The driver of the lorry involved in an accident in the north last November that caused the death of three people, was jailed for six years and eight months, daily Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibris reported on Thursday.

The driver, Safa Gungor, was also banned from driving a vehicle for 10 years.

He faced some 16 charges including manslaughter and reckless driving.

The families of the victims broke into tears as the verdict was read by the judge who said society was not satisfied by the sentence, adding that penalties should have been stiffer for such offenses.

The accident took place on the Kythrea to Kyrenia road in the early hours of November 29, when the lorry couldn’t manage the bend and crushed into a school service bus, killing two pupils, İlayda Ozturk, 17, and Sude Demirkiran, 12, and the bus driver Denktas Mutluel.

The accident also resulted in six pupils and the wife of the bus driver being seriously injured. Following the accident, mass protests were staged in the north to demand the resignation of the administration.

The accident also sparked discussions with regards to the responsibilities of the companies that force personnel into working long hours and some allowing the workers to drive heavy vehicles without proper permits.

In this particular case, the ‘court’ revealed that Gungor had completed 16 working hours before the accident took place.

Through his spokesman, Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said on Thursday that he disapproves of moves restricting Greek Cypriots’ right to worship in the north.

Akinci’s spokesman Baris Burcu said in a written statement the Turkish Cypriot leader disagreed with the decision by the ‘government’ in the north to deny a request for Greek Cypriots to hold the Good Friday service at Ayios Georgios Exorinos in Famagusta.

As a result, the matter has become politicised, allowing “certain quarters on the Greek Cypriot side to take advantage of it,” Burcu added.

On a practical level, the denial was also bad for business, as a number of Turkish Cypriot merchants were counting on the church service to cater to visiting Greek Cypriot worshippers.

According to Burcu, Akinci told the ‘governing parties’ in the Turkish Cypriot ‘parliament’ that he thought the decision was wrong.

Holding a service at the Ayios Georgios Exorinos church, which was reinstated only in 2015 after 58 years, was recently denied by authorities in the north.

It appears the move is a casualty of a new policy in the north last year limiting Orthodox services and introducing permits for such events. The reasoning was that there were too many services taking place and they could not all be adequately policed.

Commenting on this earlier in the week, President Nicos Anastasiades said he raised the matter with Akinci during their latest meeting.

Akinci replied that it was a “government” decision, not his.

A number of Turkish Cypriot civil society organisations have condemned the move, saying it harmed rapprochement between the two communities.

Street signs are being renamed with stickers in the north of Nicosia, by Turkish Cypriot left-wing activists, it emerged on Friday.

The group Dayanisma (Solidarity), posted on their Facebook page a video showing a group of activists placing large stickers over street signs in areas of Nicosia.

The action was done in solidarity with the Greek Cypriot movement ‘Left Movement – We Want Federation’, which carried out the same action on the Greek Cypriot side a week ago, targeting streets in Aglandjia and Kaimakli.

“We will replace the invasion and the drums of war with equality and peace – The struggle begins in the streets,” the Turkish Cypriot movement said.

One of the street signs was given the name of the Greek Cypriot left-wing activist and educator Kostis Achniotis, who recently died due to health problems. Achniotis was the initiator of the Cypriot alt-left and a supporter of the bi-communal struggles for peace and the reunification of the island.

They also renamed one street “Greek Cypriot Missing Street”, in solidarity with one of the street names renamed by the Greek Cypriot movement to ‘Turkish Cypriot Missing Street’.

Video link:
https://www.facebook.com/dayanismanet/videos/vb.1704663623146232/1906746996271226/?type=2&theater

Some 200 policemen in the north were being investigated in connection with potential links to Fetullah Gulen, a US-based Turkish cleric believed to be behind last year’s attempted coup in the neighbouring country, daily Kibris reported on Friday.

During the investigation, which began two weeks ago, police personnel were asked questions such as where they were on the night of July 15, 2016, whom they had visited abroad in the past, and whether they knew who provided financial support to the organisation.

According to the report, among those investigated was an intelligence officer in the Turkish Cypriot security forces and a high-ranking police officer.

Suspects are being called to testify in front of a committee composed of two police officers and a high-ranking military officer.

The paper said not only officers from Turkey were being investigated but also Turkish Cypriots.

