President Ersin Tatar has once again condemned the fascist coups which aim to undermine human rights, freedoms, democracy and the will of the people.
Tatar issued a message on Thursday on the 48th anniversary of the July 15, 1974 Greek coup orchestrated in Cyprus and the 6th anniversary of the defeated coup in Türkiye attempted by the FETÖ terrorist organisation.
President Ersin Tatar in his message reminded that the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo which saw the Republic of Cyprus as a stepping stone to achieve its goal of uniting the island with Greece unleashed a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Turkish Cypriots in the December of 1963, kicking them out of the partnership republic through the force of arms.
He said that the Turkish Cypriot people had achieved their freedom on the morning of July 20, 1974 with the arrival of the Turkish Armed Forces.
“The Turkish Peace Operation brought peace to the island as hundreds of Greek Cypriots had been killed by the Greek Junta which had taken control of the island,” Tatar added.
He pointed out that the goal of the coup plotters had been to transform Cyprus into a Greek island, killing and annihilating all those who resisted.
Regarding the defeated coup in Türkiye which was also carried out on the same date, President Ersin Tatar said that an attempt had been made on Türkiye’s democracy, independence and territorial integrity by the FETÖ terrorist organisation supported by outside powers.
“While the Turkish people and the Turkish Armed Forces loyal to the state put down the coup, the Turkish Cypriot people from the very beginning condemned the attempt,” said Tatar in his message, adding that hundreds of innocent people had died because of the organisation.
He argued that both the 1974 coup and the 2016 coup attempt aimed to transform Cyprus into a Greek island.
Tatar said that the FETÖ organisation had sent word to its members in the TRNC to take over all airports and sea ports and to send a large portion of the Turkish troops in Cyprus to Mersin.
“Words uttered by a senior member of the Greek Cypriot leadership who had said that they could have taken control over the north and Girne, capturing thousands of Turkish soldiers had they launched an attack the night of the attempted coup in Türkiye are thought-provoking,” he added.