1 KILLED, 11 HURT AS TURKS FIRE ON GREEKS IN CYPRUS.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. In the second deadly clash this week, Turkish troops fired on stone-throwing Greek Cypriots Greek Cypriots are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus. They form the island's largest ethnic community, comprising nearly 80 percent of the population. The Greek Cypriots are mostly Eastern Orthodox Christians, members of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, an autocephalous church Wednesday in the buffer zone buffer zone n. A neutral area between hostile or belligerent forces that serves to prevent conflict. Noun 1. buffer zone splitting the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The violence left one demonstrator dead and 11 wounded, including two U.N. peacekeepers, and was expected to increase tension between Greece and Turkey. The relationship between the fellow NATO NATO: see North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO in full North Atlantic Treaty Organization International military alliance created to defend western Europe against a possible Soviet invasion. members has long been marred by friction over Cyprus, divided since a 1974 Turkish invasion. Wednesday's trouble began after the funeral After the Funeral is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1953 under the title of Funerals are Fatal of Tassos Isaac Anastasios (Tassos) Isaac (Greek: Αναστάσιος (Τάσος) Ισαάκ) (1972 - 11 August 1996), was a Greek Cypriot activist. , 24, who was beaten to death Sunday when Greek Cypriots stormed into the U.N.-patrolled zone between the Greek Cypriot south and Turkish Cypriot north. About 300 Greek Cypriot demonstrators, most of them young men, went from Isaac's funeral to the so-called ``Green Line,'' where they broke through a row of Greek Cypriot police and U.N. peacekeepers. After placing a wreath and a Greek Cypriot flag on the spot where Isaac was killed, they began throwing stones at a Turkish military post across the zone. A cousin of Isaac, Solomos Spirou Solomou, 26, was shot and killed when he tried to climb a flagpole to haul down the Turkish flag flying over the post. The 1,200 peacekeepers on the 112-mile ``Green Line'' have generally kept the peace since the 1974 Turkish invasion that followed an Athens-backed coup by supporters of union with Greece. The Turks captured the northern third of the island, and the minority Turkish Cypriots Ethnically Turkish inhabitants of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus are referred to as Turkish Cypriots. The term is sometimes used to refer explicitly to the indigenous Turkish Cypriots, as opposed to the Turkish migrants who have settled there since the Cyprus conflict of 1974. declared it a separate republic in 1983. It is recognized only by Turkey. The Greek Cypriot government is internationally recognized. While there has been occasional shooting between soldiers, Isaac was the first Greek Cypriot protester killed in the buffer zone. The 11 wounded Wednesday included two British U.N. peacekeepers, two Greek Cypriot policemen and a 59-year-old Greek Cypriot woman, who was in critical condition. U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Arabic: بطرس بطرس غالي Coptic: BOYTPOC BOYTPOC ΓΑΛΗ) (born November 14, 1922) is an Egyptian diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from deplored the violence and appealed for calm while U.S. State Department spokesman Glyn Davies said the United States was telling all sides that ``provocative acts really have to stop. That's the only way to end the violence and the bloodshed.'' Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis promised to attend Solomou's funeral, saying, ``The new criminal action by the occupation forces on Cyprus is an unprecedented provocation.'' |
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