‘Overzealous bureaucrats’ barred diplomats from crossing north

THE TURKISH Cypriot side’s refusal to allow a British diplomat to cross to the north on Thursday was due to a bureaucratic blunder, a diplomatic source said yesterday.

“This was not a political act,” the source said. “It was more of a bureaucratic cock-up by overzealous people who misinterpreted what they had to do.”

The source said it had not only been a British diplomat who was barred from entering the north on Thursday, but also representatives of the French, Italian, American and other foreign missions on the island.

“It will all be smoothed over,” the source said.

The Turkish Cypriot side was refusing to allow the diplomats to cross on the basis that it did not recognise their diplomatic credentials from the Republic of Cyprus.

The government said yesterday it would react to the Turkish side’s stance in accordance with “international and diplomatic institutions”.

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.