Kurds end Ocalan hunger strike

KURDS in Cyprus ended a two-week hunger strike yesterday believing their charismatic leader Abdullah Ocalan was no longer threatened with extradition to Turkey.

But despite being satisfied that Italy would not extradite Ocalan to Turkey, Kurdish Liberation front spokeswoman Nucan Derya slammed Greece for its attitude towards him.

Derya said Ocalan wanted to go to Greece rather than Italy but Athens had refused him entry.

“The Greek parliament has twice invited the president (Ocalan), and we expected the Greek authorities to respect their parliament more,” Derya told a press conference in Nicosia yesterday.

The press conference was called to mark the end of the Eleftheria Square hunger strike, in which 145 Kurdish men, women and children participated.

“Similar hunger strikes around the world will end today because up to now we have had no negative response from Europe or Italy in particular,” said Derya.

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.