Kurds march in asylum protest

AROUND 200 Kurdish people yesterday marched onto the Interior Ministry in Nicosia in an effort to raise awareness for their plight on the island.

Organised by the United Kurdish Association (UKA), the demonstration, which began from Eleftheria Square at 11am, passed off without incident.

A UKA spokesman said the aim was, “to highlight the fact that political asylum seekers are unable to work in Cyprus due to restrictions applied by the Interior Ministry, yet entitlement to financial aid by the government is limited.

“We also wish to draw attention to arrests and deportations of Kurdish individuals by the police, who dispose of their legal papers then claim they are illegal immigrants and arrange for their deportation.”

The spokesman added: “I really hope that the authorities listened to what we had to say and that there will be changes. I was left with a positive impression.”

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.