President: Turkey’s position on Cyprus not backed by international community

President Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday that Turkey’s position on the Cyprus issue lacks support from the international community, regardless of the public statements made by Ankara or the celebrations held in the north.

Speaking after a memorial service for those who died during the 1974 Turkish invasion, held at the Cathedral of Apostle Barnabas in Nicosia, the President said July 20 is “a day of remembrance and honour for those who sacrificed themselves so that we may exist today, and so that the Republic of Cyprus exists.”

“At the same time,” he added, “this is also a day for reflection—on our path over the past 51 years, and how we can create the conditions that will allow us to honour the memory of those who fell by doing everything possible to end the occupation, to free and reunify our country.”

Christodoulides said this goal is pursued with a sense of “assertive realism,” by strengthening both internal and external levers of power and upgrading the status of the Republic of Cyprus.

“Fifty-one years on, we neither compromise nor forget what happened in 1974,” he said. “We know our goal, we have a strategy and a plan, and despite the challenges and obstacles—which I do not underestimate—we will not compromise with the occupation. We have not forgotten, and we are not giving away even an inch of land.”

Asked to comment on the events taking place in the occupied areas, the President described them as “celebrations of shame” and condemned the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the north.

He said Turkey’s continued occupation of territory belonging to the Republic of Cyprus and the European Union stands as a barrier to its own strategic goals—whether related to EU accession or its regional aspirations.

“This cost is constantly increasing,” he added, “both due to our efforts to upgrade the Republic of Cyprus and by sending a clear message to Ankara, which holds the key to a solution: that we are ready to negotiate within the agreed framework.”

Christodoulides said that the Republic is not alone in this effort. “Whatever the Turkish side says, whatever celebrations take place, whatever Mr Erdogan declares, Turkey’s position is not supported by the international community,” he said.

He added that the international order “does not permit Turkey to achieve its strategic goals,” and stressed that with the substantial backing of EU partners, the government will continue working towards the goal of reunification and liberation.

Earlier in the day, a memorial service was held at the Cathedral of Apostle Barnabas in honour of those who died during the Turkish invasion, in the presence of the political and military leadership, including the House President, members of the cabinet and parliament, the Greek ambassador to Cyprus, and members of the Hellenic Parliament delegation.

Speaking at the ceremony, Christos Iacovou, Director of the Cyprus Centre for European and International Affairs (Kykem), said Turkey aims to establish a Turkish state in the north and a Greek-Turkish state in the south, with ongoing demands for control over the island’s security.

He said Turkey attempts to impose a subjective reality and expects the Greek Cypriot side to view the Cyprus problem—and its resolution—through Ankara’s lens. “This is how it seeks to promote a form of resolution through the dialectic of negativity: on the one hand by threatening this is the ‘last chance,’ and on the other by implying it will move to legitimise partition,” he said.

“These maximalist positions leave no room for any political leadership of the Republic of Cyprus to accept a plan that incorporates Turkey’s hegemonic ambitions,” he added.

Iacovou said there is little doubt today that the Cyprus problem is far from the goals articulated by the Greek Cypriot side in the aftermath of the invasion, summed up by the slogan: “We do not forget – Liberation – Return.”

“Few now doubt that negotiations have gradually shifted toward Turkish positions,” he said.

He acknowledged the current struggle is unequal, but said “we are not willing to retreat on matters of national dignity, nor to accept a solution that mortgages the future of Greek Cypriots to Turkey’s hegemonic and expansionist aspirations.”