Vandals attack TC lawyer’s car in South
AN ATTACK on a car with a TRNC number plate in South Cyprus was condemned on Sunday by the Deputy Prime Ministry and Foreign Ministry.
A statement branded the vandalism to the vehicle belonging to Nil Çeliker, 30, as “unacceptable” and “damaging” to the “necessary dialogue” with the Greek Cypriot side. Lawyer Ms Çeliker had left her Mercedes in the car park of South Nicosia’s Mall of Cyprus during a trip on Saturday afternoon with her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, reports said.
When she returned to the car she found its side windows had been smashed.
She said she drove to the Metehan checkpoint and reported the incident to Greek Cypriot police officers there, then continued across the border where she filed a similar complaint to TRNC authorities.
Ms Çeliker said it was the first time that she had been the victim of such a crime.
The Foreign Ministry said: “We condemn this dreadful attack and invite the Greek Cypriot authorities to immediately identify and punish those who are responsible.
“The unfortunate experience of our citizen and her little daughter is upsetting and our sole consolation is that no-one was hurt.”
The statement expressed hope that any investigation by the Greek Cypriot police “does not remain inconclusive, as was the case in the past, and that the perpetrators are identified, taken to court and punished as soon as possible”.
The statement said attacks on Turkish Cypriots in South Cyprus were “on the rise” and becoming “normalised”.