Cyprus Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kombos has sent letters to his counterparts from the US, UK, France and China calling for intervention in the release of the five Greek Cypriots detained on July 19 by the authorities of the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). This was reported by the Cypriot newspaper “Philelefteros“, reports BTA.
Kombos has also informed the heads of the main European institutions, the presidents of the European Commission and the European Parliament, as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs. A letter has also been sent to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. Moscow was also informed about the case through the Russian Permanent Mission to the UN.
The five arrested, two married couples and one man, were detained in the area of the village of Trikomo in the occupied northern part of the island. In recent years, this area has been the subject of intensive construction, despite the unresolved status of the properties, which according to official data belong to Greek Cypriots who left the area after the Turkish invasion of 1974.
The detainees were found with real estate ownership documents, and the authorities in the Greek Cypriot Administration are checking whether they were there to locate their properties, to establish whether they were being built on, or to conclude deals.
One of the five is accused of illegally entering a military zone, and the others of complicity. On Friday evening, a court in Northern Cyprus ruled to extend their detention for up to 13 days.