Statement by the TRNC Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the racist expressions on the walls of a school in South Cyprus

“We have learned that racist and hostile expressions such as “Cyprus is Hellenic land”, “Turks out”, “EOKA once again” have been written on the walls of the Nicosia Technical School in South Cyprus.

The increasing intolerance against the Turkish Cypriots, one of the two peoples of the island of Cyprus, is the product of the Greek Cypriot education system, in which the distorted history is taught to the Greek Cypriot youth and hostility seeds are sowed into their fresh minds.

As long as the Greek Cypriot leadership does not find the vandals of such acts and bring them to justice, it is evident that these heinous acts will last long. One can observe the increasing intolerance in South Cyprus against the existence of the Turkish Cypriot people, who live in the island since centuries. The repeated statements by the Greek Cypriot leadership, undoubtedly, not only poison the relationship between two peoples but also fuel vandalism in the Greek Cypriot side.

We strongly condemn the incident and expect that the expressions on the walls are immediately erased and the perpetrators of the act are found and punished in shortest possible time”.