If Denktash goes abroad…

TURKISH Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash could find himself behind bars, along with Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, if he visited Britain and the Cyprus government were to request his extradition.

A British Home Office spokeswoman told the Cyprus News Agency yesterday that this would also apply to any other country with which Cyprus held an extradition treaty.

“Naturally, whether he will be actually extradited or not will depend upon the contents of the official documents that will be supplied by the Cyprus government in such an event,” she added.

The unnamed spokeswoman was commenting on a report in The Times, suggesting that if Britain were to grant extradition requests similar to that for Pinochet in the future, Denktash and others of his ilk would be advised to stay away.

The report suggested that Greek Cypriots, who hold Denktash responsible for the deaths of their compatriots during the 1974 invasion, could apply for his extradition during one of his visits abroad.

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.