One of the five people who filed complaints to the police leading to the arrest and subsequent detention of five Greek Cypriots in the north on Thursday night withdrew her complaint.

The complainant had been named in the media earlier in the week as Asli Ercikan, and her lawyer Asli Murat released a written statement declaring that “as of today, she is not complaining about anyone”.

Murat said Ercikan had been informed that “some people were wandering around” a property development near Trikomo on July 19, and that shortly afterwards, the Turkish Cypriot police went to her house and took a statement from her.

She added that Ercikan had “acted solely out of security concerns”, given that the gate of the site had to be kept open on account of a court order, and that thefts from the site had occurred in the past.

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“Without directly targeting any individual, only general security concerns were expressed due to the rising crime rates in the country,” Murat said, adding that her client “did not act with the intention of complaining about people who came to the site to see their ancestral property”.

In fact, she said, Ercikan had “hosted similar people in the past and respected these visits”.

She confirmed that Ercikan had visited the Trikomo police station on Thursday and formally withdrawn her complaint.

The withdrawal of the complaint comes after three of the five arrested Greek Cypriots were released on bail on Wednesday, with it expected that the remaining five will be released on bail at a hearing in Trikomo later on Friday.

At Wednesday’s hearing, investigating officer Hasan Ozguc had told the court that he had received a complaint that a car with Greek Cypriot registration plates had entered a “tourist area” in the village of Bogazi, which is located between Trikomo and Gastria, and that the car’s occupants were “wandering around with a blue folder in their hands”.

This, he said, had “caused discomfort”, and he had dispatched a police officer to deal with the matter.

He said the officer had stopped the vehicle in front of a petrol station and taken the five Greek Cypriots to a police station, before their vehicle was searched and the blue folder was found in its boot.

Then, he said, he demanded an explanation from the five, who “all gave the same answer” – that they were visiting property which one of the five, the 68-year-old man, “had inherited from his father”.

He added that the 68-year-old man had told him that they “do this all the time” and that “there had been no problems before”.

The five stand accused of privacy violations, trespassing and breaching the peace at a civilian court in Trikomo, but also face separate charges at a military court in northern Nicosia related to the manner in which they entered the north.

There, the police and the prosecution allege that when the five crossed in one car from the British Dhekelia base through the Strovilia crossing point, near Famagusta, only four identity cards were handed over for inspectionon the Turkish Cypriot side of the crossing point.

As such, one of the five Greek Cypriots has been charged with illegally entering the north, while the other four are accused of aiding and abetting the illegal entry.

The five Greek Cypriots deny all charges.