The High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus, Antonis Sammoutis, has sent a message to mark the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus today.
Full message in English
Dear Compatriots,
Every July, for over 50 years, we recall with profound sorrow the tragic events of 1974: the treacherous coup and the brutal Turkish invasion. We remember, with hearts full of grief, the thousands of civilians of all ages who were killed by the invader and our missing persons, whose fate remains unknown. We remember our occupied land, our villages and cities, our churches and the graves of our ancestors, which remain under the occupier’s boot, waiting for our return.
The Turkish invasion of 20th July 1974 is undeniably a historic event that has marked our country like no other. Not only because the destruction and devastation it caused were immense, but also because it effectively ended the continuous presence of our people in the northern part of Cyprus for 3,000 years, laying the groundwork for what followed: the total destruction of our cultural heritage, the changing of Greek place names, colonisation, and the complete alteration of our country’s demographic structure. I dare say, even the change in the identity of the Turkish Cypriot community itself, with its gradual economic and social marginalisation by settlers from Turkey, Turkish capital, and imported political Islam.
To reverse the consequences of the invasion, we early on, as far back as 1977, accepted a solution of a bizonal, bicommunal federation in Cyprus. Even this significant political concession now seems insufficient to persuade Turkey to agree to a resolution of our problem, as it steadfastly insists on maintaining troops and intervention rights that negate Cypriot independence, and on provisions that render a future federal state dysfunctional, effectively introducing confederal and thus partitionist provisions. Since the collapse of the last peace effort in 2017, the Turkish side has consistently used the term “sovereign equality” in a new attempt to partition the single and indivisible state sovereignty, with the clear ultimate aim of recognising the pseudo-state it illegally and unilaterally declared in 1983.
Despite the difficulties we described, the Cypriot government under President Nikos Christodoulides has, from the first moment it took office last year, prioritised the resumption of negotiations. Since the entire territory of Cyprus is also EU territory and Turkey remains an EU candidate country, the new effort focuses on mobilising the European Union and, separately, its major Member States, which can offer Turkey the economic incentives that will drive a comprehensive settlement of the problem while also explaining the dangers that stagnation poses for the entire region. At the same time, since the negotiations are always conducted under the auspices of the United Nations, the Cypriot government works closely with the Secretary-General’s envoy, Maria Angela Holguín.
Dear Compatriots,
Fifty years of occupation and division of our homeland is far too long. As we think of the Cypriots and Greek officers and soldiers who remained faithful to their oath to defend their homeland and fell heroically in the unequal battle, we renew our promise that we will not forget Cyprus, we will not lay down our arms, and we will never abandon, no matter how many years pass, the efforts for the freedom and reunification of our homeland.
Antonis Sammoutis
High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus in Australia
