Kurtulmuş rejects Greek Cypriot claims at European parliament speakers’ conference in Rome

Turkish Grand National Assembly Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş strongly rejected the claims made by Annita Demetriou, Speaker of the Greek Cypriot Administration’s House of Representatives, at the Conference of European Parliament Presidents in Rome. The event was hosted by the Italian Chamber of Deputies, and Demetriou spoke after Kurtulmuş.

Kurtulmuş said a partnership agreement in 1960 established a unified Cypriot state, whose guarantor powers were Britain, Türkiye and Greece. He said that in 1963 this joint government was removed through the Greek junta and Enosis-supporting forces, and called it a coup against a legitimate government rather than an invasion. He added that Türkiye sought peaceful solutions between 1963 and 1974, but that massacres carried out by Enosis-supporting invaders forced it to act. He said dozens of villages saw massacres and that innocent youths, women and children were killed. In 1974, he said, a Peace Operation was carried out under Türkiye’s guarantor rights.

Kurtulmuş said: “Greek Cypriots and Turks are two peoples who have existed since history. No solution is possible in Cyprus by ignoring the Turkish side. Until the end of time, the Turkish Cypriot people will continue to live on the island of Cyprus as equal citizens.”