Türkiye on Thursday strongly condemned a recommendation by the European Parliament’s Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality to allocate funds in the 2027 EU budget for a monument planned by the Greek Cypriot administration aimed at defaming the Turkish Armed Forces.
The proposed funding, embedded in the committee's budget opinion, backs a project designed to target Turkish forces who intervened on the island more than five decades ago to stop the systematic persecution of Turkish Cypriots.
"The Turkish Armed Forces prevented the destruction of the Turkish Cypriot people through the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation and brought peace to the entire island, which has endured for over half a century," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, emphasizing that Greek Cypriot claims distort historical facts and weaponize memory for political gain.
Ankara cautioned European leadership against acting as an instrument for factions intent on alienating Türkiye from the bloc, warning that taking sides undermines stability in the region.
"Instead of contributing to a resolution on the Cyprus issue, EU institutions are compromising principles of neutrality and fairness by turning into tools for Greek Cypriot propaganda, which further damages trust between the two communities," the statement added.
Türkiye has long maintained that a durable settlement on the divided island can only be built on the basis of political equality and the acknowledgment of two distinct sovereign states.
