Patrick Baz, AFP/Getty Images
A cruise ship visiting the second largest city in Cyprus Tuesday caused an uproar after handing out "welcome to Turkey" flyers to its passengers, according to a local news outlet.
The Cypress Mail reports that local officials in the southern city of Limassol scheduled to attend an event marking the arrival of the Costa Atlantica were so furious they refused to board the ship.
"It's incomprehensible what happened because we're an EU member country and our national sovereignty is not negotiable," Cypress deputy mayor Sawas Stouppas told the news outlet.
The issue of Cyprus' sovereignty in relation to Turkey is a sensitive topic in the country, which was invaded by Turkey in the 1970s. The northern part of Cyprus remains controlled by Turkey via an entity calling itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The international community considers the area an occupied territory of Cyprus.
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