Convention). The court says in a judgment passed by 16 to 1 that Ankara violated 14 articles of the convention, including the right to life, the right to liberty and security, the right to freedom of thought and the right to freedom of expression. Ankara refused to attend the hearing when it opened in 2000, arguing that the Turkish Cypriot state was an independent entity. But only Ankara has recognised it as such, and the court said Turkey should be held accountable for the actions of the northern Cypriot administration, adding that it "survived by virtue of Turkish military and other support". (The Turks invaded Cyprus after a brief, failed Greek Cypriot coup engineered by the military then ruling Greece. Ankara has always denied accusations of rights violations). The court upheld charges that 170,000 Greek Cypriot refugees living in the south of the island and banned from returning to their homes in the north were deprived of rights to property, compensation and a family life.