The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Tuesday condemned a recent statement by the archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church that targeted the people of Turkey and Turkish Cyprus, underlining that cooperation between the two states is the only way forward.
In a written statement, the TRNC Foreign Ministry said: "The Greek archbishop's attempt to associate the situation on the island of Cyprus with Russia's attack on Ukraine consists of hiding the black stain that the Greek Cypriot side has left behind in history. We condemn the Greek archbishop's statement on Easter, which reflects the hatred of the Greek Cypriot Orthodox Church toward the Turkish Cypriot people and Turkey from past to present."
The statement emphasized that the Greek Orthodox Church was one of the chief culprits behind the atrocities endured by the Turkish Cypriot people for years.
It was also stated that the archdiocese, which has used its power to influence the Greek political elite in the past and present, left the Turkish Cypriot people to live amid the threat of death and genocide in ghettos that make up only 3% of the island in 1963-1974.
The ministry underlined that the Greek archbishop does not view the implications of the "Enosis" obsession to expand the Greek state as a source of shame.
It was underlined that the archbishop did not hide that he views the island as Hellenic property, noting that it came as no surprise that an institution that had been the flag bearer of the Enosis movement declared the island Greek and the Turkish Cypriots a minority.
"If Turkey had not intervened in the island in 1974 following the coup carried out by Greece and the declared Enosis, the genocide would have continued until there was not a single Turkish Cypriot left on the island with the dream of connecting the island to Greece. The 1974 Peace Operation, which took place as a result of the rights arising from the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee and the calls of the Turkish Cypriot people, has no similarity with the situation in Ukraine in legal and moral terms.
"Today, there are two peoples living side by side in two separate states on the island. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is the only state that has the right to have a say in the future of the lands under its sovereignty, including the region of Varosha (Maraş). The only way that will take the two sides forward on the island is through the cooperation of the two states on the island on the basis of good neighborly relations," added the TRNC Foreign Ministry.
The Enosis movement started by various Greek communities living outside the country seeks to incorporate regions they inhabit into the Greek state. Enosis is related to the "Megali Idea," an irredentist concept of a Greek state that dominated Greek politics following the creation of modern Greece in 1830. A widely known example of Enosis is the Greek Cypriot movement for a union of the island with Greece. The concept in British-ruled Cyprus became associated with the campaign for self-determination, especially among the island's Greek Cypriots. Around then, intercommunal violence occurred in response to different objectives, and the continuing desire for Enosis resulted in the 1974 Greek Cypriot coup in an attempt to achieve it. It, however, prompted Turkey into launching an operation, which led to partition.
The island of Cyprus has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the United Nations 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 aiming at Greece's annexation led to Turkey's military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.
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 – Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom.