Greek Cypriot farmers cultivating their fields along the Mammari buffer zone on the outskirts of Nicosia reported harassment and attacks by Turkish army soldiers and 'police' yesterday afternoon, 300 meters from a Turkish outpost, with one eye witness saying they were pelted with stones, threatened and bullied into an attempt at getting off their tractors so they could arrest them.
'The UN stood idly by', farmer Gavriel Gerolemou told Antenna TV, as Turkish soldiers warned them they would be arrested if they stayed.
President Christodoulides said this was a very serious incident and the government had made representations to the UN, monitoring the situation.
'This piracy was a result of Turkish occupation army actions', he added.
'We are taking this quite seriously', he further underscored, condemning the action as unacceptable and noting that the 'primary consideration was the safety of locals'.
Mammari residents described the situation on the buffer zone yesterday as 'very tense', escalating to the early afternoon incident.