ISTANBUL

Türkiye on Sunday commemorated the 51st anniversary of the landmark Cyprus Peace Operation, marked as Peace and Freedom Day in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).


"Türkiye, in accordance with its rights and obligations arising from international agreements, guaranteed the existence and security of the Turkish Cypriots 51 years ago today with the Cyprus Peace Operation," the Foreign Ministry said in a post on X.

"Today, Turkish Cypriots live in security and peace under the umbrella of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, standing strong under the shadow of their own flag."

Türkiye, as "the Motherland and Guarantor" will always continue to defend the rights and interests of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and will work with all its might for the reaffirmation of the inherent rights of the Turkish Cypriots—equal sovereignty and equal international status—as the equal co-owners of the Island, the ministry said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in the TRNC to mark the occasion and inaugurate projects.

Decades-long problem

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.

Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.

In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece, and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot Administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.