Founding Pr. Rauf Raif Denktaş commemorated

A commemorative event was held for founding President Rauf Raif Denktaş to mark the 10^th anniversary of his passing this morning and on January 15 a separate event will be held to mark the 38^th anniversary of the passing of Dr. Fazıl Küçük.

A ceremony was held at the Rauf Raif Denktaş Monument this morning.

President Ersin Tatar and the Denktaş family attended the ceremony here.

A minute’s silence was observed the national anthem was recited and flags were raised then lowered to half-mast.

President Tatar also signed the special book.

The commemoration ceremony for the Founding President Rauf Raif Denktaş ended with a poetry recital by a student from the Sedat Simavi Industrial Vocational High School.

Speaking first at the ceremony, Serdar Denktaş said that the Turkish Cypriot people had come a long way from the ghettos and camps they were forced to live in to having their own state.

He said that Turkish Cypriots have endured great suffering and pain on the road to achieving their independence and freedom.

Serdar Denktaş said that his father had devoted his entire life for the freedom and independence of the Turkish Cypriot people and that his struggle had been crowned with the creation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

He added that his father’s efforts were not in vain and that the struggle he began would be continued.

Also speaking at the ceremony, President Ersin Tatar touched upon the political struggle waged by the late Denktaş, starting as early as the 1940s.

“The late Denktaş, a lawyer by profession attached great importance to Turkey’s guarantees. He had defended at every opportunity the fact that Turkey had territorial rights over Cyprus,” he said.

Tatar also said that the late Denktaş had always counselled until his last breath the importance of preserving independence, freedom and sovereignty and to never let go of motherland Turkey.

“The late founding president had made it clear in 1983 when declaring the TRNC that the Turkish Cypriot people were sovereign and that there could never be possible to reach a federal settlement in Cyprus. He had seen this all the way back in 1983,” he said.

Tatar said that he, as a student of Denktaş’s school of thought, will continue to advocate for a two-state solution in Cyprus based on sovereign equality.

The commemorative events for the leader of the Turkish Cypriot peoples struggle for existence Dr. Fazıl Küçük will be realized on Saturday January 15 at the Dr. Fazıl Küçük Monument at Anıttepe.

President Ersin Tatar and Dr. Fazıl Küçük’s family will lay wreaths, a minutes silence will be observed, the national anthem will be recited and the flags will be raised and then lowered to half mast.

After President Tatar signs the Special book, a poem will be recited by a student from the Lefkoşa Turk High School and speeches will be delivered by the late Dr. Küçük’s granddaughter Selen Süheyla Küçük and President Ersin Tatar.

Both ceremonies will be held in accordance with the coronavirus measures outlined by the Council of Ministers.