Turkish president Erdoğan marks TRNC's Peace and Freedom Day

Anadolu Agency

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Sunday to mark Peace and Freedom Day.

Today marks the commemoration of the 51st anniversary of Türkiye’s 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation.

The operation was launched in response to a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. “I honor our martyrs and thank our heroic veterans,” Erdoğan said on X, congratulating the Turkish Cypriot people.

The Cyprus dispute has remained unresolved for decades, despite the UN's ongoing peace efforts. Following intercommunal violence in the 1960s and the 1974 coup, Türkiye intervened as a guarantor power, leading to the foundation of the TRNC in 1983.

A 2004 UN reunification plan was approved by Turkish Cypriots but rejected by Greek Cypriots, who later joined the EU the same year.

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