Car horns honked, Greek music blared and SIUC students stood waving Cyprus flags and banners in hand as the Cypriot and Hellenic Student Association held its second annual rally to protest Turkish occupation in Cyprus.

Around 30 SIUC students participated in the rally that lasted two hours at the crossing of South University Avenue and Mill Street.

Nicholas Argotis, representative of the organization, said one of the demands of the group is for the U.S. government to pressure Turkey to withdraw their troops from Cyprus.

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The main purpose is to inform the public of our situation and demands, he said. U.S. citizens are not familiar with our country, location or political situation.

Argotis said 37 percent of Cyprus, an island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, is occupied by Turkish troops, which includes a portion of the capital city of Nicosia.

We are going to continue holding rallies like this, he said. Carbondale has such an international community that our message goes across to other countries as well.

Scott Tarry, an assistant professor in political science, said there are too many issues at home and abroad for the United States to become actively involved in the Cyprus issue.

I’m not trivializing the claims of Cyprus. I’m just looking at it from an American foreign policy perspective, Tarry said. It’s not how things should be, just how they are.

Tarry said the Cyprus issue is one of long-standing ethnic conflicts, and the U.S. does not do anything about these conflicts unless they flare up into violence.

Even though Cyprus is thousands of miles away, Turks and Cypriots are forced to come together every day on campus.

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Argotis said he knows most of the Turkish students on campus but does not know what their views on the issue are.

I think in the hearts of everyone there is conflict, Argotis said. We are not going to go into confrontation.

Harrys Tsiartas, a member of the Cypriot organization, said he knows many Turkish students but is not friends with any of them.

They have proved through history that they can’t be our friends, Tsiartas said. We can’t trust them.

But Berk Berkmen, president of the Turkish Student Association, said the real problem is the fact that the University is not the place for what he calls the Cypriot’s political propaganda.

The Cypriot organization gets so many letters from advisers telling them to stop, Berkmen said. We never wanted to make this campus the forum for political propaganda.

Noyan Dede, vice president of the Turkish Student Association, said the two sides have never been in agreement on the issue.

I can understand they (Cypriots) have griefs and points to get across, Dede said. But we have points to get across as well. Berkmen said both he and Dede would like to see a conference of some type to bring to the two sides together.