Turkish forces on Thursday detained five Egyptian fishermen off Cyprus’ northwestern coast, Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported on Saturday.
Turkey controls part of the Cyprus island, though it is yet to be internationally recognized as Turkish territory.
The Cypriot Government protested the detention on Friday to the United Nations and decried the confiscation of the boat by Turkish forces.
A spokesman for the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) said that the UN is working to resolve the issue.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said that the Egyptian embassy in Cyprus reported that Cypriot foreign ministry officials alerted them that at 10:30 pm Cyprus time, the Turkish navy had detained a Cypriot fishing vessel carrying five Egyptian fishermen.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry continued its 24-hour contact through the Egyptian Embassy in Cyprus with Cyprus’s Foreign Ministry and the UNFICYP to release the fishermen.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
