Rights group asks Turkish Cypriots to release migrants

A human rights group on Thursday urged Turkish Cypriot authorities in the breakaway north of ethnically split Cyprus to release 175 Syrian migrants that it says have been kept under house arrest since their rescue from a capsized boat last month.

Human Rights Watch said the asylum seekers, among them 69 children, haven't been tested for Covid-19, are confined to cramped apartments and are under constant surveillance even after a mandatory 14-day confinement period.

It said Turkish Cypriot authorities intend to return them to Turkey from where they departed, but the Turkish government refuses to take them because of coronavirus concerns.

The group said the migrants, most of whom fled Aleppo and Idlib, arrived to the island nation's north after Greek Cypriot police from the internationally recognized south turned them away Mar. 20 after offering them food and...