No more tanks in north’s July 20 parade

The so-called ‘Central Committee of National Celebrations’ in northern Cyprus has decided that the July 20 ‘celebrations’ of the Turkish invasion will no longer feature tanks, the Cyprus News Agency reported on Monday.

Citing sources from the north, the CNA said tanks, F-16 aircraft, and other heavy fighting vehicles are no longer to take part in the annual July 20 parade marking the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974, which Turkish Cypriots celebrate as a ‘peace operation’.

According to the CNA’s sources, the decision was made at the suggestion of Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.

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.