By George Psyllides
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the ongoing talks to reunify the island must come to fruition, as he visited Cyprus on Monday to take part in events marking the July 20, 1974 invasion.
“Now there are signs that the process will be decisively carried out by both sides. I think these talks offer an opportunity that should not be missed,” Erdogan ssaid following a meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.
The Turkish president said he hoped the two sides would reach a fair result provided there will be political equality.
Speaking at a joint news conference after the meeting, Akinci said Erdogan and Turkey supported the ongoing negotiations, expressing hope that Cypriots have learned their lesson.
“I hope that enough lessons have been derived in the past 41 years and that it is now clear that our current situation does not date back to July 20, 1974. There is also a July 15, 1974 that needs to be remembered,” he said of the coup to overthrow president Makarios.
The Turkish Cypriot leader expressed “sincere hope” that Cypriots would not have to live through such situations again.
“The current and the past generations in Cyprus had a lost of pain and suffering. The next generations must share only friendship and peace,” he said.
Speaking at an event later in the day, Akinci sought to clarify a statement he made referring to the invasion as a war.
“It was an expression of reality and not an admission,” he said, adding that he had been saying the same thing on every July 20 since.
It was the first time any Turkish Cypriot leader had used the word ‘war’ in referring to the Turkish invasion or acknowledged the effects it had on the Greek Cypriot population.
According to Turkish Cypriot media, in his statement, Akinci said: “There is no doubt what we called ‘peace operation’ can also say it was a war. And the war’s conditions were undoubtedly difficult and challenging. After the great suffering the Turkish Cypriot people experienced in the 1950s and 1960s, the Greek Cypriot community too was one of the biggest victims of the 1974 tragedy caused by the Greek junta”.
Akinci said without July 20, the coup would have undoubtedly been legalised.
“It hurts but it is a reality that in certain periods of history, social structure had democratic weaknesses and coups are applauded instead of condemned,” he said.
“July 20 must be judged from this view: it was an operation to prevent the coupist regime and Enosis (union with Greece) from growing roots,” he said.
