The head of the Pancyprian Association of 1974 Prisoners of War has told parliament that a politician helped people who were not prisoners of war get onto the list for an honorary allowance of 2,000 euros a year.
Vasos Christou was speaking to the House Refugees Committee, which was examining an Auditor General’s report on allowances.
Two people had come to the association and said they had been helped by parties to get on the list without being entitled to, Christou said. He said they held certificates only as enclaved persons, because they had been enclaved, but had no prisoner-of-war certificate, which is needed for the allowance. “A politician approached them and told them: I will help you. And he helped them,” he said. They were not on any register, yet they were included, he added.
The certificate was submitted to Social Insurance at a later stage, Christou said.
Democratic Party (DIKO) parliament member Zacharias Koulias intervened to say that in 1974 some people were arrested by the Turks and asked whether they wanted to stay in their villages or move to the free areas. They may therefore not have been entered in the Red Cross register of prisoners of war, he said.
Christou replied that the Red Cross asked people from the occupied areas whether they wanted to stay in their villages or move to the free areas, and registered them. He insisted that some people held by the Turks at various places while they were enclaved had presented prisoner-of-war certificates without having been prisoners of war, and were now receiving the honorary allowance.
At Koulias’s request, the session was then closed to journalists so that the names of those involved could be submitted.
