Turkey slams Greek Cyprus' suppression of Ataturk in history textbook

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey on Wednesday "strongly condemned" an instruction by the Greek Cypriot administration for English teachers to rip out a page in a textbook mentioning Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic.

The Greek Cypriot administration's latest controversial move "exposes the radicalism of its distorted mentality" against Turkey and Turkish Cyprus, said a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement.

"We strongly condemn the outdated, hostile, and unacceptable move by the Greek administration of Southern Cyprus," said the statement.

Telling how Greek Cyprus for years trapped the Cyprus issue in a deadlock, Ankara said this latest move shows the Greek Cypriot administration has no intention of sharing power and property on the island, let alone co-existing with the Turkish Cypriots.

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece's annexation led to Turkey's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded in 1983.