UPDATE - Türkiye to ensure ethnic cleansing, exclusion of Turkish Cypriots is not forgotten: Communications director

ADDS REMARKS FROM TRNC’S PRESIDENT

By Esra Tekin and Muhammet Tarhan

ISTANBUL/ANKARA (AA) – Türkiye will always remember the efforts of ethnic cleansing and exclusion directed towards the Turkish Cypriots and will not let them be forgotten, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said Thursday.

“Firstly, there are atrocities being committed. Secondly, on the face of these atrocities, there is the glorious and proud resistance of the Turkish Cypriots,” Altun said while visiting the Cyprus Facts exhibition in the capital Ankara.

The exhibition depicts the events that led to the Cyprus Peace Operation, which brought an end to the atrocities in Cyprus. It features numerous photographs, newspapers and news notes from that period.

Ersin Tatar, the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), also attended the event.

Altun said Türkiye will hold many activities throughout the year to continue talking about the Cyprus cause across the world, and the exhibit will show how Turkish Cypriots were oppressed under the influence of global powers.

“Again, thanks to the strong support and contribution of the Republic of Türkiye as well as the glorious struggle of the Turkish Cypriots, these genocide attempts were not allowed, and these malevolent activities, praise be to Allah, were brought to an end,” he added.

He said they must remember the "bitter truths" of history, adding the TRNC continues to defend the cause of the Turkish Cypriots on the international stage with an approach based on dialogue and diplomacy.

Altun recalled Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's efforts in presenting a two-state solution for the Cyprus issue on various international platforms, including the UN, adding that making the TRNC an observer member of the Organization of Turkic States was a confirmation of Ankara's support.​​​​​​​

- TRNC cares about protection of cultural heritage

Tatar said the TRNC has always been meticulous about preserving churches and cultural heritage.

"Our expectation from the Greek Cypriots is also the preservation of our 400-year-old cultural heritage in southern Cyprus,” he said.

Emphasizing that the Turkish Cypriots are among the "true owners of Cyprus," he said: "Cyprus still carries traces of the Ottoman Empire because the longest period in the history of Cyprus was the Ottoman period."

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 on Nov. 15, 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 European Union in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots thwarted a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.