Cyprus PIO: British Experts on Killing of Turkish Soldier, 96-10-29

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From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

British experts' report reinforces Greek Cypriot stance on killing of Turkish soldier (29/10/1996)

The Turkish regime had blamed the Greek Cypriots for the killing of the soldier who, they claimed, was found dead at an observation post between the Turkish occupied area and the British bases near Aheritou in southeastern Cyprus.

It was claimed by the Turks to have been a retaliatory act following the murder of two young Greek Cypriot demonstrators last August.

The Government of Cyprus denied the accusation saying that no evidence was ever produced about the involvement of any Greek Cypriot.

Investigation of the case was undertaken by the British Bases authorities and their confidential report leads to the conclusion that the killing must have taken place somewhere other than the observation post where the body was allegedly found. Extracts of the six-page document were published by the weekly magazine "Selides" and by the Cyprus News Agency.

They contain irrefutable evidence by a British military expert that evidential aspects in the observation post where the two soldiers were allegedly shot "did not appear consistent with a serious shooting scene".

"With two men allegedly having been shot at close quarter with a number of rounds fired from a high velocity weapon, I fully expected to find human tissue and debris from exit wounds. There was no evidence whatsoever of such exit wounds debris", the writer of the report says.

He adds that "the position of the shell cases simply did not appear consistent with the ejection pattern of shell cases from an automatic weapon".

The report also points out there were only small patches of blood droplets and that "the inside of the building was otherwise remarkably clean."

The British expert remarks there was only a small path of smeared dried blood outside the observation post, consistent with something having been dragged across the rock. "There was otherwise no visible evidence of a shooting incident", he says.

Both soldiers were removed from the observation post before the Bases police arrived at the scene, according to the British Bases Police report.

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