arrested on Saturday after entering an off-limit military area in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, allegedly to visit destroyed Orthodox churches there.
Authorities later said the two MEPs -- both of them Poles -- had been released, but that the investigation of the two Greek Cypriots was continuing.
State news agency CNA said "Turkish occupation forces" carried out the arrests "at around 10:00 am (0800 GMT), in the churchyard of Agia Zoni, which is situated within the fenced-off area of Famagusta, occupied by the Turkish military."
It said four MEPs had been arrested -- Cypriot Eleni Theocharous; Jaroslav Walesa, son of former Polish president Lech Walesa; fellow Pole Artur Zasada and Bulgarian Mariya Nedelcheva.
It also said Cypriot Orthodox Bishop Porfyrios of Neapolis, the church's Brussels-based representative to the European Union and an expert on its cultural heritage in the north, was among those detained.
However, Cypriot Presidential Commissioner George Iacovou said only the Poles and two Greek Cypriots -- former MP Yiannakis Matsis and Loizos Afxentious -- had been arrested and that only the Cypriots were still being held.
That coincided with a statement from the Turkish Cypriot military. It said the four were part of a group of 11 tourists from the south, four of whom had illegally entered the fenced-off area known as Varosha.
Famagusta police determined that Matsis had "intentionally" taken the Poles into the prohibited military zone with "the excuse of showing them his house," the statement said.
An AFP correspondent in Turkish-controlled Nicosia said the two Greek Cypriots would probably be released on Sunday after being fined.
Various reports had said earlier that as many as 11 people had been arrested.
Iacovou said the confusion apparently stemmed from the fact that the other seven people in the group stayed behind with those who had been arrested "in solidarity" with them.
CNA quoted government spokesman Stephanos Stephanou as saying "this illegal action, which demonstrates what the occupation means, undermines and dynamites the efforts for achieving a solution in the Cyprus issue."
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops seized and occupied its northern third in response to a Greek inspired coup in Nicosia to join the island with Greece.
The internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government in the south and the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognised only by Turkey, are holding UN-brokered talks to end the island's division.
State radio reported it had spoken with Theocharous after the arrests and that she had said the group had gone to the north to witness first-hand the "destruction of Greek Orthodox churches in the north."
The Church of Cyprus claims that, since the 1974 invasion, more than 500 churches in the north have been pillaged and many archaeological and other cultural heritage sites abandoned to the elements.
Also, hundreds of icons, frescoes and other valuable artefacts have been stolen and found their way onto the black market. Bishop Porfyrios leads church efforts to recover them.
source: AFP
