Government slams Turkey’s human rights record

THE government yesterday questioned Turkey’s participation in the ‘Reliant Mermaid’ naval exercise with Israel and the US because of its human rights record.

“The aim of the exercise is not compatible with the human rights violations in Turkey and the genocides this state has carried out,” Spokesman Manolis Christofides said.

“We are following developments. We have been given assurances that the exercise has nothing to with Cyprus,” he added.

The joint search and rescue exercise was staged yesterday off the coast of the Israeli port of Haifa.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.