Cyprus-Forum.com

[KELEBEK]

Twenty-six Turkish Cypriots, who crossed the border to South Cyprus with the hope of finding work and better economic conditions, were brutally beaten up by the Greek Cypriot police.
The Turkish Cypriot group, which were arrested in Limassol by the Greek Cypriot police crossed the border into the South Cyprus from the Famagusta region of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on February 19.

After the original questioning, the 26 Turkish Cypriots, which had little children and women amongst them, were taken to a mountainous are and were brutally beaten up by the Greek Cypriot police.

After the brutal treatment, on the night of February 20, Turkish Cypriots were put on a coach and were taken to the UN controlled buffer zone near Zumrut Koy in north-western region of Cyprus.

Turkish Cypriots who crossed the border back into the TRNC were taken to a local hospital by the Turkish Cypriot police for treatment. Out of the group the two brothers, Ahmet and Aziz Topalogullari and a blind boy aged 12 were kept in hospital for observations due to their severe injures.

Ahmet Topalogullari had a broken rib and his brother Aziz Topalogullari was suffering from a broken nose and injuries to his head.

Talking to the journalist about their horrific treatment at the hands of the Greek Cypriot police members of the group said, "when we crossed the border we met a Greek Cypriot police officer named Kosti. He arranged for us to be taken to Limassol police station in Land Rovers. While we were there, he told us he received orders that we should be taken to another police station. They put us back into the Land Rovers but instead of taking us to another police station, we were taken to a mountainous area, where there were about 16 police officers wearing ski masks waiting for us."

Explaining how badly the Greek Cypriot police beat them up, they said "our tiny children were pushed into the mud, they pulled the hair of our wives and dragged them along the ground, pointing their guns on them they made them sing. They kept firing in the air and pointing their guns on us threatening to shoot us."

Saying that they narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Greek Cypriot police, they swore never to make the same mistake of believing that they could find a better life in South Cyprus and advised the young people, who have no jobs due to the bad economy caused by the ongoing embargoes on the TRNC, not to make the same mistake.

Although the Greek Cypriot regime denied all knowledge of the brutal incident, the Greek Cypriot police are well known for its treatment of the Turkish Cypriots. Few years ago a group of 22 Turkish Cypriots who declared that they wanted to live in South Cyprus were forced at gunpoint to go to the TRNC through a minefield.

Also the case of Erkan Egmez, the Turkish Cypriot who received compensation from the Greek Cypriot regime by the decision of the European Court of Human Rights for his horrific injuries at the hands of the Greek Cypriot police, is a further evidence to the brutality of the Greek Cypriot police towards the Turkish Cypriots. To see the evidence of the torture on Erkan Egmez visit the content page of our web site. (http://www.tcn-cy.freeuk.com/content.htm)

The irony of this horrific incident is that the Turkish Cypriots, who crossed to the South Cyprus, ethnically are not Turkish. They are gypsies whose ancestors settled in Cyprus long time ago. During the sixties and seventies, just like the Turkish Cypriots, they too were attacked by the Greek Cypriots. Because of the ill treatment they received at the hands of the Greek Cypriots, they always felt safer living with the Turkish Cypriots. Due to the economic problems many of these people emigrated to the UK and just like the group in the incident, some of them went to south Cyprus for a better economic life. We dread to think what would the Greek Cypriot police do if the group were ethnically Turkish Cypriots.


The actual guilty party for the horrific treatment of these people are the European politicians, who allows the continuation of the inhuman embargoes on the TRNC, creating economic difficulty for the Turkish Cypriots, causing them to seek better economic life in South Cyprus facing harsh treatment and torture at the hands of the brutal Greek Cypriot police.

[turkcyp]

I hope you do not mind me asking "where did you read this news?".

Thanks,

[KELEBEK]

Turkish Cypriot Network.

[turkcyp]

Turkish Cypriot Network.

Thanks....

[brother]

This sort of news makes me VERY angry and makes me believe partition is the better solution.

[-mikkie2-]

I really do like the imapartial news source on this item! I would take what it says with a very large pinch of salt.

[insan]

Brutality of GC police is a very well known fact that has been proved by so many times with many reliable human rights organisations. The brutality and ill-treatment of GC police is not only towards to TCs but all foreigners, beside GCs also.

[Saint Jimmy]

The brutality and ill-treatment of GC police is not only towards to TCs but all foreigners, beside GCs also.

GCs too, right... It's not very common, though, not as much as you might think, anyway (obviously, it's not a matter of commonness...). But there was this recent incident a couple of months or so ago, they used excessive force against some demonstrating farmers (at least that's what the papers said, not sure how 'out of hand' the demonstrators had got though).

[brother]

Getting out of hand does not give police the right to beat you.
In this day and age it is unacceptable to beat your pet dog.

[Saint Jimmy]

Getting out of hand does not give police the right to beat you.
In this day and age it is unacceptable to beat your pet dog.

How about if the farmers hit first? Or if they resisted arrest, so police had to use force to apprehend them? I'm just saying we don't know all the facts, not that police brutality can be justified...