In response to:
A New Turn in Turkey from the February 27, 1986 issue
To the Editors:
Both Ms. Laber and the Helsinki Watch Committee are to be commended for their fearless and ongoing monitor of human rights in Turkey [NYR, February 27].
What was inexplicably omitted from Ms. Laber’s article (and ignored by the American press as well) is the whereabouts of eight Cypriot-Americans kidnapped by Turkish troops during their invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
The names and ages (as of 1974) of these “other” hostages are as follows:
Jack Sofokleous, 67
Sokratis G. Kapsouri, 76
John Gerolemou, 67
Chris Sava Lipertou, 76
Andrew Zevlaris, 68
Kyriakos Leontiou, 74
Chris Mias, 65
Andrew M. Kasapis, 17
These people were not political activists of any kind, but rather simple victims of circumstance.
Their fate should concern Ms. Laber and the Helsinki Watch Committee no less than other innocents incarcerated in Turkish jails.
Joshua D. Kreindler
Editor, Journal of the American Institute for the Study of Middle Eastern Civilization,
Kew Gardens, New York
