TURKISH Cypriot ‘Prime Minister’ Ferdi Sabit Soyer said yesterday the Cyprus government was responsible for the security of every Turkish Cypriot who crossed over to the south of the island.
Soyer was responding to the attack on Turkish Cypriot pupils at the English School by a gang of masked youths on Wednesday.
He said there was no room for racism in a European Union country and called the Greek Cypriot side to hand the culprits over to the law.
“Otherwise they will be supporting racism,” he said.
“The Greek Cypriot administration is responsible for the security of every Turkish Cypriot who crosses to South Cyprus. An administration that cannot fulfil this responsibility cannot claim that it’s a democratic EU member.”
Turkish Cypriot newspapers all featured the incident on their front pages yesterday.
Kibris under the headline “Racist attack by people wearing black shirts”, said that after the incident the remainder of the Turkish Cypriot pupils were escorted to the Ledra Palace crossing with a police escort.
The paper cited the earlier report in Simerini, which alleged on Tuesday that a Turkish Cypriot spat at a Greek Cypriot student because he wore a crucifix.
Yeni Duzen’s headline read: “We are thirsty for peace, not for fight.” The paper said that the families of the attacked students met Turkish Cypriot leader Talat and the headmaster of the school, who told them their security was assured.
Ortam titled its story “Shameful incident!”, while Cumhuriyet wrote: “Enough is enough”. “We say peace and they put their fanatics to attack our children,” the paper added.
Gunes said, “Greek Cypriots are doing what Greek Cypriots do”, while Vatan’s headline stated: “Look at the Greek Cypriots, look at the Greek Cypriots”.
Only opposition Akrika took a more moderate tone, focusing instead on how Greek Cypriot pupils rushed to defend their Turkish Cypriot classmates against the attackers.
“They resisted together to the attackers,” the headline said. It also said the five Turkish Cypriot students who were slightly injured refused to be taken to a Greek Cypriot hospital.
