Denktash calls for recognition

TURKISH Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash yesterday called upon the Greek Cypriots to accept his breakaway state and reiterated that the Turkish people will never surrender their ‘republic’.

Denktash who took the salute at a military parade in the occupied part of Nicosia, marking the July 20, 1974, Turkish invasion of the island, urged the government to accept and recognise his ‘state’.

"Like we recognise you, like we accept your Greek government, accept us in the same sense. Join us and we will establish bridges of friendship," Denktash said. "Recognise that our Turkish people will not surrender their Turkish republic."

Crowds holding red and white balloons and flags cheered as parachutists draped with Turkish flags landed at the parade site.

Turkish tanks lumbered down the road and F-16 fighters flew overhead in the first major show of force by Turkish air power in 18 months.

The show of strength came just days after appeals by the United Nations for the two sides to be restrained in their anniversary events.

Diplomatic sources said the parade was upgraded compared to other years.

"The presence of these planes goes against the Secretary-general’s plea for both sides to be restrained in the events marking the anniversary," a UN spokeswoman told Reuters news agency.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.