The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus celebrates Wednesday the 48th anniversary of the peace process, with the participation of the country’s President Arsene Tatar and Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay.
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The ceremony began at the Mustafa Kemal Ataturk memorial in the capital, Lefkosa, by laying a wreath, and then standing for a minute’s silence, and reading the national anthem.
Tatar and Oktay also wrote two letters in the monument’s visitor book, in which they recalled Ataturk with mercy, and affirmed the continuation of the pledge to preserve the independence and sovereignty of Turkish Cyprus.
The Turkish Cypriots celebrate every year on July 20 the Day of Peace and Freedom.
In mid-July 1974, Nicholas Sampson, the leader of the AIOCA, carried out a military coup against then Cypriot President Makarios III, with the aim of annexing the island to Greece.
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After the coup, the violence against the Turks of Cyprus increased, prompting Turkey to ask Britain, the colonial country of the island, to intervene to stop the violence based on the “guarantee agreement” concluded between Ankara and London in the Swiss city of Zurich in 1959, but Britain repudiated its obligations and responsibilities towards Cyprus.
On July 20, 1974, Turkey announced the launch of a “military peace operation” to secure the lives and property of the Turkish Cypriots, which were at stake, and that operation ended two days later with the declaration of a ceasefire.
On August 14 of the same year, the Turkish army launched a second operation in Cyprus that succeeded in achieving its goals, as a prisoner exchange agreement was concluded between the two sides.
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And the establishment of the “Federal Turkish Cypriot State” in the northern part of the island, before its name changed in 1983 to the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”.
