Turkish Cypriot president decries burning of TRNC flags by Greek Cypriots during demonstrations

By Mehmet Kemal Firik

LEFKOSA, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (AA) - Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar harshly criticized the burning of his country's flags in demonstrations held in the Greek Cypriot administration on the 39th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), the Presidency of the TRNC said Wednesday in a statement.

“Our flags and the TRNC are our sanctuaries. The necessary response will definitely be given to those who do harm to them," Tatar said.

The TRNC was established on Nov. 15, 1983, almost a decade after Türkiye’s Cyprus Peace Operation on the island, which stopped persecution and violence against Turkish Cypriots by ultra-nationalist Greek Cypriots. Türkiye is a guarantor country for the TRNC.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertugruloglu strongly condemned recent statements by the Foreign Ministry of the Greek Cypriot administration regarding the 39th anniversary of the TRNC’s foundation, the TRNC Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Contrary to what the Greek Cypriot Foreign Ministry says, the Turkish Cypriot people are not a 'minority.' They are an honorable people who have succeeded in establishing their own state by using their right to self-determination,” the statement quoted Ertugruloglu as saying.

In a statement released on the occasion of the 39th anniversary of the TRNC, the Greek Cypriot Foreign Ministry claimed that ongoing efforts for a two-state solution in Cyprus were "in vain and unsuccessful."

The statement claimed that the TRNC "violated" the legal status in the eastern fenced-off coastal area of Maras, or Varosha in Greek, which had virtually become a ghost town, as it remained cut off from the world for 47 years. A portion of the region – just about 3.5% of its total area – was reopened in October 2020. Maras was abandoned after a 1984 UN Security Council resolution that said only original inhabitants could resettle in the town.

- Cyprus issue

The island has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts 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 of the island led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. The TRNC was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration was admitted to the EU in 2004, the same year when Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz