President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan marked the 48th anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation, saying that solving the issues on the island based on the equality of the Turkish Cypriot people will greatly contribute to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Eastern Mediterranean.
In a letter sent on Wednesday to the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Ersin Tatar, Erdoğan highlighted the importance of the peace operation, which he said forever ended the Greek Cypriot’s attempt to usurp the sovereign equality, rights, legal entity and existence of the Turkish Cypriots.
“The Turkish Cypriot people, who have always proven their commitment to peace and solution throughout history, have shown that they have the capability and the will to overcome all types of trials, thanks to their conscience and solidarity,” the president said, adding that Turkey fully supports the two-state solution presented in Geneva last year. He continued by saying that Turkey also supports Tatar’s suggestions regarding the coexistence of the two people on the island, in a way that would benefit both nations.
Erdoğan also warned that nobody should expect the Turkish Cypriots to sit and watch and that the people will take action for better a better future.
In his message, the president also commemorated the fallen and wounded Turkish soldiers who took part in the peace operation.
Cyprus has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the United Nations to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation led to Turkey's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.
It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom.
The Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted the United Nations' Annan Plan to end the longstanding dispute.
Today, the Turkish side supports a solution based on the equal sovereignty of the two states on the island. On the other hand, the Greek side wants a federal solution based on the hegemony of the Greeks.
