Cyprus on Wednesday said it had referred the attempted prosecution in Turkey of Turkish Cypriot newspaper Afrika and its journalists Sener Levent and Ali Osman to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)and the EU, government spokesman Prodromos Prodromou said.
In a written statement, Prodromou notes the government was concerned with developments in the north and the prevailing climate of intimidation, specifically the attempt to judicially prosecute Afrika newspaper and journalists Sener Levent and Ali Osman in Turkey.
Prodromou said the matter has been referred to the OSCE and the EU, seeking an intervention in defence of freedom of expression and freedom of the press since both have been monitoring the situation in the north and since both journalists are citizens of the Republic.
“This concerns citizens of an EU member state, on whom a third country has no jurisdiction,” Prodromou said. The European Parliament to which Levent has appealed in the past was “closely monitoring the case”, Prodromou added.
Turkish Cypriot daily newspaper Afrika, formerly known as Avrupa, came under attack last January, after referring to “yet another invasion” by Turkey, following its assault on Afrin, Syria.
According to Turkish Cypriot press reports Levent and Osman were recently called in by police in the north to testify in a case filed Ankara has filed against them over a headline criticising Turkey’s military offensive in Afrin.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had called on his “brothers” in north Cyprus “to give the necessary response” to the article, which resulted in protesters throwing rocks and eggs at the building, smashing windows and taking down the newspaper’s sign down causing significant damage.
Erdogan supporters in the north were also angered by the publication of a cartoon – originally published in a Greek newspaper — depicting a Greek statue urinating on Erdogan’s head. Afrika published the cartoon in December last year under the title “Through Greek eyes”.
The post Cyprus refers Levent case to OSCE appeared first on Cyprus Mail.
Read more → https://cyprus-mail.com/2018/08/01/cyprus-refers-levent-case-to-osce/
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