Sir, - I refer to Julia Langdon's Cyprus Letter (The Irish Times, August 6th), which I found deeply disturbing.
Although the issue of those who went missing in 1974 is certainly a serious humanitarian problem, I was shocked to see Ms Langdon off-handedly treat it as a uniquely Greek Cypriot tragedy.
Indeed, it seems to me the article was yet another example of the one-sided journalism that is fast becoming the Irish Times's trademark concerning most of its reporting on Cyprus or Turco-Greek relations.
Let us be fair and set the record straight: a roughly equal number of Turkish Cypriots disappeared during and following 1974. (This is not counting the thousands who were murdered by the Greek Cypriots and thrown into mass graves. The large-scale executions of Turkish Cypriots on the island in 1974 are thoroughly documented and Ms Langdon would do well to get acquainted with them.) I think they merit at the least equal mention with the missing Greek Cypriots.
Another important point Ms Langdon has chosen to omit from her article is that talks about the "missing of 1974" have been going on for quite some time between the two sides on the island, and Mr Denktas, President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, has always declared himself ready to discuss the issue of the missing with his Greek Cypriot counterpart, Mr Klerides, despite the breakdown of the UN-brokered peace talks on the island. - Yours, etc., Engin Asula, First Secretary,
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey, Dublin.