“We must work to heal the wounds and fade the scars,” President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades has said as Cyprus marks forty one years from the 1974 Turkish invasion.
“This is a day of sorrow and of sad memories, forty one years on memories are still fresh. At the same time our obligation and our duty to the country and to those who have lost their lives become more pressing,” the President said, after a memorial service, held at the “Tomb of Makedonitissa”, a military cemetery in Nicosia where officers and soldiers killed during the 1974 Turkish invasion are buried.
He said that as this unacceptable state of affairs and the occupation continue, “we must work to heal the wounds and fade the scars.”
“I would like to hope that the present phase of the UN-led peace talks, which has the prospect of creating a modern country that protects fully everybody’s human rights, a country on an equal footing with the rest of the EU member-states, will secure the prospect for the future of our island,” he said, adding “only in this way we can wash the shame and the worst which might result if the Cyprus problem remains unresolved.”
Invited to comment on an illegal visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the northern Turkish-occupied areas of Cyprus to attend celebrations marking Ankara’s invasion, Anastasiades said “the fact that some are celebrating and others are mourning is sad.”
It is however comforting to hear the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci say that the Turkish invasion may be called a `peaceful operation` but nevertheless it was a war during which the Greek Cypriots suffered most.
“Let us hope that at least Erdogan will express his country`s determination to end this unacceptable situation refraining from any provocations,” Anastasiades concluded.
The Turkish invasion, launched 41 yeas ago today, led to the occupation of 37 per cent of the island`s territory. President Anastasiades and the new Turkish Cypriot leader embarked earlier this year on UN-led talks to reunify the island under a federal roof.