President Ersin Tatar issued a statement to mark the 54th anniversary of the Geçitkale-Boğaziçi attacks.

While commemorating the martyrs who lost their lives in the attacks and expressing his gratitude, Tatar stated that the martyrs will never ever be forgotten.

In his message the president wrote: While the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo launched their bloody Christmas attacks in December and were massacring our people with the aim of achieving Enosis, Turkish Cypriot areas were also under heavy siege. Despite all of these attacks, the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo, who could not break the Turkish Cypriot resistance led by the Turkish Resistance Organisation, targeted the Geçitkale-Boğaziçi region on November 15th 1967.

The aim was to break the Turkish Cypriot resistance in this region and destroy other Turkish Cypriot regions.

Greek Cypriot attacks, supported by Greek soldiers started on the 15th of November 1967. Our fighters who resisted these attacks and the people of the region lost 24 martyrs. Our elderly were burned by pouring gasoline on them and our captive people were shot. It is not possible to forget this.

While the Greek-Greek Cypriot attacks ceased after the ultimatum given by Turkey to intervene, the leader of the EOKA terrorist organization Grivas and a division of Greek soldiers were forced to withdraw from Cyprus.

November 15 1967 is also a very important turning point in our history of struggle.

While the provisional Turkish Cypriot administration was being established, negotiations on the Cyprus issue began in Beirut in 1968.

The new goal of the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo was to destroy the Turkish resistance, which they could not destroy with their attacks at the negotiating table. They were unsuccessful at this also.

The main reason why the Greek Cypriot side wants a federal based agreement is to remove Turkey as a guarantor, remove Turkish soldiers from Cyprus and to patch the Turkish Cypriot people to the Republic of Cyprus which has turned into a Greek State.

We are in favour of a fair, permanent and sustainable agreement in Cyprus and continue to call for dialogue to the Greek Cypriot side.

It should be well known that we will never give up on the active and effective guarantees of motherland Turkey, Turkish soldiers and we will never return to pre 1974 conditions or become a minority under Greek Cypriots. May our martyrs rest in peace.

What they entrusted us with that cost them their lives and blood will never be trampled on. They will never be forgotten.”