Government condemns Erdogan on invasion anniversary
Statements made by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to the north on Sunday were branded a “blatant offence to international and European law,” by government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis on Monday.
“Turkey’s attempt to hegemonise not only our Turkish Cypriot compatriots, but also the wider region is well known,” he said.
Speaking at an annual celebratory parade in the north to mark the anniversary of the 1974 Turkish invasion, Erdogan reiterated his support of Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and the pursuit of a two-state solution on the island.
Referring to the invasion as a “peace operation”, Erdogan said it had brought “peace and freedom” to Turkish Cypriots.
He claimed that former president Archbishop Makarios had inflicted “a stench of blood on the island”, which “all the flowers of Cyprus could not erase.”
Also speaking on Sunday, President Nikos Christodoulides also said Ankara’s stance demonstrated “an organised and systematic violation of international law and basic human rights.
“The data and incriminating evidence against Turkey are overwhelming and refute the false, repeated narrative that Ankara’s concern was supposedly the interests and protection of the Turkish Cypriots,” Christodoulides said.
He said that to this day Turkey continued to economically, politically and religiously manipulate Turkish Cypriots, refusing access to military archives to ascertain the fate of those still missing.
“It prevents all of us from moving, from settling, from living freely in any part of our homeland we wish,” he said.
Erdogan had signalled Ankara’s commitment to closer cooperation in the future and assured Tatar of Turkey’s full support for his “vision for a two-state solution”, calling on the international community to formally recognise the north.
“Every step we take, every stone we erect is not just a building, a road, or a facility, but also a symbol of our brotherhood, our solidarity, and our shared belief in the future,” he said.
Addressing the Cyprus problem, he stressed that Turkish Cypriots did not have “another 60 years to lose” while Greek Cypriots were insisted on a unitary state.
“Just as our motherland Turkey and the north stood shoulder to shoulder in the past, we continue today with the same determination and in the same direction,” he concluded.
Speaking to reporters on the flight back to Turkey on Monday, Erdogan said he had “no intention of visiting south Cyprus”.
Asked to comment on Christodoulides’ remarks that the Turkish president would be invited to the island for EU meetings during Cyprus’ rotating presidency in the first half of 2026, Erdogan said there were “two states in Cyprus”.
“As they do not recognise the TRNC as a state, we do not recognise south Cyprus as a state. So, a meeting with them would have no place in my book. These are marginal initiatives that do not reflect the will of the Turkish Cypriot people”.
He added that the south has “repeatedly proved that it does not want a solution, it does not want equality or justice, it wants to make the Turkish Cypriots pariahs in their own country.”