Concern over Turkish threat to take over enclaved school

By Jean Christou

UNFICYP and the government are looking into reports from the occupied areas that a Turkish Cypriot official is planning to convert one of two Greek Cypriot schools into a Turkish school.

According to Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris, the ‘Mayor’ of occupied Rizokarpasso, Arif Ozbayrak, has said that one of the two enclaved schools in the village will be appropriated for the school year 1999-2000.

Speaking to journalists on the problems facing the remote area, Ozbayrak said that while the 650-strong Turkish Cypriot population of the village had only one school, the 350 Greek Cypriots had two, “which was unfair”.

Kibris pointed out his action would be “illegal”.

Unficyp spokesman Waldemar Rokoszewski said yesterday the UN was looking into the reports to verify whether there was any truth to them.

And Humanitarian Affairs Commissioner Takis Christopoulos said he had only just been informed of the report.

“We are still trying to find out what is going on,” he said.

“There is no reason why they should take the school.”

Christopoulos said there were 30 Greek Cypriot pupils attending elementary school in the north. There are no secondary schools because Greek Cypriot children over the age of 16 are forced to come south and live with relatives to complete their secondary education.

Christopoulos said the Turkish side had no right to take the school which was Greek Cypriot property and which had recently been renovated and repaired by the Cyprus government.

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.