It is believed that up until now 50 police officers had been questioned but no charges were brought against any of them.

The investigation caused great concern amongst the police officers with some reportedly questioning why they were being investigated when the only relation they had with Feto, the “Fetullah terrorist organisation”, was being familiar with its name.

The news on the investigation was broken on Thursday noon by a web-based portal, which informed its readers that they will be writing about the “Feto investigation”.

Later in the day a police statement confirmed the investigation.

It is rumoured that the investigation in question will also spread to business circles in the north on the allegations that some businessmen financially supported Gulen’s movement.

The alleged crackdown on Feto in Turkey was intensified following the attempted coup on July 15 last year. Gulen, who is in self-exile in the US categorically denied the allegations.

In January this year, nine colonels serving in the north were arrested after an investigation linked them to the alleged terror organisation.

The final vote tally from those who voted in the Turkish referendum in the north was 43.39% ‘yes’ and 56.61% ‘no’, reports said early Monday.

Less than half of Turkish citizens living in the north cast their vote during a five-day ballot for the referendum on constitutional amendments in Turkey earlier in the month.

According to Turkish Cypriot media reports, 43,480 people out of the 104,507 registered voters voted on whether they agreed Turkey should have an executive presidency which would boost the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The vote, which was held in the north between April 5 and 9, with a voting turnout of 41.6per cent.

Despite the low numbers, media in the north quoted officials as saying it was a larger proportion compared to previous polls concerning Turkey. The daily Kibris reported that the last time polls were set up in the north for Turkish nationals, around 35,000 people had voted.

Votes from the north and from other countries were transferred to Turkey and counted on Sunday after Turkish citizens in Turkey voted.

THE foreign ministry on Tuesday denied Turkish Cypriot reports that authorities had deported a group of Serbian children who arrived on the island through Larnaca airport on their way to take part in a cultural event in the north.

According to the ministry, the children’s guardians changed their minds after “it was explained to them that such a thing would constitute a violation of the UN resolutions”. It added however that the group was granted permission to enter the country.

“The children and their chaperones, voluntarily, chose not to go to the occupied areas, and departed from Cyprus,” the announcement said.

It added that a similar incident occurred recently with a group of children from Russia, who cancelled their attendance at an event in the north but stayed in the south of the island.

Serbian news portal B92 reported that 13 children – members of the folklore ensemble KUD Izvor – had arrived home early Tuesday after being stranded at Larnaca airport since Sunday evening.

The portal quoted Serbian embassy official Dejan Bivolarevic saying that the children were supposed to be guests of a cultural-artistic society in the north and that Cypriot authorities did not allow them to cross.

Izvor’s director, Dejan Tosic, told the news portal that the group was to perform in a festival in Kyrenia, but that when they showed their passports and invitation letters at Larnaca airport much of the group passed without any problem until a customs officer “started creating problems, and we were all sent back”.

A Serbian foreign ministry official urged groups planning similar trips abroad to inform the ministry, “because our diplomatic network would certainly have indicated, in a timely manner, the problems that could arise”.  EU citizens are allowed to come and go from the north without restrictions.

A 37-year-old woman was stabbed to death in the north on Thursday afternoon just outside Nicosia.

Reports said Gamze Pehlivan was stabbed multiple times with a sharp implement and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

The 35-year-old man suspected of stabbing Pehlivan was arrested in Nicosia a couple of hours later.

It was the second stabbing death of a woman in the north in three days.

Yeniduzen newspaper said 31 women had been murdered in the north in the past 16 years.

On Tuesday, 25-year-old Burcu Okumus was stabbed to death by her husband, 45, in Famagusta. The couple were from Turkey.

Forced to buy expensive airport food and water, given no shelter

A SERBIAN lawyer and human rights activist who lives permanently in Cyprus has contradicted the foreign ministry’s version of events relating to the handling of a Serbian children’s dance troupe on Tuesday, saying the authorities deported its members and did not provide suitable care to its underage performers.

“Authorities at Larnaca airport detained the members of the KUD Izvor folklore ensemble, did not provide them essential care, such as food, water and shelter for 24 hours, and applied “an identical process to that used in extradition cases,” Liliana Tatic said in an interview.

