President Ersin Tatar issued a written statement on Sunday remembering the Arpalık martyrs.

The President noted that the Greek Cypriots who had unleashed their attacks on Turkish Cypriots in Lefkoşa on December 21 1963 with the aim of transforming Cyprus into a Greek island extended their aggression throughout the island in areas populated by Turkish Cypriots.

He said that the village of Arpalık, one of many such locations was attacked by Greek Cypriots between February 5-6 1964.

“Our five citizens were martyred by Greek Cypriots during the attacks which started on February 5, intensifying the next day. The village’s inhabitants were forced to flee their homes leaving behind all their belongings. It is not possible to forget this attack which has gone down in history as ‘black Thursday’, the atrocities carried out by Greek Cypriots and the pain suffered by our martyrs,” Tatar said.

“If we can live sovereignly and freely in our country and under the roof of our state it is because of the sacrifices of our martyrs, our people’s epic resistance and motherland Turkiye,” President Tatar stressed.

He added that their aim was to prevent a return to pre-1974 conditions which was full of pain, death and darkness as well as to protect the sovereignty and Turkish Cypriot peoples’ state.

Reminding that the negotiations aimed at a federal solution that had started in 1968 remained inconclusive due to the Greek Cypriot side’s uncompromising stance, he said recent experiences, such as the Annan Plan and Crans Montana had once again revealed it was not possible to reach a federal solution in Cyprus.

“We tabled our solution model based on the existence of two sovereign equal separate states for the first time in Geneva. We will not take a step back from this position which we believe will benefit Cyprus and the region and which is fully supported by motherland Turkiye. I urge the Greek Cypriot side to respond positively to our call for dialogue, end its activities that raise tensions, to abandon its armament campaign and to stop playing with fire,” he said.

He concluded his statement by paying his respects to the martyrs and expressing his gratitude to the War veterans.