There was no issue of the newspaper on Nov 18, 1967 on account of Shab-i-Barat. The following extract and visual are from the previous day’s issue.

ISTANBUL: Turkey today [Nov 16] alerted its Armed Forces and sealed off its main airports for all but military planes following yesterday’s Greek and Turkish Cypriot fighting in Cyprus. The moves followed an all-night crisis Cabinet session attended by the Armed Forces commanders.

At least 23 Turkish-Cypriot were killed in an eight-hour battle in and around the all-Turkish Cypriot village of Citakle (Kophinou) and the adjacent mixed population village of Togazici (Ayios Theodoros), it was disclosed by United Nations Peace Force Head quarters in Nicosia today. The sources said that UN Peace Force medical teams in the battle zone, after the withdrawal of Greek-Cypriot National Guardsmen this morning, found a total of 23 bodies in the villages.

President Cevdet Sunay, visiting the Third Army unit in Eastern Turkey, cancelled his trip and returned to Ankara, the capital, this morning. A special Parliament session was scheduled today and the Government is expected to seek Parliamentary authority to handle the new crisis.

Heavy military traffic was reported throughout Turkey as officers and troops came under orders. Leaving an emergency Cabinet meeting this morning, Premier Suleyman Demirel said: “The Greeks have evacuated the Turkish villages they occupied ... I hope these assaults will not be repeated.”

UN Peace Force was informed officially at 3 a.m. local (0600 WPST) that instruction had been given to Greek-Cypriot National Guard forces occupying Turkish-Cypriot areas to withdraw before dawn and to return to positions held before the fighting broke out. The withdrawal was completed by 6 a.m. local, the announcement added. The UNFICYP Blue Helmets were combing the battle area in search of further casualties; they were later to pull back to various points in the area in readiness for possible outbreaks.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2017