FRIENDS and family of abducted Greek Cypriot contractor Panicos Tsiakourmas yesterday staged a peaceful sit-down protest at the Sovereign Bases Area (SBA) police station at Dhekelia.
British bases spokesman Rob Need told the Sunday Mail that around 20 people had gathered outside the police station carrying placards in English and Greek calling for the release of Tsiakourmas, 39.
Tsiakourmas was abducted from his car within the Dhekelia SBA close to the occupied areas when he went to pick up his Turkish Cypriot workers near Pergamos on December 12. He is being held in the north pending trial on February 25 for alleged possession of 1.5 kilos of cannabis.
He was apparently seized in retaliation for the arrest of Omer Tekoglu, a Turkish Cypriot from the mixed village of Pyla remanded for allegedly possessing two kilos of heroin following an undercover sting operation. Police say he was arrested outside the UN-controlled buffer zone village, but the Turkish Cypriots say he was illegally arrested inside the town.
The demonstrators yesterday carried placards reading: “You are responsible for the arrest of Panicos”, “We demand that Britain return Panicos” and “Has kidnapping become legal in Britain?”
Need said the demonstration was peaceful and that the British bases respect the family’s right to protest peacefully and their desire to keep the issue in the public eye. “They are behaving very responsibly,” he said.
Britain is outraged that Tsiakourmas was taken from SBA territory, and immediately after the incident set up a control point on the Pyla-Pergamos road to reassure motorists travelling through the bases.
The Foreign Office in London has also taken the matter up with the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey through British High Commissioner Edward Clay.
“We will not let this matter rest,” Need said.
So far all attempts to have Tsiakourmas released have failed because the Turkish Cypriot side wants a direct swap for Tekoglu, but the government says there is no chance of this happening.
According to the results of investigations Tsiakourmas has no criminal record and the bases police found no trace of drugs in his vehicle.
Tsiakourmas’ wife Niki is expected to visit him tomorrow in occupied Nicosia.
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.
