Government condemns massive Avrupa fine

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday condemned the decision of a `court’ in the north to impose a crippling fine on the Avrupa newspaper for slander against Rauf Denktash.

Government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou yesterday called on the international community to react to the decision.

“The decision of the so-called court in the occupied areas to put such a huge fine on a newspaper is essentially equivalent to closing it down,” Papapetrou said.

“The government condemns these kinds of methods, which undermine the freedom of the press and of democracy, and it calls on the international community to show some sensitivity to this.”

The fiercely critical Avrupa has been ordered to pay $260,000 to the Turkish Cypriot leader in a slander suit.

The newspaper and six of its journalists are also being prosecuted before a Turkish military court on charges of “inciting hate among the people against the Turkish Cypriot state and undermining the security forces”.

The heavy fine has put the future of the newspaper in serious jeopardy and has caused outrage on journalistic circles on both sides of the Green Line.

The Union of Cyprus Journalists has already written to international organisations to complain, and on Monday said it has also written to the ambassadors of the “Big Five” member countries of the UN Security Council, the US, Britain, China, Russia and France. The union also wrote to Denktash himself with an appeal.

In its letter to the ambassadors, the union denounces the “persecution” of Avrupa as a flagrant violation of press freedom and the freedom of expression in the Turkish Cypriot community.

“It is a ruthless effort to muzzle and strangle a newspaper fighting consistently for a fair peaceful and lasting solution to the Cyprus problem and for restoring and building rapprochement, confidence, friendship and cooperation between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities,” the union said in its letter to the ambassadors.

It asks them to use their influence on Denktash to stop the prosecution and to relieve the newspaper of the fine.

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.