UCY professor investigated over possible collaboration with north institution

THE UNIVERSITY of Cyprus is investigating allegations that a faculty member may have collaborated with academics from a Turkish Cypriot university in publishing a scientific paper.

The paper, posted on the internet, is available in Greek, Turkish and English. The English version is signed by the author (the UCY professor) and his associates from the Eastern Mediterranean University in the north. The emblem of the Eastern Mediterranean University has also been uploaded to the website.

The UCY has a strict policy prohibiting any formal collaboration with “non-recognised” institutes of learning in the north.

Stavros Zenios, Rector of the UCY, confirmed an ‘administrative inquiry’ was underway.

“We encourage Greek and Turkish Cypriot academics to interact and work together, so long as this is done in their personal capacity,” Zenios told the Mail.

He said the university was made aware of the case after an article in Sunday’s edition of Pontiki newspaper.

The inquiry will seek to determine whether the UCY professor in question knowingly collaborated with the Turkish Cypriot academics with a view to posting the paper online.

Alternatively, the paper may have been “hijacked” by the latter, said Zenios.

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.