North complains about football ban

The ‘foreign ministry’ in the north criticised Greek Cypriots living abroad for trying to block the ‘national’ football team from participating in the Conifa 2018 World football cup, set to take place in London.

The games are set to be held between May 31 and June 9.

On Tuesday, Hurriyet daily news reported that the ‘foreign ministry’ had described actions taken by Greek Cypriots expats to block the team of the north from playing as “alarming” and “disrespectful.”

“This and similar initiatives of the mentality that is troubled by our presence in such an activity organized by Conifa (confederation of independent football associations) serves no purpose but to deepen the distrust between the two communities,” the statement said.

Conifa’s website lists ‘Northern Cyprus’ in Group B.

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.