CyBC Petition [addendum]

The CyBC-related petition as mentioned by Apodimos Kypreos in the previous post) was sparked off by that proverbial straw that broke a camel's back - in this case a story that was presented by the state broadcaster over 3 weeks after over a dozen bloggers in Cyprus voiced their solidarity in support of Neşe Yaşın, the Turkish Cypriot poet and author, who has recently been harassed by extremists within the Turkish Cypriot community.

The evening news presented the story in its usual alarmist tone under the headline "Neşe Yaşın reveals to the CyBC how her life is threatened by the Talat regime. They call her a traitor and a whore". The anchor, Emilia Kenevezou also made a blanket claim that 'Talat regime' also exercises 'cultural terrorism'. At the same time, however, it becomes apparent that those who harass are supporters of Rauf Denktash and an assortment of nationalists and the media who support them.

The online petition, besides mentioning the state broadcaster's unacceptable twisting of facts towards the end also states as follows:

"We, the undersigned, strongly protest against the unbridled disinformation and propaganda as served up by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), while they claim to be "reliable and objective" in their presentation of the news. We hereby charge CyBC with willfully skewing reality when it comes to news concerning the Turkish Cypriot community, thus creating an atmosphere of mistrust within the Greek Cypriot community.

We feel that the state broadcaster merely bolsters opinions held by extremists who claim that we have nothing in common with the turkish cypriot community and that no good can come of any contact with the 'other' side. CyBC, along with other media which blindly support the establishment, maintain and reinforce a negative climate between the two communities on the island.

It is obvious that this unrelenting propaganda aims to maintain an atmosphere of animosity and rivalry, thus widen the rift between the two communities in order to convince people that they cannot live with each other..."