Greeks condemn, Turks honor Cyprus anniversary
Greeks condemn, Turks honor Cyprus anniversary
NICOSIA (Reuters): While Turkish Cypriots celebrated on Friday what they call "Peace and Freedom Day", Greek Cypriots condemned the anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus which divided the island 27 years ago.
Church bells tolled and Greek Cypriot air-raid sirens wailed over the divided capital Nicosia at 5:20 a.m. (9:20 a.m. in Jakarta), marking the hour Turkish forces landed on the beach at the northern town of Kyrenia on July 20, 1974.
Turkish Cypriots marked the anniversary with celebrations, a military parade and an air display in northern Cyprus.
Turkey invaded Cyprus five days after a coup by Greek Cypriot extremists, urged on by the military junta then ruling Greece, toppled the government of Archbishop Makarios.
The heavily-militarized island, at odds with its better known, hip image of a clubbers' paradise for young Europeans, is a constant irritant between NATO allies Greece and Turkey.
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, who was also premier at the time of the 1974 invasion known in Turkey as the "Peace Operation", said the presence of Turkish armed forces on the island had guaranteed peace and security for 27 years.
"Turkey will go on supporting the Turkish Cypriot people in full strength in its struggle to preserve its legitimate rights and interests and to take the place it deserves within the world," Ecevit said in a statement from Ankara.
Sweltering heat kept the crowd smaller than in recent years as Turkish tanks, troops and aircraft put on a show of might.
"Turkey will never allow the return of the island to the day of July 19, 1974," said Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.
Greek Cypriots planned memorial services and protests along an occasionally tense "green line" dividing the island.
Northern Cyprus is a breakaway state recognized only by Ankara, which supports the enclave militarily and economically.
The 1974 crisis in Cyprus brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war and was instrumental in the collapse of the military's seven-year grip in Athens.
The need to settle the division has gained importance in recent years as Cyprus prepares for European Union membership.
Turkey, also an EU aspirant, has been told its chances of joining partly hinge on progress over Cyprus.
United Nations-led "proximity talks" were abruptly interrupted last November after the Turkish Cypriot side pulled out, complaining about the process.
Denktash has said he would return to negotiations once his demand for equal sovereign status with the Greek Cypriots is addressed. The Greek Cypriots administer the island's only internationally recognized government.
Ecevit said Turkey would continue to support Denktash and he hoped dialogue could restart under "more realistic" conditions.
"Denktash will decide, after talking to us of course. To the best of my knowledge, he is first to meet UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and they might make a program together. Dialogue should prevail despite everything," Ecevit told reporters.
In a public address on Friday, Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides said, "It is my conviction that the overwhelming majority of ordinary citizens, Greek and Turkish Cypriots, believe in the need to reunite our island."
Denktash reiterated his defiant stance against unification.
"Let us negotiate together as good neighbors under the auspices of the United Nations and the European Union and seek a solution as two separate states, not as a unitary state."