The 58th anniversary of the Limassol Resistance and those who became martyrs during the resistance were commemorated on Sunday.
A ceremony was held at the Limassol-Girne Martyrs and Freedom Monument on Sunday morning.
Wreaths were laid, a minutes silence was observed and flags were raised to the reciting of the national anthem.
President Ersin Tatar and the head of the Girne branch of the Turkish Resistance Organisation’s Fighters Association Erbil Aydınova delivered speeches at the ceremony.
President Ersin Tatar said that the Limassol Resistance is a legendary story of resistance that took place under the leadership of the Turkish Resistance Organization and went down in history as the 2nd Plevna Defense.
He said that the struggle for independence and sovereignty is still being waged together with motherland Turkiye for the welfare and prosperity of the Turkish Cypriot people and reminded that the Greek Cypriot’s had used the 1960 Republic of Cyprus as a stepping stone towards uniting the island with Greece.
“We are after a just, lasting and sustainable peace in Cyprus”, Tatar said, adding that they have called on the Greek Cypriot side to stop their provocative actions, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean where hydrocarbons exist.
“We showed our goodwill for the continuation of peace and tranquility both during the Annan Plan and in Crans Montana and followed a policy accordingly. But we have never seen goodwill from the other side for a deal on a federal basis. The other side’s game is always to provoke us, to reduce us to a minority status and to realize their dream of uniting the island with Greece,” said Tatar.
Noting that the new policy in Cyprus should consist of two separate sovereign independent states living side by side, Tatar said that only then can the Turkish Cypriot people continue to exist in the TRNC and live in peace and security while maintaining their ties with Motherland Turkiye.
Calling on the public to pay heed to history and listen to the policies that are being voiced, Tatar drew attention to the importance of two separate independent and sovereign states, the presence of Turkish soldiers in the country and Turkiye’s guarantees on the island.
During his speech Aydınova described the events that took place in Cyprus between the “Bloody Christmas” attacks of 1963 and the Turkish Peace Operation in 1974 as well as the experiences of the fighters and said that it is everyone’s duty to explain how the Turkish Cypriot people have come to where they are today.