President Ersin Tatar said that it was not acceptable that the Greek Cypriot leadership is still chasing the EOKA terrorist organizations dream and making statements which cause tension and hostility

Issuing a written statement on Wednesday, President Ersin Tatar evaluated the EOKA terrorist organization’s launch of armed attacks on the 1^st of April 1955.

He reminded that the EOKA terrorist organization, which in its first manifesto announced its aim to cast away the Turkish Cypriots from the island and realise Enosis, launched armed attacks by turning Cyprus into a blood bath and started a new period on the island that was fuelled by massacres and pain.

Reminding that the Republic of Cyprus turned into a Greek Cypriot state by force of arms and that hundreds of Turkish Cypriot villages were attacked between 1963 and 1974, Tatar noted that the Turkish Cypriots were massacred and those who survived were forced to migrate.

Stating that it was the Greek Cypriot leadership and Greece which supported the EOKA terrorist organization and therefore responsible for these massacres and violence, the President reminded that the aim of the Greek junta, its collaborators and EOKA were to eliminate the Turkish Cypriot people and turn the island into a Hellenic one.

“If motherland Turkiye did not realize the Peace Operation on the morning of the 20^th of July 1974, then not a single Turk would have survived in Cyprus. While all these realities are obvious, statements by the Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and other Greek Cypriot leaders’ on the anniversary of the Greek rebellion and the EOKA terrorist organisation’s attacks are unacceptable” Tatar noted.

Stating that the Greek Cypriot leader Anastasiades’ statement that “they are inspired by the struggle of EOKA” was an indication that there was no change in the Greek Cypriot mentality, President Tatar said Anastasiades’ remarks that ‘a solution is not possible without the withdrawal of the Turkish army from Cyprus and the removal of Turkiye’s guarantee’ were proof of this.

Stating that with all their good will and sincerity they continued to call on the Greek Cypriot side for dialogue on the Cyprus issue, he said it was not acceptable that the Greek Cypriot leadership continued to chase the EOKA terrorist organisation dream.

Underlining that what was happening in Ukraine has once again showed how essential and vital the existence of the Turkish army and the guarantee of Turkiye was for the Turkish Cypriot people, Tatar said “it is not possible to give up on the Turkish army and Turkiye’s guarantee. We will not return to the dark days of pre 1974 and leave our people to the mercy of a terrorist organization like EOKA.”