Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar sharply denounced the burning of his country's flags in demonstrations held on the Greek Cypriot side of the island on the 39th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), the Presidency of the TRNC said Wednesday in a statement.
"Our flags and the TRNC serve as our sanctuaries. Those who harm them will undoubtedly face the necessary response," Tatar said.
The TRNC was established on Nov. 15, 1983, almost a decade after Türkiye's Cyprus Peace Operation on the island, which stopped persecution and violence against Turkish Cypriots by ultranationalist Greek Cypriots. Türkiye is a guarantor country for the TRNC.
Greek Cypriots on Tuesday, Nov. 15, TRNC’s Republic Day, reportedly burned Turkish Cyprus flags while chanting anti-Turkish Cypriot slogans. "Entirely encouraged by the Greek Cypriot administration and the Greek Orthodox Church who brainwash Greek Cypriot youth with racist, fascist, anti-Turkish ideas," Tatar said.
Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu strongly condemned recent statements by the foreign ministry of the Greek Cypriot administration regarding the 39th anniversary of the TRNC's foundation, the TRNC Foreign Ministry said in another statement.
"Contrary to what the Greek Cypriot administration's foreign ministry says, the Turkish Cypriot people are not a 'minority.' They are an honorable people who have succeeded in establishing their own state by using their right to self-determination," the statement quoted Ertuğruloğlu as saying.
"Contrary to the Greek Cypriots, TRNC, along with mainland Türkiye, has adopted a progressive policy based on a two-state formation far from artificial solutions," the ministry noted.
"TRNC, which meets all the criteria to be a ‘state,’ will continue taking all the necessary steps for its recognition," it assured.
In a statement released on the occasion of the 39th anniversary of the TRNC, the Greek Cypriot administration's foreign ministry claimed ongoing efforts for a two-state solution in Cyprus were "in vain and unsuccessful."
The statement claimed that the TRNC "violated" the legal status in the eastern fenced-off coastal area of Varosha (Maraş), which had virtually become a ghost town, as it remained cut off from the world for 47 years. A portion of the region – just about 3.5% of its total area – was reopened in October 2020. Maraş was abandoned after a 1984 U.N. Security Council resolution that said only the original inhabitants could resettle in the town.
Cyprus issue
The island has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts 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 of the island led to Türkiye's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. 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 Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom.
The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the European Union in 2004, the same year when Greek Cypriots thwarted a U.N. plan to end the longstanding dispute.