Seven held after Grey Wolves-settlers clash

SEVEN people were detained in the occupied areas after violent clashes between members of the Grey Wolves extremist nationalist group and settlers, Turkish press reports said yesterday.

Of the seven nationalists held, two were later released, the reports said. One of the two was former Grey Wolves leader Enver Bahceciler, while the current leader of the group in the occupied areas branch Sadik Canli is still in detention.

The incidents took place on Friday night, when a convoy of cars carrying members of the Grey Wolves arrived at Zodia village. A fight then broke out between the extremists, who were on their way to a ‘solidarity meeting’, and the villagers, with sticks and chairs being used as weapons. Four people were hurt. The fight was eventually broken up by Turkish Cypriot ‘police’ firing shots into the air.

Now the villagers want the Denktash regime to act to prevent incidents like this happening again. They also say certain politicians in the north are inciting hatred and violence between the Grey Wolves and settlers.

The villagers, who stood guard outside their property with sticks for long hours into the night after the Grey Wolves had gone, say they are against differentiating between Turks, Turkish Cypriots and Kurds, and it was this allegiance which sparked off Friday’s clashes.

On Sunday, Republican Turkish Party leader Mehmet Ali Talat visited the village and urged the inhabitants to remain calm and not to “respond to wrong with wrong”.

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.