FM Ertuğruloğlu: EOKA is the darkest and most indelible stain in Cyprus’ history

Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu stated that the Greek Cypriot terrorist organisation EOKA was the darkest and most indelible stain in the history of Cyprus.

Ertuğruloğlu said that the Greek Cypriot administration, unfortunately, continued to instil the EOKA mentality in new generations as an ideal, in an effort to keep Enosis aspirations alive.

Reacting to statements by Greek Cypriot administration leader Nikos Christodoulides, who said that “the memory of EOKA should be kept alive in the collective consciousness,” Ertuğruloğlu noted that EOKA, which launched bloody terrorist acts on April 1, 1955, to annex Cyprus to Greece and systematically eliminate the Turkish Cypriot people, was the darkest and most indelible stain in Cyprus’ history.

He stressed that, in the face of brutal EOKA attacks, the Turkish Cypriot people united their struggle for existence under the Turkish Resistance Organisation, exercised their right to self-defence, and declared to the world that they would never compromise their freedom.

“It is regrettable to observe that the Greek Cypriot administration, which has failed to learn from the painful experiences of the past and continues to instil the EOKA mentality in new generations as an ideal, is striving to keep Enosis dreams alive,” Ertuğruloğlu stated.

He added that this aggressive stance, which has turned the island into a powder keg, was the greatest obstacle to regional peace, stressing, “It must not be forgotten that the will which did not allow dark ambitions in the past stands firm today as well. The presence of our Security Forces and the Turkish Armed Forces on the island is our unwavering guarantee.”