Erdogan: racism on the rise among Greek Cypriots

‘TURKISH Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan used his weekly speech to parliament yesterday to highlight the “violent incidents” that took place in Nicosia last week, arguing that racism was on the rise among Greek Cypriots.

“It is worrying to see that racism and violence against Turks is on the rise in the Greek Cypriot side, while we work towards dialogue and reconciliation” of the two communities in Cyprus, he said.

“Even an isolated incident like this shows who wants peace and who doesn’t want to give peace a chance on the island,” he added.

Erdogan called on the EU to come out with “more satisfactory” statements on the issue, and on “the racism and hatred that is growing on the island”.

The Turkish PM argued that APOEL’s punishment was “insufficient”, saying if this was FIBA’s sense of justice “they would do better not to talk about fair play”.

No similar criticisms or suggestions to the EU were made regarding the sports violence that took place in Turkey on Sunday where, according to Associated Press (AP), Galatasaray fans beat up Fenerbahce players during a men’s under-17 match in Istanbul. One Fenerbahce player had his nose broken while 13 players in total were hospitalised.

 

 

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.