Turkish Cypriots Commemorate 'Martyrs' Of Erenkoy Resistance

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) owes its freedom to the "valiant martyrs" of the Erenkoy Resistance, said the country's president on Monday.

Speaking at a ceremony marking the 57th anniversary of the Erenkoy Resistance – when Turkish Cypriots defended themselves against Greek Cypriots in 1964, 10 years before Türkiye's historic Cyprus Peace Operation – Ersin Tatar said: "Today, we commemorate the noble struggle and the history made in Erenkoy 58 years ago."

Tatar went on to say that the Erenkoy Resistance has a place of honor equivalent to the famed World War I Battle of Canakkale (Gallipoli) in Turkish history, adding that the Turkish Cypriots took their place in the glorious history of struggle with the heroism and valor of those who resisted in Erenkoy.

The resistance in Erenkoy is a source of inspiration for the Turkish Cypriot struggle for existence, he added.

Underlining how the Turkish Cypriots resisted the Greek Cypriot plan for Enosis (union with Greece), he said Turkish Cypriot young people who were studying in Türkiye and the UK dropped out of school and went to Erenkoy, where they swore an oath to the resistance.

Tatar also paid tribute to Capt. Cengiz Topel, a Turkish Air Force pilot whose plane was shot down on Aug. 7, 1964 while on a warning flight over Greek Cypriot soldiers firing on Turkish residents on the island.

Topel was tortured to death, in violation of the Geneva Convention.

Decades-long struggle

Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN 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 aimed at Greece's annexation led to Türkiye'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 Türkiye, Greece, and the UK.

The Greek Cypriot administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year Greek Cypriots thwarted the UN's Annan plan to end the longstanding dispute. -