Teachers strike in the north in defence of sacked teacher

SECONDARY school teachers in the north yesterday held a 24-hour strike protesting about the dismissal of a history teacher who described Turkey as an ” occupying force”in articles she wrote for opposition newspaper Avrupa .

Her dismissal sparked riots at the ’20 Temmuz Science Lycee’ as students and teachers clashed with ‘police’ on Monday.

During the fracas, ‘police’ battered a senior trade union official over the head with a fire bucket as students crowded in the corridors shouted abuse.

On Wednesday, the situation in the occupied areas further deteriorated with a raid on Avrupa ‘s offices and the seizure of all the equipment.

The raid, however, did not stop Avrupafrom coming out yesterday.

Under the banner headline “you cannot silence us”the daily charged that the occupying regime was showing its fascist face, but would not be able to silence the newspaper.

” The news will be spread through e-mail, fax, telephone, and even mouth to mouth because we are not just a newspaper but a strong root that will lead us to the light,” Avrupasaid.

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.