''Turkish Cypriots survived genocide thanks to Turkey,'' says Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a speech he delivered to Turkish military personnel at a dinner Monday, not only defended the Turkish invasion of Cyprus but went even further by arguing that if Turkish forces had moved further south in 1974, then Cyprus might be all Turkish today

More specifically, Erdogan said:

“Half a century ago, the Turkish Cypriots came back from the brink of genocide. In the Peace Operation of 1974, 498 of our soldiers from all corners of the country, officers, non-commissioned officers and civilians, were martyred. Despite all the pressures, if it were not for Turkey’s intervention, neither the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus nor the Turkish Cypriots would exist today. In fact, perhaps if we had pushed south, and I say this as a child of the present, there would be no more south and north and Cyprus would be completely ours.”