THE Turkish Cypriot authorities said yesterday its ‘council of ministers’ was yet to decide on how to deal with a Greek Cypriot seeking political asylum in the north.
Themistocles Georgiou crossed the UN-controlled buffer zone on Thursday claiming he wanted to live in the north because of repeated injustices at the hands of the Cypriot government.
“At the moment he [Georgiou] is in hospital undergoing tests. Whether or not he will be allowed to stay will be decided by the council of ministers,” Turkish Cypriot ‘foreign ministry’ advisor Kutret Akay told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
Akay said the Turkish Cypriot authorities would not seek to make political capital out of what is believed to be the first incident of a Greek Cypriot asking for political asylum in the north. He said also that the case would be dealt with on a “purely humanitarian” basis.
Georgiou insisted on Thursday he had faced “injustice upon injustice” in the south and that all he wanted was a place to live and access to medication he is taking as a result of an accident at work 19 years earlier.
Georgiou made headlines in all Turkish Cypriot dailies yesterday and was quoted as saying he had been stonewalled by the government despite making repeated appeals for assistance following the accident. He claimed that since the accident he had been disabled and dependent on welfare. He said he had at one point received financial support from the government but that he had recently been told he would have to pay it back.
He also claimed he was unable to sleep in the “hut” where he dwelled in Limassol, and spent most nights sleeping in his car.
“At most I get one hour’s sleep per night,” he said.
He said also that he had been treated as social outcast in Limassol by his neighbours because he was, unlike them, not a refugee from the north, and that his car was regularly vandalised.
Georgiou appealed on Thursday to the Turkish Cypriot authorities to provide him with a house in the north.
“A shed, or even a carob tree to sleep under, would be enough for me,” he is reported to have said.
According to Akay, Georgiou said he was willing to be circumcised in order to fit in with cultural norms in the north.
“Of course, that will not be necessary,” Akay said. “Actually, I don’t think he really wants to go ahead with circumcision, but said it as a way of expressing just how far he is willing to go in order to stay here.”
Georgiou arrived in the north on Thursday having placed a Turkish Cypriot flag on the window of his car.
Government Spokesman Kypros Chrisostomides said yesterday the government was looking into the case and was waiting for information from the police.
