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Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has criticised a proposal linked to the European Union’s 2027 budget that could provide funding for a memorial in the Republic of Cyprus.
The reaction followed an opinion by the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality concerning the EU budget. According to Ankara, the proposal includes funding for the construction of a memorial in Cyprus.
In a statement issued on September 3, the Turkish Foreign Ministry dismissed the proposed project as a “so-called memorial”, alleging that it was intended to level “slanderous allegations against the Turkish Armed Forces”.
The ministry also restated Ankara’s longstanding account of the events of 1974, referring to Turkey’s military invasion of Cyprus as the “Cyprus Peace Operation”.
According to the statement, Turkey’s intervention prevented the destruction of the Turkish Cypriot community and brought peace to the island, which Ankara claims has endured for more than five decades.
The Republic of Cyprus and the international community, however, regard the 1974 Turkish military intervention as an invasion that resulted in the occupation of the island’s northern part. Cyprus remains divided, with the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus exercising effective control over the south.
Ankara accused the Cypriot government of distorting historical events and using them for political purposes.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry also directed criticism at EU institutions, claiming they were abandoning impartiality and fairness rather than helping efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem.
It accused European bodies of becoming instruments of what it described as Greek Cypriot propaganda and said such actions damaged trust between the island’s communities.
The statement concluded with a call for EU officials not to become tools of groups which, according to Ankara, are seeking to distance Turkey from the European Union.
