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Greek, Turkish Cypriots launch crime info exchange
It is a big step for Cyprus where police authorities of rival sides do not communicate and where criminals often attempt to jump the border to escape prosecution, sponsors said.
“There was no connection between law enforcement agencies which is most unusual, and we are remedying that,” said Commander Phil Spence, the deputy senior police advisor for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus.
The United Nations is backing the venture, which is being financed by the United States. An information center was opened on Thursday in the UN-controlled buffer zone splitting Cyprus.
The island was split in a Turkish military intervention in 1974, triggered by a short-lived Greek Cypriot coup engineered by the military then ruling Greece.
The UN-supported team on crime has formally handled 89 cases since it started just over a year ago and has informally exchanged information on hundreds of others. “It has handled murders, theft, people-smuggling and trafficking, leading to prosecutions on both sides,” Spence said.
A UN peacekeeping force, on the island since 1964, patrols a cease-fire line which splits the two sides but which is highly porous. The UN is also facilitating peace talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots launched in 2008, though the sides are still far apart on reaching a deal.
“We hope the cooperation between the sides will turn into the cooperation of the police forces of the constituent states of a federal Cyprus,” said Kudret Özersay, the senior adviser to Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroğlu. But there are still problems.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), recognized only by Ankara, does not have extradition treaties with other jurisdictions and several wanted suspects have fled there in recent years. One of the most high profile is Asil Nadir, head of collapsed British conglomerate Polly Peck. He has been living there since 1993 despite being wanted in the UK.
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