President Tatar receives Cuellar
14 May, 2024President Tatar meets with Piero Fassino
17 May, 2024We strongly condemn the destruction of and the attack to the historical Arnavut Cami in Limassol and the paintings on its walls. It is not possible to evaluate this attack independently from the attacks made at regular intervals to different historical mosques in the Greek Cypriot Administration (GCA) of Southern Cyprus, such as the attacks on İbrahimağa Köprülü Mosque, Larnaca Grand Mosque and Denya Mosque. The continuity of such attacks is a clear indication of the racist mentality in the GCA and the intolerance towards the Turkish and Islamic existence on the Island.
Greek Cypriots residing in GCA are given permissions to hold regular collective religious service at numerous churches in different cities in TRNC, with priests of their own choices, many times every month. Despite the tolerance shown by our State to the freedom of religion and worship of Greek Cypriots, we have received only one positive answer since 2019 to our requests for collective visits to mosques and tekkes located in the GCA. Restrictions over the religious freedom of our citizens, regular attacks to our mosques over the years and the impunity of these attacks clearly reveal the difference in vision and the difference in tolerance of the two sides towards religious freedom, and the imbalance in the two sides’ approaches to the issue.
Attacks on our mosques located in the GCA have been left unpunished for years, thus encouraging crimes of similar nature. We call on the GCA this time not to leave this attack on our cultural and religious heritage unpunished, to identify and punish the perpetrators soon as possible, and to take all necessary measures to ensure that such attacks are not repeated.