Bahçeli: Those Who Lecture Turkey On Cyprus Cannot Cover The Truth

Bahçeli said the roots of the “Cyprus cause” run deep, arguing that the Enosis ideal has cast a shadow over the island since the 1950s. He claimed that EOKA carried out attacks targeting Turkish Cypriots’ lives and property, and added that the 1960 Republic of Cyprus quickly became non-functional due to the Greek Cypriot side’s refusal to recognise Turkish Cypriots as equal founding partners.

He further stated that the Akritas Plan aimed to eliminate the political equality of Turkish Cypriots, describing the events of “Bloody Christmas” as one of the darkest chapters of what he called a policy of persecution.

Referring to the 1974 Turkish Peace Operation, Bahçeli said Turkey became the guarantor of peace and balance on the island, adding: “Those who still attempt to lecture Turkey on Cyprus while ignoring this history cannot cover up the truth.”

He continued:

“Those who promote the Enosis dream under the guise of self-determination, those who attempt to legitimise the EOKA terrorist organisation as a so-called independence movement, those who try to trivialise the bloody legacy of the Akritas Plan, and those who ignore the Turkish Cypriots’ resistance from 1963 to 1974, cannot give us lessons in humanity today.

No one should ask us to hand over the Turkish Cypriots’ cause to worn-out formulas at negotiation tables, to prolonged delays, to the endless games of the Greek Cypriot side. In Cyprus, the truth is two nations, two states and two separate sovereign wills.

The suffering we endured, the dark nights of 1963, and how ‘the Rubicon was crossed’ in 1974 have been recorded in history in full detail.

Those who seek to challenge Turkey’s indisputable, effective and de facto guarantor role based on international law have either forgotten or wish to erase our struggle for existence in these lands.”