A delegation of media representatives, headed by President of the Union of Cyprus Journalists Andreas Kannaouros and the President of the Newspaper Publishers Association Petros Zachariades, handed a letter of protest to Head of the European Commission Delegation in Cyprus Themis Themistocleous, requesting that the Commission and the EU in general exert their influence towards the termination of the arbitrary arrests and prosecutions of reporters and TV cameramen while on assignment in the Turkish occupied areas of Cyprus.
A television crew from private channel Sigma TV was held by Turkish forces for three days and released a week ago with a suspended sentence. This is the third crew to be arrested in the north in two months.
Themistocleous said he would convey the protest to Commissioner for Communication Margot Wallstrom, Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding and Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn.
Speaking on behalf of the media delegation, Kannaouros said they informed Themistocleous about ‘the existing unacceptable situation, the arrests and persecutions of journalists in violation of international principles, the ecumenical declaration of human rights of the UN, and the principles of the EU, of which Turkey is a candidate country.’
Kannaouros said ‘what is happening in the occupied areas violates the fundamental principles of the EU and are carried out by a force, a state, which is a candidate for EU accession, and by the occupation force, which is subject to Turkey.’
Themistocleous expressed his readiness to meet with media representatives to discuss issues concerning both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot journalists.
He said the Communication Directorate General, under which the Commission delegations in the EU member states fall, ‘considers the journalists to be chief associates, and that is why our cooperation with the media people in Cyprus is close and we will cultivate it even more.’
Zachariades said that he also communicated with the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) that in turn distributed a copy of the protest letter to various groups in Brussels.
