By Alex Mita
THE GOVERNMENT yesterday condemned the refusal of access to the free areas as well as the arrest of Turkish Cypriot journalist Sener Levent by the Turkish Cypriot authorities yesterday.
Levent was refused access to the south to meet with Union of Cyprus’ Journalists (UCJ) president Andreas Kannouros.
Levent protested saying he was allowed to cross over on Friday without problems but he was told he had escaped the attention of the police at the checkpoint.
Levent asked UCJ representatives waiting for him to inform President Tassos Papadopoulos of the incident saying that as a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus he was illegally arrested by the Denktash regime and asked the President to make representations to the European Court of Human Rights as well as other European and international organisation.
In a statement yesterday, UCJ slammed the Turkish Cypriot authorities for the incident saying “strongly stigmatised the continued, inhuman attitude of the Ankara and Denktash occupation regime towards the Turkish Cypriot journalist”.
“Denktash insists on keeping Levent a hostage and captive in the occupied areas, provocatively violating every sense of international law and fundamental principles and rules of international conventions on human rights and freedoms.”
UCJ announced it would be carrying out a demonstration today during which journalists will show their solidarity towards their Turkish Cypriot colleague.
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.
