Turkey on Monday remembered Turkish Cypriots who lost their lives during the "Bloody Christmas" massacre in 1963.
In a message on Twitter, the Turkish Defense Ministry said: "57 years ago today, planned and brutal attacks were launched against our Turkish Cypriot brothers by the Greek terrorist organization EOKA (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston)."
"We commemorate our martyrs with mercy on the anniversary of these attacks which started the conflicts on the island and went down in history as #KanliNoel (BloodyChristmas)," it added.
While the Turkish Cypriots were discriminated against and alienated by the Greek Cypriots in state institutions, systematic and comprehensive attacks began on Dec. 21, 1963, when a bloody incident, later termed as "Bloody Christmas," took place.
A total of 103 Turkish Cypriot villages were attacked, leading to hundreds of deaths. The bloody campaign also displaced 30,000 Turkish Cypriots, who had to take shelter in an area constituting merely 3% of the island.
In 1967, a military junta ousted the government in Greece and started to destabilize the island. The junta struck two villages on the island of Cyprus, Boğaziçi (Agios Sergios) and Geçitkale (Lefkoniko), both located in the Famagusta district.
Bülent Ecevit, then-prime minister of Turkey, instructed the military to take action and the Cyprus Peace Operation was launched on July 20, 1974.
With fighter jets flying low over the land and paratroops deployed on the island, Turkey prevented the annexation of Cyprus and brought protection to weary Turkish Cypriots.
The peace operation proved Turkey's claims about the persecution of Turks as several mass graves were unveiled in some Turkish Cypriot towns on the island.
The success of the operation paved the way for the establishment of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus on Feb. 13, 1975, with Rauf Denktaş as president.
On Nov. 15, 1983, the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus held an extraordinary session and the members of the parliament unanimously approved the establishment of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
One of the victims of the Bloody Christmas was the ancestor of Mustafa Necmi Ilhan, who is a member of Turkey's Health Ministry's Science Committee.
Talking to Ihlas News Agency (IHA) on Tuesday, Ilhan said: "I am the son of medical major Nihat Ilhan, whose wife and three children were martyred by the Greeks. This action was carried out by the fascist organization called EOKA, which was provoked by Greeks to eradicate Turks from Cyprus, destroy the Turkish presence and expel Turks from the island."
Massacre victims identified
Fourteen Turkish Cypriots, who were brutally killed by EOKA during the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation, will receive headstones after their identities were confirmed through DNA tests.
On Aug. 14, 1974, EOKA raided three Turkish villages in the Famagusta district of Cyprus and killed a total of 126 Turkish Cypriots. In the villages of Muratağa (Maraha) and Sandallar (Santalaris), victims were buried in mass graves. In search efforts between 2015 and 2016, 89 bodies were found in the mass graves. The identities of 14 victims, mostly children between the ages of 4 months and 15 years old, have been confirmed 46 years after the massacre through DNA tests.
Speaking to the Demirören News Agency (DHA), Ahmet Aşır, the chair of the Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda massacre martyrs foundation, said he lost nearly 40 relatives during the massacre.
"A total of 126 people were martyred including 37 people who were killed in Atlılar (Aloda). The martyrdom of Maratha and Santalaris was opened and victims were identified. We have 89 martyrs there. Fifty-eight of them were buried in recent years. Now, 14 more people have been identified. I hope that we will bury them on Dec. 26, and we will wait for our 17 other martyrs to be identified. I hope that we will do our last mission for them in a short time," he said.
According to the 1960 census, the inhabitants of the three villages were entirely Turkish Cypriots. The total population of Maratha and Santalaris was 207. By 1973, the total population of the villages had risen to 270, with 124 in Maratha, 100 in Santalaris and 46 in Aloda. However, in July 1974, following the first Turkish operation of Cyprus, all men of fighting age were taken away as prisoners of war to internment camps in Famagusta and from there transferred to Limassol. Upon the launch of the second operation of the Turkish Army, EOKA killed almost the entire population of three villages, mostly women and children.
The United Nations at the time described the massacre as a crime against humanity by saying "a further crime against humanity committed by the Greek and Greek Cypriot gunmen." The massacre was reported by international media, including The Guardian and The Times. Denktaş put off a meeting with Greek Cypriots after the mass grave was uncovered.