Court frees Turkish asylum seeker

A TURK arrested after he walked over from the occupied areas on Sunday was yesterday given his freedom by Famagusta District Court.

Presiding judge Tefkros Economou said it was obvious 35-year-old

Abdul Kantir Dogan was fleeing persecution in Turkey. Dogan, who pleaded guilty to entering Cyprus via an illegal port in the north, claimed he faced imprisonment in Turkey for his communist beliefs.

Dogan told the court yesterday that he had been visited in police custody by a Turkish officer. The officer, accompanied by an Unficyp officer, told him that he would be jailed for ten years when he returned to Turkey unless he withdrew his claims that he faced persecution in his homeland, Dogan stated.

Dogan crossed the dividing line near Strovilia in the Dhekelia area on Sunday afternoon and then walked into a Greek Cypriot home. He was offered coffee and candied fruit at the home, and then he asked to use the phone so he could call police to come and pick him up, the court has heard.

Dogan said he wished to seek political asylum and stay in the government- controlled areas to start a new life.

The judge did not impose any sentence for illegal entry.

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