The 17 members of the ensemble, comprised of Dejan Tosic, head of the group, three adult chaperones, and 13 children, arrived on Monday, April 17, at 3.10 am from Belgrade and were denied entry into Cyprus, Tatic said.

“The reason? Because they were going to travel to the occupied area of Cyprus to perform in a Turkish Cypriot organised festival devoted to the Children of the World,” she said.

Upon arrival, they all had to hand over their passports to Cypriot authorities. The ensemble had to remain in the airport’s arrivals area where they had to pay extortionate prices to buy food and water.

Liliana Tatic

“If parents in Cyprus treated their child so, they would face prosecution for cruelty and neglect,” Tatic added.

Tosic had to pay €97 to buy sandwiches for the group and had to also buy water for them.

According to the official account given by the foreign ministry on Tuesday, and by permanent secretary Alexandros Zenon the following day, the members of the group had not been denied entry to or deported from Cyprus.

Instead, they were merely advised that crossing over to the north would violate United Nations resolutions, and that no consular assistance would be available to them while there.

Zenon said that the group decided to depart for Serbia after they were informed of the risks.

“(The) explanations of the Cypriot foreign ministry appear to be flawed and untrue,” Tatic said, adding that Cypriot authorities issued a “refusal of entry at the border” form.

The form issued by authorities for Milica Spasovski, who turns 12 in September, said that she had “no appropriate documentation justifying the purpose and condition of stay”.

“Milica, who had been working hard for the last two-and-a-half months to perfect a dance routine which she had hoped to perform in public, was refused permission to enter the country,” Tatic said.

The girl and 13 other members of the ensemble were flown back to Serbia on Tuesday by two Air Pink passenger planes, Tatic said. Tosic, the ensemble’s leader, his wife and a child of the troupe who got no seat on the special flights (Air Pink operates aircraft with a capacity of 7 or 8 passengers) arrived in Serbia at 4:30 am on Wednesday after spending all the time at the airport.

The three were then escorted “by police to the departure gate when they left,” just like in the case of released criminals who are extradited, Tatic said.

The adventurous trip of the ensemble has made headlines in Serbia, from where Cyprus attracted 11,296 tourists last year.

Zenon did not respond to requests for comment.

Milica Spasovski “no appropriate documentation justifying the purpose and condition of stay”, the refusal document shows

Turkish Cypriot authorities are investigating reports there were crocodiles in a water reservoir outside Nicosia, reports said.

Daily Kibris quoted zoologist Mert Besiktas as saying that he had been asked to investigate reports claiming there were crocodiles in a reservoir near Kioneli, north of Nicosia.

Besiktas said initial investigations did not find any evidence of crocodiles however, according to Kibris, vet authorities in the north denied giving such instructions.

The zoologist suggested there was a high probability of crocodiles inhabiting the reservoir since many Turkish Cypriots buy them from the Republic for €200 and transport them illegally to the north.

It becomes difficult to look after them when they grow, however, leading their owners to dump then in reservoirs, he said.

Similar reports made the news in the Republic some years ago.

One claimed there was a crocodile in the Kalopanayiotis reservoir but authorities could not find any signs.

Nor could they confirm other rumours that the aquatic reptile lived in a reservoir in Limassol.

Photo: CNA

The Church of Cyprus has regained three religious icons dating from the 18th and the 19th centuries, which were stolen from churches in the north after the Turkish invasion.

The three icons, depicting Jesus at the Temple and the Pentecost, both dated 19th century and Apostle James dating from the 18th century were discovered last April at an auction house in Düsseldorf, Germany, the Church said.

“The Church recognised that they were of Cypriot provenance and acted in an effective, timely and discreet manner in order to regain them,” a statement said.

The three icons are set to be repatriated soon.

Photo: CNA

Human remains were found on Thursday in a military zone in Ayios Ilarionas on Pentadaktylos mountain range in the north.

The discovery was made by crews working for the committee on missing persons. Greek Cypriot member of the CMP Nestoras Nestoros said the remains were found north of a furnace in which bones were discovered in the recent past.

Nestoros said the location was a military zone but could not give any more details because the exhumation was still in its early stages.

