TURKISH troops shot dead an unarmed Greek Cypriot soldier yesterday in a UN controlled buffer zone dividing the capital of Cyprus, Cypriot military officials said.
The President of Cyprus, Mr Glafcos Clerides, condemned the shooting as "cold blooded murder".
The Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, said the youth's death was "a very sad incident".
The 19 year old soldier was shot twice at 6.30 a.m. (local time) west of central Nicosia, a Defence Ministry official, Mr Andreas Charides, said.
"He entered the buffer zone and started talking to a Turkish soldier ... another Turkish soldier close by shot him," Mr Charides said.
The dead soldier, shot in the chest, was identified as Stelios Panayi, a refugee from the Turkish occupied village of Kythrea in north Cyprus. According to unconfirmed reports, the victim met a Turkish soldier to exchange army caps. The same reports indicate that he entered the buffer zone after the Turkish soldier beckoned to him.
The incident on the tense "Green Line" dividing the Mediterranean island came on the day British diplomat, Sir David Hannay, was due to arrive in a fresh effort to secure a Cyprus settlement.
Turkey has some 30,000 troops in northern Cyprus, which it seized during an invasion in July 1974 in the wake of a short lived coup in Nicosia inspired by the Greek military junta. The Turkish occupied areas have been described in UN reports as one of the most densely militarised areas in the world.
The area where the soldier was shot comes under the jurisdiction of the UN Peacekeeping Force on the island, UNFICVP. A British contingent of troops are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the buffer zone in the area where the soldier was shot.
A similar incident occurred in 1993, when a Greek Cypriot soldier was killed approaching a Turkish army sentry post east of Nicosia. He was also unarmed, carrying a bottle of brandy to share with a Turkish soldier on the other side.