Foreign Ministry concerned over Turkey's distortion of truth about 1974 invasion

The Foreign Ministry expresses its concern over Ankara's attempts to distort the historical truth in relation to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the ongoing illegal occupation of the northern territories of the island.

In a press release, the Ministry pointed out that it is widely accepted that recent posts by the Turkish Foreign Ministry on a social media platform unsuccessfully attempted to distort the historical reality by equating the victim of an invasion with the actual perpetrators and executors of it.

The Foreign Ministry says that Turkey, under the pretext of the alleged restoration of the constitutional order, invaded Cyprus in July 1974, "an act illegal and contrary to International Law. Since then it continues to occupy 36% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, settling the occupied part of Cyprus and attempting to change the demographic character of the island."

It notes that Turkey, with its hybrid tactics, is still trying to Islamise the occupied territories, weaken the secular character of the Turkish Cypriot community and create conditions of dependence of the Turkish Cypriots on Turkey.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs underlines that the international community has at times taken positions in a clear and legally binding manner on the actual events and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.  "The international community is aware that all that Turkey did was to spread havoc, turn a third of the population of Cyprus to refugees in their own homeland, implement its partitionist plans and consolidate new faits accomplis", it states, adding that the peak of Turkey's provocations is its obsession with imposing a two-state solution on Cyprus.

In its press release, the Foreign Ministry also said that it will continue the path of rationality and justice, without following "Turkey's rhetorical insanity."

"We are making persistent and sincere efforts to create conditions that will allow the resumption of negotiations to reach a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus issue on the basis of the bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality, as defined in the relevant UN resolutions".  In addition, the Republic of Cyprus, being an internationally recognized state, a full member of the UN, the EU and other international organizations, will continue to walk the path of international law and international legitimacy, creating conditions of security and prosperity for all the inhabitants of the island, while contributing to the security and stability of the wider region of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.