The leaders of Turkey and Greece took opposing stances to mark the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus – which led to the division of the island.
Attending a military parade in the northern part of the island, Turkey‘s President Tayyip Erdogan celebrated the day in July 1974 when Turkish warships and troops launched an offensive on the Mediterranean island that Turkey calls a “peace operation”.
Speaking ahead of the parade, he ruled out a peace deal based on a United Nations-endorsed plan for a federation and reaffirmed his support for a two-state deal that Greek Cypriots dismiss as a non-starter.
Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was present for events in the island’s south, including the unveiling of memorials to fallen heroes, church services and a gathering at the Presidential Palace.
While Cyprus is an independent country in the EU, nearly four fifths of the population are Greek Cypriots and less than a fifth are Turkish Cypriots.
Read more: Cyprus: An island of two halves
Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides with his wife and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his wife look at an artwork on the 50th anniversary of the conflict. Pic: Reuters
The source of tension between the two NATO nations occurred after power-sharing in Cyprus fell apart in 1963.
Subsequent fighting led to the division of the island between the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot Republic of Cyprus.
Fast-forward 50 years and the two sides remain at odds about how to improve relations. Greek Cypriots want reunification as a federation while Turkish Cypriots want a two-state settlement.
Helicopters fly during a Turkish military parade. Pic: Reuters
A man remembers his son with the dead man’s brother at a military cemetery, in Nicosia, Cyprus, on the eve of the anniversary. Pic: Reuters
Reaffirming his support for negotiations to establish a two-state solution, Mr Erdogan told crowds in the north of the capital, Nicosia, that Turkey was “ready for negotiations, to meet, and to establish long-term peace and resolution”.
He said a federal solution was not possible and Turkey would “continue to fight with determination for the recognition of the TRNC (breakaway Turkish Cypriot state)” – which is not internationally recognised.
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar added that the breakaway state rejects “domination” by the Greek Cypriot majority and seeks “equal national status”.
The ethnically split island
Mr Erdogan’s remarks could further complicate efforts by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to get both sides back to the negotiating table. His personal envoy, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, has spent the past six months scoping both sides out.
Speaking on the south side of the divided capital, Mr Mitsotakis said Greece had one aim: “A republic of Cyprus with a single sovereignty, a single international personality, a single nationality, in a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, a single state where all citizens will be Cypriots and Europeans, without a foreign occupation army, without outdated guarantees.”
The Turkish-Greek divide on the island was also felt in the UK as around 250 members of the Greek Cypriot community held a protest outside the Turkish embassy in central London calling for troops to leave.
Members of The National Federation of Cypriots protest in London. Pic: PA
Two police vans separated demonstrators from a smaller contingent of around 40 counter-protesters who waved the Turkish flag and that of northern Cyprus and chanted: “Thank you Turkey for saving us.”
Christos Karaolis, the president of the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK (NFC), symbolically delivered a letter to the embassy which was guarded by armed police, and called on the UK government to “take steps to get Turkey back to the negotiating table”.
Britain has a long history of involvement with the island after it fell under the United Kingdom’s administration based on the Cyprus Convention in 1878 and was formally annexed by the UK in 1914 before independence in 1960.
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Greek Cypriots remember the conflict that split the island as a catastrophe that left thousands of people dead or missing and displaced a quarter of the Greek Cypriot population.
The European Union, which Cyprus joined in 2004, urged both sides on the weekend to show “genuine commitment” to a peace deal in line with UN resolutions.
“Too much time has been lost,” an EU spokesperson said, adding: “A forced division can never be a solution. Hope for a better future, a united Cyprus, still exists.”