Denktash sees ‘coup’ attempt
Faced with a torrent of people crossing the Green Line from both sides of Cyprus, Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has called on Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is to visit the Turkish-occupied part of the island on Friday, not to announce any concessions to the Greek Cypriots. Turkish newspapers yesterday presented more details of his letter to Erdogan, in which Denktash apparently claimed that the EU, the USA and Britain «had even made an effort to fund a coup d’etat.» This was an apparent reference to peaceful demonstrations by up to 80,000 Turkish Cypriots calling for a UN-brokered reunification deal. It emerged that Denktash has called for a «blacklist» of Greek Cypriots to be barred from the north because of alleged «massacres» of Turkish Cypriots. Greek-Cypriot journalists protested against a Turkish-Cypriot ban on editor Sener Levent visiting the south. Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, in Athens, welcomed developments «which are swiftly overcoming the obstacles put up by those who… cannot see the future.»
