Cyprus: Incident with Turkish soldiers – They threatened a Greek Cypriot shepherd with a gun

A serious episode took place in Denia, Nicosia when Turks troops they asked a Greek Cypriot farmer, who was grazing his sheep, to leave the dead zone, even threatening him with a gun, as he complained. The United Nations peacekeeping force is investigating the incident, spokesman Alim Siddique told the Cyprus News Agency.

The community leader of Denia, Christakis Panagiotou, told the Agency that there is also a relevant video where what happened in the area is recorded. He added that the incident took place 500 meters inside the dead zone reports the sigmalive.

Mr. Panagiotou said that around 6 Turkish soldiers came down from their posts with guns in their hands and asked the farmer to leave, threatening him. One soldier even cocked his weapon, he added. The community leader said that the breeder has a permit to work in the area. “They were shouting at him and throwing stones at him and finally they kicked him out. When the incident happened, he notified us by phone and took a related video,” he added.

Mr. Panagiotou said that at that moment there were no United Nations peacekeepers in the area. According to the community leader, the incident was reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations and the National Guard.

“It is a systematic Turkish policy”

Speaking on the Protoselido show, Mr. Panagiotou said that this is not the first time something like this has happened. “He had permission to cultivate his field like the rest of the farmers who have fields in the fallow zone. They all have the relevant permit, the so-called pass given to them by the United Nations after a relevant application,” he said.

“He has no excuse, it is systematic Turkish policy expressed through Attila. The Republic of Cyprus must look into why this is happening in Denia and not in the neighboring villages that have dead zones. It’s a big issue that needs to be solved sometime, we should be informed as well,” he said on the show.

“The United Nations now in the dead zone after the unhooking they’ve done they just do patrols every two to three hours, they patrol by car inside the dead zone. If it happens and they are close to the incident, they will intervene, if not, they will be informed later.”

And he concluded:We cannot take drastic measures to avoid being fooled, in the dead zone the National Guard cannot take action. What can be done is for the United Nations to implement what it promised in 1974 to take the dead zone and provide security to the residents and the world to monitor the calm within the dead zone.”