Greek Cypriot and Turkish Soldier Die in Cyprus Clash

NICOSIA, Cyprus — A Turkish soldier who burst into a Greek Cypriot home in the U.N. buffer zone in Cyprus on Saturday and allegedly attempted to rape a woman died in a police assault on the house after he had killed a Greek Cypriot soldier and wounded another, witnesses said.

U.N. peacekeepers called on the Turk to leave the house, but he opened fire with an automatic rifle, the witnesses added. The Turkish soldier died in a rifle and grenade assault on the house by a Greek Cypriot anti-terrorist squad about 20 minutes later.

In breakaway northern Cyprus, Turkish Cypriot officials stressed that the clash was not between the two armies on the divided island. They said the Turk was either trying to defect or had lost his way.

In the south, a statement from the National Guard general staff said the Turk shot the soldiers after trying to rape a Greek Cypriot woman in her house in the village of Athienou. The Greek Cypriot family in the house escaped and alerted National Guardsmen at a nearby post, it said.

Athienou, east of Nicosia, is in a disputed area of the U.N.-controlled buffer zone. There is also a Greek Cypriot military presence.

In Ankara, official sources said the dead Turk was a fugitive who deserted his unit two days ago. Northern Cypriot officials said they had told U.N. forces that a Turkish soldier was missing.

“The Turkish Cypriot side is investigating how this soldier entered the buffer zone without being noticed . . . and why the U.N. force allowed Greek Cypriot troops into the buffer zone to engage in a shoot-out with the Turkish soldier,” said one senior Turkish Cypriot official, who declined to be identified.

Cyprus government spokesman Akis Fantis blamed Turkey for the incident and described the behavior of Turkish troops as provocative.

“The blame rests entirely with Turkey for this deadly incident. The Turkish occupation forces, far from safeguarding the security of the Turkish Cypriots, endanger peace in our country,” he said in a statement.

29,000 Turkish Troops

A spokesman for the Turkish General Staff, in command of an estimated 29,000 Turkish troops occupying north Cyprus, had no comment to make on the clash.

The incident was the second in a week in the buffer zone separating the island’s bitterly divided communities. Last Saturday a Turkish Cypriot was killed and two Austrian soldiers, who were part of the U.N. forces, were wounded in shootings at Pyla village, the only mixed village of Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the zone.

The U.N. casualties were the first since three Austrians died in Turkey’s 1974 invasion and occupation of the northern third of the island.

Cyprus has since been divided and Turkish Cypriots, comprising 18% of the population, unilaterally declared a breakaway state in the occupied north in 1983. Only Turkey recognizes the state.