The issue of who controls the arrivals of Turkish soldiers and their families is being covered by three front-page newspapers today, with official information saying that 53 people arrived in the port of Famagusta from Mersin yesterday, 30 of them being soldiers.

Geni Duzen has the main issue on her front page and writes that “Transport Minister” Tolga Atakan said that these are normal replacements and that the coordination for the arrival of new members of the Turkish army personnel in the occupied territories, has the ministry health”.

However, “Deputy Health Minister” Ali Chiaigior told Geni Duzen that they did not know, did not have information, about the arrival of the military and their families and could not intervene in the whole matter.

Havadis writes that the partial return to normalcy for the port of Famagusta began on Sunday and the first ship to arrive yesterday was the Turkish Toros with 120 passengers. According to the report, 30 were military and an additional 45 were members of their families. There were also members of the Turkish Water Department and truck drivers for projects involving the transfer of water from Turkey to the occupied territories. The latter entered a 14-day quarantine at the Malpas Hotel in the area of Kyrenia. However, Havadis states that the days of control upon arrival were strict.

Africa writes that the military and their families have been quarantined in the Morphou student dormitories (essentially controlled by the Turkish “embassy” in the occupied territories), noting that the actual number of those who came was not known, as official information says 53 people, but some also talk about 120 (all the passengers of the ship Toros). A total of 1,500 soldiers and officers are expected to arrive, the newspaper previously reported.

It should be noted that we deliberately chose not to republish the latest publication of “Africa” which spoke of the descent of 1500 Turkish soldiers, without specifying whether it was a replacement for other soldiers of the occupying forces or additional force and we expected confirmation of our information.

According to the “Minister of Transport”, Tolga Atakan, indeed these are indeed replacements.