The island of Cyprus has been divided for 50 years. While Ankara presents warships to celebrate, Athens and the EU are losing all hope of a reconciliatory end.
On the 50th anniversary of the division of Cyprus, the signals from the two parts of the island could not be more different: While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), which is only recognized by Turkey, are celebrating the day of the Turkish intervention 50 years ago with the deployment of Turkish warships and helicopters, the south of the island is marking the date as a day of mourning for the division. A solution to the conflict is not in sight.
Turkey rejects a federal state solution in Cyprus, said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Turkish-controlled north of the divided island: “We believe that a federal solution is not possible.” But this is supported by the United Nations, the EU, the Cypriot government in the south of the island and Greece. The Greek Cypriot President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulidis, on the other hand, rejected the repeated Turkish calls for a two-state solution.
The events marking the 50th anniversary of the Turkish intervention following a military coup by Greek and Greek Cypriot officers were accompanied by a military parade on the Turkish side in northern Cyprus. A fleet of 50 ships, fighter planes and armed drones from the Turkish mainland took part, the Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported.
Erdoğan’s comments about his desire for two sovereign states came shortly after a call from Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who instead advocated a united Cyprus. “Half a century has passed since the national tragedy of Cyprus. We demand a European state, united, based on UN resolutions. No foreign occupying army,” Mitsotakis wrote on Platform X. According to information from Greek government circles, his visit to Nicosia on Saturday will be extremely cautious and will only take place in the evening.
Erdogan, meanwhile, declared that Ankara was “ready to negotiate and create a lasting peace and solution in Cyprus.” However, he accused the other side of discriminating against Turkish Cypriots, not least because they are not allowed to share in the island’s energy resources. The use and distribution of natural gas reserves in the eastern Aegean are a constant point of contention between Turkey, Greece and Cyprus.
In 1974, nationalist Greek Cypriots and the then ruling dictatorship in Athens wanted to unite the island of Cyprus with Greece, which led to a military coup in Cyprus. Turkey intervened militarily to prevent the unification with Greece. The intervention at the time was legally justified because Turkey, along with Greece and Great Britain, acted as one of the island’s guarantor powers, which were supposed to ensure the protection of the democratic constitution. However, Ankara did not withdraw its military even after democracy was restored in Cyprus.
The island has been divided ever since. In 1983, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) was proclaimed, which has since been recognized worldwide only by Turkey. In 2004, at the urging of Greece, the EU accepted the island of Cyprus into the EU as a whole. De jure, the entire island has been an EU member since then, but EU law is only applied in the southern part.