Cyprus angry at US group’s planned trip
Jun 6, 2012, 9:18 AM
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) – Cyprus has condemned plans by a group from the U.S.-based Biblical Archaeology Society to travel to the ethnically split island through its breakaway north.
Cyprus’ Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website Wednesday that the group’s planned arrival on June 11 through Turkish-dominated north would breach Cypriot and international law and be “inconsistent with scholarly ethics.” It appealed to the group to amend its itinerary.
Cyprus was divided in 1974 into a Greek speaking south and a Turkish speaking north in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece.
The Society’s two-week trip to Turkey and Cyprus traces the footsteps of the Apostle Paul on his 1st century A.D. mission to spread Christianity in the region.
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