Farmer’s harassment by Turkish troops to be reported to EU

The harassment of a Greek Cypriot farmer within the buffer zone by troops from the north will be reported to the EU, the government spokesman said on Wednesday.

The incident occurred at 11:30am on Tuesday near the village of Denia, one of just a few located in the buffer zone, when a Greek Cypriot farmer was allegedly approached by Turkish troops brandishing weapons and threatening to kill him unless he left the area.

Spokesman Marios Pelekanos said that the government will report the incident to the EU while the UN has also been notified.

“As the UN informed us, we expect the incident to be included in the next report prepared by Unficyp,” he said, adding that each case in which the UN Security Council resolutions and the buffer zone are infringed upon are reported.

“It will also be reported to the EU,” Pelekanos said.

Denia community leader Christakis Panayiotou told the Cyprus Mail on Tuesday, soon after the incident occurred, that five Turkish soldiers approached a farmer who was going to work on his crops.

“They told the farmer that ‘I will kill you if you don’t leave’ and pointed to a box of ammo with more bullets,” Panayiotou told the Cyprus Mail.

He said that in recent days Turkish settlers entered the buffer zone with their farm animals and destroyed crops being cultivated by Greek Cypriot farmers.

UN spokesman Aleem Siddique confirmed that an incident had taken place within the buffer zone but that it had been peacefully resolved, adding that it will be included in the UN report to the security council.

“Unficyp (UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus) continues to be in contact with both sides to ensure that calm prevails along the length of the buffer zone,” Siddique told the Cyprus News Agency on Tuesday.