CYPRUS: Women arrested in occupied north for taking photos of their home

A Greek Cypriot mother and daughter arrested by Turkish Cypriot authorities after taking photos of the family home in Morphou they were forced to abandon during the Turkish invasion have been released.

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They were released from custody on Monday after being charged with tresapssing on a premises inside a military area. Their mobile phones were also confiscated.

The mother, 52, was arrested along with her 20-year-old daughter during an organised excursion to Pyrgos on Sunday.

Before their return south through the crossing at Limnitis, the two women asked the driver to make a short stop for them to see their house in Morphou.

Many Greek Cypriot crossover into the Turkish-held north of the island to visit the homes they were forced to flee in 1974.

Hakki Onen, the Turkish Cypriot head of the Bi-communal Technical Committee on Crime, told the CNA that the women had entered the garden, of what was once their house, where a Turkish military officer is now residing.

Earlier, government spokesperson Prodromos Prodromou told reporters: “the government is monitoring the issue of the illegal arrest of two Greek Cypriot women in the occupied territories, and action is being taken through the UN for their release”.

Detention of the two women follows an incident where a 16-year-old Greek Cypriot had removed a Turkish flag and a photo of the late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash from a school in the occupied village of Lysi during an organised visit.

Reportedly, the 16-year-old’s family sent a letter of apology to Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, in which it hopes that the incident will not damage the cooperation that has built up over the years between Greek Cypriots originally from the village and Turkish Cypriots currently residing there.