President Erdoğan: “We will always support the TRNC”

Speaking at a ceremony for the July 20 Peace and Freedom Day in the TRNC, President Erdoğan said: “Our efforts aimed at breaking the isolation and lifting the embargo, the Turkish Cypriots are unjustly and unlawfully subjected to, will further increase. We will always support the TRNC, which was founded on the blood of our martyrs, in order for it to become a powerful, prosperous and prestigious country.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at a ceremony held for the July 20 Peace and Freedom Day in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

Prior to the ceremony, President Erdoğan laid a wreath at the Atatürk’s Monument in Lefkoşa and signed the special book at the monument.

Voicing his pleasure over being in the TRNC on the 50th anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation, President Erdoğan drew attention to the importance of the Operation, and said: “The period between 1963 and 1974 was a period of blood, tears and oppression for the Turkish Cypriots when they were confined to the 3 per cent of the Island. The Turkish Cypriots were being both excluded from the country, of which they were both a founder and a partner, and exposed to the inhumane pressures and attacks of the EOKA. Even the United Nations Peace Force, which was deployed to the Island, failed to stop the glut of insanity, or prevent the massacre. It was 1974 when the inhumane attacks that threatened the existence of the Turkish Cypriots peaked. 50 years ago, gallant Turkish soldiers took a historic step to remove the dagger sought to be stabbed at the future of the Turkish Cypriots. July 20, 1974 was the date, when we as the homeland and a guarantor country took action with our rights and obligations emanating from international agreements and the responsibility put on our shoulders by history.”

Underscoring that Türkiye sees July 20 as the symbol of the preservation of the sovereign rights and equal status of the Turkish Cypriot people, President Erdoğan went on to say: “In the south of the Island on the other hand, there is unfortunately a spoilt mentality which sees themselves as the sole owner of the Cyprus island. We are faced with such a grave situation that the Greek leader attends the commemorations for EOKA terrorists, our Turkish Cypriot brothers and sisters are attacked and detained whenever they cross into the south, and the mosques in the south are set on fire. The Greeks openly show that they have no intention to share with the Turkish Cypriot the political power and the island’s economic prosperous, including natural resources. Recently, the Greek Defense Minister unfortunately made irrational statements. When I met with Mr. Mitsotakis abroad, I told him that I would be in the TRNC on July 20, and that I heard that he would be in the south. When I asked if he was thinking of any provocations against us from there like Dendias, he answered that he had no such intention. And I said that there is then no problem.”

Stressing that highly reckless steps, which have the risk of threatening the security of the entire island, have been taken in the face of the ongoing conflicts, President Erdoğan noted that nothing can be achieved by ignoring the realities in the island, and added: “We believe that a federal solution is not possible in Cyprus.”

“It has always been the Turkish Cypriots and Türkiye, which sincerely want solution, and make sacrifices, take risks and display a will to that end,” President Erdoğan said, and continued as follows: “President Tatar’s two-state solution vision he set out at the meeting in Geneva in April 2023 is very noteworthy. The Turkish Cypriot side should sit at the negotiation table on an equal basis in every area with the Greek side. Therefore, we say, ‘if you want solution then recognize the acquired rights of the Turkish Cypriots’. I hope that we will see the days when the leaders of the guarantor countries of the Island will visit together the two states.”