President Ersin Tatar visited martyr families residing in Lefke and Güzelyurt as part of the 21st to 25th of December Struggle and Martyrs Remembrance Week.
Speaking during the visits he paid to the Lalehan and Beşgül families, the President stressed that it was not possible to forget the martyrs.
“The Turkish Cypriot people’s pain and the struggle we have given on this island cannot be forgotten. If we are living in an independent Republic today it is thanks to our martyrs” Tatar said.
President Tatar also visited Rukiye Ergin, the widow of Ramazan Ergin from the Turkish Armed Forces who was martyred at the St. Hilarion region during the 1974 Peace Operation.
Speaking during the visit, the president said he shared her pain and that the martyrs will never be forgotten.
He also stressed that it was important for the new generations to know the past and the struggle that was waged.
As part of his visits, the President also came together with Ayşe Beyoğlu in Lapta.
Her mother Havva Yakup Beyoğlu, who was a caretaker at the state hospital located in the Greek Cypriot quarter had been killed whilst giving birth during the 1963 Bloody Christmas attacks.
“Today we have our own state and we are living in peace. Our martyrs and their services will never be forgotten” Tatar said.