‘Turkish officers pulled their guns on drinkers’
By Simon Bahceli Published on February 1, 2011 +
QUESTIONS were being asked in the north yesterday after two mainland Turkish officers pulled their guns on drinkers in a Morphou bar late Saturday night, and then appeared to walk free after police intervened to quell the incident.
According to witnesses who spoke to daily Havadis, the two unnamed officers pulled their guns after an argument broke out between one of the officers and a Turkish Cypriot customer at the Black and White bar in Morphou.
“After the officer and a customer bumped into each other, one of a group of five officers took out his gun and rested it against the head of customer Remzi Hurkol and told him ‘I’m going to kill you’,” the article said. When security staff at the bar tried to intervene, a second officer pulled out his gun, loaded it, and shouted, “If anyone comes near, I will take them out,” the article added.
During the commotion, customers panicked and tried to leave the bar. One of the gun-toting officers is also said to have dropped his gun, “probably because he was drunk”, the article quoted witnesses as saying.
Witnesses who spoke to Havadis fear the incident will be covered up by the Turkish Cypriot authorities and the Turkish army.
Police arrived on the scene “very quickly”, the report said. However, before being apprehended by the police, the officers were heard to comment that the Turkish Cypriot police had “no authority” over them.
At the station, the Turkish Cypriots involved in the incident were required to give statements on what had happened. The officers were not, and were later collected from the station by a group of high-ranking officers, the most high-ranking of which allegedly warned the Turkish Cypriots they would be found guilty if an investigation was carried out.
A press officer for the Turkish Cypriot police told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that an investigation had been launched into the incident, but that if the officers were to be tried for illegally drawing their weapons in a public place, they would be tried by a military court. Asked whether the civilians would be called to appear in a military court to give evidence, the press officer said he did not know.
Coming just days after a mass rally against austerity measures being imposed on the Turkish Cypriot community by Ankara, the incident will do little to improve already-strained relations between Turkish Cypriots and Turkish mainlanders.
Commenting on the current state of relations, demographics expert Mete Hatay said he believed it important that the officers be seen to face justice to prevent relations from worsening further.
“The decline in relations has been a long time cooking,” Hatay said and pinpointed a number of reasons for the decline.
“The economic and military dependence of Turkish Cypriots on Turkey is causing resentment. There is also a feeling that, because of a number of statements by Turkish politicians, Turkey does not respect Turkish Cypriots”.
The perception that Turkish Cypriots were being outnumbered by Turkish mainlanders was also cited by Hatay as a reason for the growing resentment.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/crime/turkish-officers-pulled-their-guns-drinkers/20110201
it doesn't sound like everything is well in the occupied...
donkeytosh knew well in advance opening the gates, tcs living standard would rise to above what turkey had in mind as far as handouts are concerned...hence the problems...
what is for sure is, you cannot expect the living standards to go back prior to the gates opening...the way i see it is either turkey ups the handouts or discontent is gonna continously rise...
turkey is preaching the world how well they are doing, flaunting it on daily basis...the queston begs, if turkey had an ounce of good will towards their bros, how come turkey instead of giving today turkey is taking away today?
