Colonial documents to be released

CLASSIFIED documents are expected to be released by the British Foreign Office which make reference to periods of liberation movements in former British colonies and may concern Cyprus, said a British Foreign Office spokesperson yesterday.

“It is very probable that some of the documents to be released will refer to Cyprus,” said the spokesperson. “The procedure to be followed for the release, including the time this will be done, will be the responsibility of the National Archives,” she said.

The spokesperson clarified that she was speaking about the release of those documents referred to in last Tuesday’s statement by Lord Howell, not all the documents. She also said that it will be a few months before the release.

The Cypriot uprising against British colonial rule began on April 1, 1955 and lasted four years.

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.