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Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiades said that Erdogan’s visit, scheduled for Sunday, to northern Cyprus and the city of Varosha, represents an “unprecedented provocation”.
“It undermines the efforts of the UN secretary general to call for an informal five-year dialogue” between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, Athens, Ankara and London, the former colonial power on the island, he added.
Anastasiades said in his statement that such movements “do not contribute to creating an appropriate and positive atmosphere for the resumption of talks to reach a solution” to the Cyprus problem.
The visit, which comes a few weeks after Erdogan supported his nationalist ally Ersin Tartar, to win the presidential elections in northern Cyprus, is painful for Greek Cypriots, who make up the majority of the island’s population, who never It has waived its demand to allow the displaced from Varosha to return to their homes.
The president of the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus and a member of the European Union, said in his statement that “these movements enraged all the people of Cyprus.”
Varosha, which was described as the “jewel of the Mediterranean”, has remained desolate and surrounded by barbed wire since Turkey invaded northern Cyprus in 1974.
After the invasion, which occurred in the context of a coup on the island that aimed to annex it to Greece, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was declared on November 15, 1983, but only obtained recognition from Ankara. .
Turkish forces partially reopened Varosha on October 8, prompting international criticism.
The Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot organizations signed a joint petition calling for a “unilateral” halt to the conquest of Varosha and the cancellation of Erdogan’s visit.
“The festive nature of the reopening, which occurred at the cost of the memory and suffering of its former inhabitants, hurts our conscience,” the petition states.
Hundreds of Turkish Cypriots shouted slogans such as “No intervention” and “Freedom for all” during a protest against Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit on Tuesday in the north of the divided capital Nicosia.
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