Nationalist party behind checkpoint blockade

AROUND 750 Turkish nationals were sent packing from the Ayios Dhometios checkpoint on Saturday where they had tried to cross in busloads to visit the Hala Sultan Tekke mosque in Larnaca.

According to police the Turks, which included settlers and visitors from Turkey arrived at the checkpoint in 20 coaches and attempted to cross at around 4.15pm. However police said that when they checked the identities of those aboard the first two buses, they found only four Turkish Cypriots.

As Turkish Cypriots and EU nationals are the only ones allowed to cross to the south, police told the remainder that they would have to turn back.

The passengers then disembarked from the bus at the Turkish checkpoint and blocked the road for an hour before Turkish Cypriot riot police moved them on.

Turkish Cypriot newspaper Kibris yesterday the right-wing Nationalist Justice Party (NJP) was behind the incident, having called on Turks to visit the Tekke by means of newspaper advertisements and mosque prayer services to do so.

“When the Greek Cypriot police did not permit them to pass, they were provoked by the NJP officials to create tension,” the paper said.

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.