CYPRUS MAIL (Nicosia) 09 July 11 Shock over arson attack on turtle protector’s car (Patrick Dewhurst)
Ecologists were left shocked and outraged yesterday by the heinous” and “barbaric” arson attack on a turtle conservationist’s car in Paphos.
Police are investigating a suspected arson attack against former Fisheries Director Andreas Demetropoulos in Arodhes village near Paphos on Thursday.
In what is believed to be a continuation of longstanding tensions between local developers and conservationists, several unknown assailants set alight Demetropoulos’ jeep outside his home, causing €10,000 worth of damage.
Demetropoulos, current chief of the Association for Protection of Wild Life said yesterday: “I returned home around 11.45am and around half an hour later heard noises outside my home. When I looked outside my car was on fire.”
Asked about possible motives for the attack, he said: “We don’t know who it could be, but it might have something to do with legal action over buildings in the Lara beach area.”
Demetropoulos explained that for many years developers and turtle conservationists have been at loggerheads over the construction near the nesting sites but now the conservation was continuing at the government’s request. Demetropoulos is contracted out to them.
The Cyprus Conservation Foundation Terra Cypria issued a statement yesterday, describing the arson attack as “heinous” and “barbaric”:
“The arson of Demetropoulos’ car in Arodhes seems to be linked directly to the persistent and arduous efforts of the Association for Protection of Wildlife to protect marine turtles and their habitats, particularly in the area to protect marine life in Toxeftra beaches of Lara and the Akamas peninsula.”
Terra Cypria’s Lefkios Sergides added that the attack was not only heinous, but also pointless, since the issue of land use in the turtle conservation areas now falls under EU law and is being implemented by the government, not local conservationists.
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said that the matter would be investigated, indicating that they believe it was a deliberate attack.
Katsounotos said yesterday: “This morning the police chief gave instructions to find the motives of the responsible criminals.”
The arson was also condemned yesterday by Environment Commissioner Charalambos Theopemptou and the House Environment Committee.
Theopemptou said: the attack on Demetropoulos and his wife was not accidental and not the first of its kind. He praised the couple’s lifelong dedication to the protection of the environment. He added that their work had also received international praise, and that the couple deserved to be protected by the law.
A furious environment committee chairman Adamos Adamou said: “These are unacceptable practices” while Green party MP Giorgos Perdikis - linking the attack to Demetropoulos’ campaign against illegal actions in the Akamas pensinsula – said: “To respond to the terrorists, the Environment Committee should convene immediately next week … to highlight the reason for this terrorist attack.”
Perdikis said the arson followed Demetropoulos reporting of two illegal recreation facilities build in a protected area where sea turtles lay their eggs – Lara and Toxeftra. “This is the matter Parliament needs to discuss and give the terrorists an appropriate response,” Perikis said.
The turtles are currently half way through their breeding season with around 150 nests so far: around the same number of nests that was present this time last year.
Last year there were around 700 nests. Of these about 250 were on the west coast, with 430 in Chrysochou Bay and 20 elsewhere.
Shock over arson attack on turtle protector’s car