Nestoros said there were searches underway in Famagusta, Karavas, Ayios Dhometios, Ayia Irini, Vonni, Galatia lake, Ayios Ilarionas, Neo Horio Kytheras, Athalassa, and Konia.

Earlier on Thursday, the CMP announced that a visit at the UN HQ in New York and a study of the archives had yielded some results.

The three CMP members pored through UN classified documents, as well as public material, dating back to 1963, 64 and 1974, looking for information that could help in locating burial sites.

The results will be analysed by CMP experts.

“These matters require political handling to be resolved,” Nestoros said. “The UN appear to respond and steps are being made.”

“We asked the UN to help us locate satellite photos or aerial photos from specific sites were there could be burial sites.”

A total of 15,360 cigarettes and 7,750 grammes of tobacco were seized in Nicosia on Thursday, the customs office announced.

In the afternoon of May 11, customs officers together with members of the Nicosia crime prevention unit, searched the Nicosia house of a woman where they found 4,960 cigarettes of various brands and 1,000 grammes of tobacco for which the tax is worth €880 and €210 respectively.

At another residence, a man was found in possession of 6,800 cigarettes and 6,750 grammes of tobacco for which the tax, amounting to €2,610 in total, had not been paid.

The man reported to police that the contraband came from the north and belonged to the woman whose house had been searched earlier on.

Both of them were arrested. The woman has reportedly been involved repeatedly in similar offenses.

During the investigations, a suspicious vehicle was detected in the area. Following a chase and a search of the car, another 3,600 contraband cigarettes were found. The tax payable for these was €635.

The driver, who has also been involved in similar incidents before, said the cigarettes, which were seized by customs officers, were from the north.

He was arrested but released later on when he accepted to pay €3,000 for the offense plus another €500 for the return of his car which had been used for the illegal transport of the items.

Turkish Cypriot politician Serdar Denktash has been admitted to the intensive care unit of a north Nicosia hospital with heart problems.

According to a hospital statement, Denktash went to the hospital with chest discomfort and difficulty in breathing at around 1pm on Saturday.

The 58-year-old is the head of the Democratic Party and son of late Rauf Denktash, the leader of the Turkish Cypriots for decades.

Several so-called state departments and ministries in the north have had their electricity supply cut off over five months’ worth of unpaid bills, it was reported on Thursday.

According to Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris, various establishments housing schools, so-called state health services, ministries, and departments have gone without power since Tuesday.

The ‘finance ministry’, which had also seen its power supply cut off, had it restored after paying its dues on Wednesday.

Other affected ‘ministries’ are those of tourism, education, interior, and agriculture.

A total 1,177 metres have thus far been disconnected, with the debt to the so-called electricity authority in the north by the breakaway regime exceeds 9 million Turkish lira (approximately €2.3 million), with monthly interest approaching 465.000 Turkish lira (€120.000).

Kornelios Korneliou, the Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the UN, said the Turkish side has never honoured the agreement reached in Vienna on August 2, 1975, vis-à-vis the enclaved population in the north.

Speaking during a Security Council open debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, Korneliou outlined the obligations of the Turkish side in providing “every help to lead a normal life, including facilities for education and for the practice of their religion, as well as medical care by their own doctors and freedom of movement in the north”.

In practice, he said, the Cypriot enclaved were subjected to constant harassment.

Referring to their dwindling numbers, Korneliou said that in July 1974, after more than 160,000 Cypriots were forced to flee the Turkish invasion, a significant number – around 20,000 – remained enclaved.

“In 43 years since 1974 this number has diminished from 20,000 to only 403, after being subjected to constant harassment, including physical assaults, restrictions to their movement, denial of access to adequate medical care, denial of adequate educational facilities especially beyond the elementary school level, censorship of school books, curtailment of their right to use and bequeath their immovable property and curtailment of freedom of worship in their churches and monasteries,” he said.

Despite minor improvements in the lives of the enclaved due to the help of UNFICYP, their living conditions remain deplorable and unchanged, the Permanent Representative added.

Fifty packages of Golden Virginia tobacco totalling 18kg have been seized at the Ayios Dhometios checkpoint in Nicosia after a customs check on a Turkish Cypriot vehicle.

According to a statement from customs, the suspect was travelling from the north and the tobacco was hidden under a fake bottom in the boot of the car.

