TRNC News Today 2^nd March 2016

Akıncı received Roth

President Mustafa Akıncı received German Minister of State for Europe Michael Roth. Turkish Cypriot Negotiator Özdil Nami, Presidential Spokesperson Barış Burcu and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary and the member of the negotiation team Erhan Erçin were also present at the meeting which was held at the Presidency.

Benter: “Closed city of Maraş is a foundation property”

The General Director of the Cyprus Vakıflar Administration Prof. Dr. İbrahim Benter stated that when the island was rented to the British in 1878, 14% of the properties on the island belonged to the Evkaf Administration. Today the total percentage of Vakıf or Evkaf owned property has dropped to 6 per thousand. The area covering the closed city of Maraş falls within that 14%”.

Speaking on a program, Benter argued that a group of high level experts had carried out a study in 2009 to determine the number of Vakıf owned properties and he said that the deal signed with the British in 1878 clearly stated that “Evkaf properties could not be sold or transferred to others.”

On the other hand Benter underlined that most of the properties owned by Evkaf had been improperly and unlawfully handed over to others, mainly to Greeks during the island’s British colonial rule. Benter said: “This is against both the international and British laws and these properties should be reinstated. If we claim only the rent for the Evkaf properties left in South Cyprus, this constitutes astronomical prices.”

He added that the area covering the closed city of Maraş is also the property of Evkaf and said: “We have all the title deeds and legal documents to back up our claim.”

Nesteros: “Akıncı’s statement about missing persons supports the efforts”

President Mustafa Akıncı’s statement about missing persons was widely reported in the Greek Cypriot press.

In his statement, the Greek Cypriot member of the Committee on missing persons Nestoras Nestoros said that he finds the statements of President Mustafa Akıncı as “effort supportive.”

Repeating his hope for the speedy progression of the process, Nestoros said that, “studies have been continuing at the level of coordinators and consultants in order to verify the information.”

Different methods in human trafficking in South Cyprus

Greek Cypriot daily Fileleftheros noted that besides sexual abuse and forced labour, faked marriages and begging cases are also being investigated regarding the human trafficking in South Cyprus.

According to police data, 42 adults and 4 children, in total 46 people were detected to be abused as a result of human trafficking in 2015. According to the report of the newspaper, these people suffered from sexual abuse, faked marriages and delinquency.

Speaking at the Greek Parliament Human Rights Committee, Rita Superman, the Greek police official from the Unit for Combating Human Trafficking, said, “There is a reality that human trafficking exists in South Cyprus and it is difficult to control.”