Türkiye will make sure attempts to ethnically cleanse and exclude Turkish Cypriots from the divided Mediterranean island are not forgotten, the country’s Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said Thursday.
"Firstly, atrocities are being committed. Secondly, on the face of these atrocities, there is the glorious and proud resistance of the Turkish Cypriots," Altun said while visiting a Cyprus Facts exhibition in the capital Ankara.
The exhibition depicts the events that led to the Cyprus Peace Operation, which brought an end to the atrocities in Cyprus. It features numerous photographs, newspapers and news notes from that period.
Ersin Tatar, the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), also attended the event.
Altun said Türkiye will hold many activities throughout the year to continue talking about the Cyprus cause across the world, and the exhibit will show how Turkish Cypriots were oppressed under the influence of global powers.
"Again, thanks to the strong support and contribution of the Republic of Türkiye as well as the glorious struggle of the Turkish Cypriots, these genocide attempts were not allowed, and these malevolent activities were brought to an end," he added.
He said they must remember the "bitter truths" of history, adding the TRNC continues to defend the cause of the Turkish Cypriots on the international stage with an approach based on dialogue and diplomacy.
Altun recalled President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's efforts in presenting a two-state solution for the Cyprus issue on various international platforms, including the U.N., adding that making the TRNC an observer member of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) was a confirmation of Ankara's support.
Tatar said the TRNC has always been meticulous about preserving churches and cultural heritage.
"Our expectation from the Greek Cypriots is also the preservation of our 400-year-old cultural heritage in southern Cyprus," he said.
Emphasizing that the Turkish Cypriots are among the "true owners of Cyprus," he said, "Cyprus still carries traces of the Ottoman Empire because the longest period in the history of Cyprus was the Ottoman period."
The Cyprus crisis returned to the fore late last year following an altercation between Turkish Cypriots and U.N. peacekeepers after the world body attempted to intervene in the construction of a humanitarian road on TRNC territory bordering the Green Line in Lefkoşa (Nicosia).
The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Türkiye, as a guarantor power, prompted by a coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island, launched a military intervention dubbed the Cyprus Peace Operation to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.
As a result, TRNC was founded on Nov. 15, 1983.
The division has been a source of tensions since then, including over who holds sway on the island’s offshore exclusive economic zone, over 40% of which was claimed by Türkiye following recent natural gas discoveries.
Türkiye doesn’t recognize the Greek Cypriot administration as a state.
The island 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 U.K.
The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the European Union in 2004, the same year they thwarted a U.N. plan to end the longstanding dispute, but only the Greek Cypriot south enjoys its full benefits.
Efforts to reunify the island have been at a standstill since the last round of U.N.-backed talks collapsed in 2017.
Greek Cypriots’ recently elected leader, Nikos Christodoulides, has been pushing to restart talks with Tatar, including a proposal to get the European Union more invested in the U.N.-facilitated negotiations and appointing a senior official to help guide the process.
Turkish Cyprus strongly opposes the idea because of the EU’s “pro-Greek attitude” regarding the crisis and how it has “blocked an acceptable agreement and perpetuated the status quo.”
