CYPRUS MIRROR
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Speeches delivered at reopening of Museum of Barbarism

Speeches delivered at reopening of Museum of Barbarism

It’s been 59 years since the late Major Nihat İlhan’s wife and three children were brutally murdered in their home in Lefkoşa on December 24, 1963.

Publish Date: 18/08/22 14:27
Update Date: 18/08/22 14:44
reading time: 5 min.
Speeches delivered at reopening of Museum of Barbarism
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The house where the incident took place, which is known as the Museum of Barbarism, was reopened to the public on Wednesday after restoration work was completed.

The speeches delivered at the reopening ceremony stressed that this massacre will never be forgotten.

Major Dr Nihat İlhan, was on duty, the night the murder took place as gunmen who raided his home opened fire on his wife and three children who had taken refuge in the bathroom.

The brutal attack became associated with the bloody Christmas attacks unleashed by Greek Cypriots against Turkish Cypriots in the December of 1963.

President Ersin Tatar, the Speaker of Parliament Zorlu Töre, Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Environment Fikri Ataoğlu as well as the visiting Turkish Minister of Tourism and Culture Mehmet Nuri Ersoy attended the ceremony for the reopening of the museum which had been under renovation.

Following a minutes silence and the reciting of the national anthem, speeches were delivered by the attending state and government officials.

Son of the late Major Nihat İlhan who delivered the first speech said that more than 360 Turkish Cypriots had been killed in 1963 by Greek Cypriot EOKA murderers.

He added that thousands had been forced to leave their homes.

The head of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) Serkan Kayalar said that the brutal murder could not be justified under any ideology or belief.

He pointed out that renovation of the Museum of Barbarism was the second museum renovation project undertaken by TİKA.

The Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that the pain of the incident which took place 59 years ago was still felt in the hearts of everyone.

He said that the massacre will never be forgotten and that they will continue to tell the story at every platform possible. Ersoy said that they will continue to work for the Cyprus cause.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Fikri Ataoğlu said that Major Nihat İlhan’s family had not deserved their fate.

“We are reopening the Museum of Barbarism which was recently renovated by TİKA which operates under the Turkish Republic’s Culture and Tourism Ministry so that this place will make sure we do not forget what happened here 59 years ago. The museum has been upgraded to modern standards,” he said.

Speaking next, Prime Minister Ünal Üstel said that the world needs to be reminded what had happened on December 23-24, 1963.

He said that the Turkish Cypriots had suffered greatly at the hands of Greek Cypriots before being liberated on July 20, 1974.

“Since then we have established the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and today we are defending a settlement based on two sovereign states,” Üstel said.

The Speaker of Parliament Zorlu Töre in his speech reminded that Turkish Cypriots had for years had uffered greatly and that the Greek Cypriots have not abandoned their goal of uniting the island with Greece. “We, together with motherland Türkiye will not allow this to happen,” he said. Töre also said that what happened to Major Nihat İlhan’s family was an act of genocide. “We should not forget this, this barbarism is the product of genocide,” he said.

Delivering the final speech at the event, President Ersin Tatar said that the TRNC was an important Turkish state in the Eastern Mediterranean in light of the developments taking place in the region.

“Our state, our existence is all owed to the martyrs. I was extremely happy to learn that the three ships escorting Türkiye’s latest drilling ship, the Abdulhamid Han has been named after Major Nihat İlhan’s three sons who were murdered here. There can be no greater honour, no greater act of fidelity,” he said.

Tatar pointed out that the Turkish Cypriot people paid a great price on the path to creating their own state and achieving freedom and independence.

“Everyone knew that it was Tasos Papadopoulos and his gang of EOKA members which carried out this heinous attack on Major Nihat İlhan’s family. These massacres took place in front of the eyes of the UN and international community,” he said, criticizing the fact that those responsible had not been brought to justice.

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