Statement of the TRNC Ministry of Foreign Affairs Regarding the Resolution of the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM)

The resolution entitled “The impact of the 1974 intervention on Cypriot women and girls,” brought before the European Parliament Plenary by the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) and adopted by the Plenary on 8 July 2026, constitutes yet another manifestation of the European Parliament’s biased, prejudiced and politically motivated approach to the Cyprus issue.

We strongly condemn this resolution, which distorts the facts surrounding the 1974 Turkish military intervention and unjustly targets both the Turkish Cypriot people and the Republic of Türkiye.

Following the bloody coup carried out on 15 July 1974 by Greece and its Greek Cypriot collaborators on the island with the aim of annexing the island to Greece and annihilation of the Turkish Cypriot people, the Republic of Türkiye undertook a legitimate intervention on 20 July 1974 in accordance with its rights and obligations under the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee. This intervention brought an end to the systematic attacks, massacres and grave human rights violations committed by the Greek Cypriot side against the Turkish Cypriot people between 1963 and 1974. The intervention of the Turkish Armed Forces not only ensured the safety and security of the Turkish Cypriot people, but also prevented the possibility of mass atrocities on the island and safeguarded the existence and freedom of our people. Rather than acknowledging the atrocities and crimes against humanity committed against the Turkish Cypriot people by the Greek Cypriot side during this period, the European Parliament has once again exceeded its mandate by directing unfounded accusations against the heroic Turkish Armed Forces.

This unacceptable resolution targeting Türkiye will serve no purpose other than contributing to Greek Cypriot propaganda aimed at misleading the international community.

Prior to the adoption of this pro-Greek Cypriot resolution, the women Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus sent letters to the Chair of the relevant Committee of the European Parliament, responding to these unfounded allegations and making every effort to present the realities on the island accurately and transparently. Nevertheless, despite these efforts, the adoption of the resolution once again demonstrates that the European Union and its institutions have long since abandoned any claim to impartiality on the Cyprus issue and have instead become instruments for promoting the narratives of the Greek Cypriot side.

Such resolutions, which disregard the will of the Turkish Cypriot people, ignore their inherent rights and deliberately distort the realities on the island, are null and void from our perspective and carry no legitimacy whatsoever.

We call upon the European Parliament to abandon its one-sided approach, to refrain from using the Cyprus issue as a political instrument and to respect the historical facts and the existing realities on the island.

A just, lasting, and sustainable agreement in Cyprus can only be achieved on the basis of cooperation that reflects the realities on the island and is founded upon the sovereign equality and equal international status of the two sides. Politically motivated and biased resolutions adopted by the European Parliament cannot alter this reality.

As the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, we will continue, shoulder to shoulder with our Motherland Türkiye, to steadfastly defend the rights and sovereignty of our people.