Palmas: Turkish army does not respect human rights

Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas on Wednesday said the Turkish army “does not respect human rights”, in response to an incident in the buffer zone earlier in the week in which Greek Cypriot farmers claimed they were attacked by Turkish soldiers, and the Turkish Cypriots claimed the farmers had illegally entered the north.

He said the Turkish army is “taking actions which undermine efforts to create a positive climate for the resumption of talks on the Cyprus problem”.

Additionally, he said the villages to the west of Nicosia, including Mammari, where this week’s incident took place, and nearby Denia, which is a frequent spot for buffer zone incidents, is “a sensitive … area in which such incidents are repeated”.

“The Republic of Cyprus has an obligation to ensure the security of its citizens and be in constant readiness so long as the occupation continues,” he said.

He also criticised the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp) for its stance on the issue, saying that while the force has “consistently followed a policy of equal distance” between the island’s two sides, “in cases of clear violations, there could be a clearer position”.

The Greek Cypriot farmer at the centre of the incident, named Gavriel Yerolemou, had claimed on Tuesday that more than 20 Turkish soldiers and police officers had attempted to arrest him and his father while they were working in their field.

He added that stones had been thrown at him and his father, and that he had been grabbed by the throat.

Later that day, the north’s ‘foreign ministry’ responded by saying that “Greek Cypriot farmers once again attempted to cultivate land in the TRNC without permission”.

It said that the farmers had violated an agreement signed in 1988 regarding the use of farmland in the buffer zone and “seriously endangered the safety of our police and military personnel by driving their tractors towards them when they tried to stop them”.