Five Egyptian fishermen, detained last week off Cyprus’ northwestern coast by Turkish occupation forces, returned by boat to Limassol on Saturday, on the southern coast of the island.
The fishermen were remanded in custody for three days by the Kyrenia so called district court, in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus. No country, except Turkey recognizes the illegal Turkish Cypriot regime.
One of the fishermen told the press that six Turkish soldiers went onboard their boat claiming that they were searching for illegal goods, ie drugs. They were then arrested and the captain was forced to sail the boat to the occupied Kyrenia port. He said that the “police“ with a force of 200 men , were waiting at the port to apprehend them. He also said that the owner of the fishing company that owns the boat, gave them money to buy food because no food was given to them in “prison“.
Egypt’s ambassador to Cyprus Mai Taha Mohammed Khalil, expressed her happiness for the safe return of the Egyptian nationals and her gratitude to the Cypriot Government for its assistance.
“I just want to say how happy I am that this ordeal ended in a good way and I would like first to greet the fishermen for their safe arrival. I would also like to thank the Cypriot Government for assisting us and I would like to pay special thanks to the owner of the ship…”, she said.
Replying to a question the Ambassador told the press that she was in close contact with the Egyptian government , informing them on the incident, “minute by minute“.
The owner of the company, Aristos Aristeidou said that they will continue to fish as they have been doing so all these years, adding that already today another boat is in international waters , north of Apostolos Andreas, in the north-easternmost point of the island of Cyprus.
The Cypriot Government had protested to the United Nations the detention of the crew onboard the fishing vessel and the confiscation of the boat by the Turkish occupation forces. The fishing boat was in international waters between Akamas and Kormakitis when the incident occurred.
The Turkish Cypriot media had reported that the crew of the Greek-flagged fishing boat belonging to a Cypriot company was arrested for entering the “territorial waters” of the illegal Turkish Cypriot regime.
Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus in 1974 and since then occupies 37% of the island`s territory. An illegal regime declared independence unilaterally, on November 15, 1983, in the areas of the Republic of Cyprus under Turkish occupation, following the island`s 1974 invasion by Turkey. This action has been condemned by the UN Security Council and the international community as legally null and void.