The contraband and the car were confiscated. Total import duty on the gobaco would have been €3,758.

An out-of-court settlement to include the lost taxes, and a fine, was reached for €7,000 and the car returned to the owner.

The cabinet approved on Wednesday two support schemes with the total budget of almost €1m for enclaved farmers and fishermen.

According to Agriculture Minister, Nicos Kouyialis, the cabinet approved the €700,000 annual scheme aimed at supporting the enclaved farmers and fishermen and a new scheme whose budget is €250,000. The latter, Kouyialis said, is aimed at supporting families wishing to move to the north and begin farming activities, and at supporting famers under the age of 45 that currently live in the enclaved areas.

Earlier in the year Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Fotis Fotiou, had said that there was increased interest from people from the Karpas peninsula in the north to resettle there and the government was seeking ways to encourage more to do the same.

The aim of the government, Fotiou had said, was to offer incentives to encourage more families to resettle in the area, from where Greek Cypriot residents refused to leave following the invasion although their number has fallen over the years.

Up until the first three months, 27 new applications for resettlement in Ayia Triada and Rizokarpaso were approved, as well as 150 applications for the Maronite villages of Kormakitis and Karpashia, while 100 more applications were pending for the return of individuals to the Maronite villages and 20 for Ayia Triada.

A man who was killed on the Nicosia to Tymbou road on Sunday was identified as Andreas Alexandrou, 68, Turkish Cypriot authorities announced on Thursday.

Alexandrou died instantly after he was hit by a taxi while he was trying to cross the road. The incident happened around 5.30pm.

Turkish Cypriot authorities had been trying to identify the body since Sunday. The body was identified his family.

Taxi driver Fırat Demir, 21, was arrested and was charged with causing death due to reckless driving.

It was the second pedestrian fatality in two days in northern Cyprus.

Munashe Simunyu, 21, from Zimbabwe lost his life on Saturday after being hit by a van while he was walking on the shoulder of the Famagusta to Nicosia road.

The restored Church of Ayia Marina, located in the north in Ayia Marina Skyllouras, in the Nicosia district, was handed over on Thursday to the Maronite Church, almost a year after the bicommunal Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage started conservation works on the site.

A large crowd attended the completion ceremony, and as the Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus Joseph Soueif entered the packed church, all started to sing a psalm in Aramaic with him.

Former village residents and members of the Church Committee, ambassadors from EU member states, representatives of the UN and the EU and other people attended the ceremony in the 14th century church, dedicated to the village’s patron Saint.

After the bells began to ring the ceremony started, with officials expressing messages of reconciliation and peaceful coexistence, as well as the desire of many to return. As Takis Hadjidemetriou, the Greek Cypriot member of the Technical Committee put it, “what we are looking at today seems like an impossible dream”.

He referred to the various difficulties the Technical Committee encountered while embarking on this project and recalled the moment that they got the message “you may proceed”.

This work is the result of what we can achieve by overcoming obstacles when we work together, he said. These monuments with their deep roots in history ask for our protection and love and “awaken the prospect of return,” Hadjidemetriou added.

Ali Tuncay, the Turkish Cypriot member of the Technical Committee referred to the village’s shared history, as it was inhabited both by Maronite Christians and Turkish Cypriots who lived together for centuries.

“The Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage advocates that we can be effective only when we work and produce results together,” he said. He also wished this spirit of cooperation to multiply in other areas as well, for the benefit of Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots.

Ioannis Karis, a Maronite member of the Technical Committee said that this is “a historic day for the Maronite community and Church and especially for the Ayia Marina community”.

Local authorities in the northern part of Famagusta struck a deal with the Turkish military to open part of the beach towards the southern end of the fenced-off area of Varosha, Turkish Cypriot media reported on Friday.

The 240-metre stretch, will be open to the public between May 15 and October 29 next year, once the existing nearby tourist facilities were renovated.

A protocol is expected to be signed between the Turkish military and the local authorities in Famagusta which will put the area under the responsibility of the Turkish Cypriot “Famagusta Municipality”.

The reports indicated that visitors will not be charged an entry fee.

It was not immediately known whether Greek Cypriots would be allowed in but it is understood that it is unlikely since it remains a military area.