President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will not attend ceremonies in northern Cyprus on Monday marking 52 years since Turkey’s 1974 military intervention, despite indicating last month that he expected to make the trip, the Kıbrıs Postası news outlet reported on Saturday.
Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz will represent Ankara at the July 20 events and deliver Turkey’s message at the main ceremony, the Turkish Cypriot newspaper reported. The report gave no reason for Erdoğan’s absence and said he had also missed the commemorations in 2016 and 2022.
Erdoğan had appeared to confirm a visit on June 10 after a meeting of the parliamentary group of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Asked whether he was expected to travel to Cyprus on July 20, Erdoğan replied, “July 20 is already a visit we always make there. It will continue in the same way,” according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.
The anniversary is observed in northern Cyprus as Peace and Freedom Day. It marks the start of a Turkish military operation on July 20, 1974, five days after a coup organized by supporters of union with Greece and backed by the military junta then ruling Athens.
Turkey says the operation exercised its right as a guarantor power and protected Turkish Cypriots. Greek Cypriots and Greece describe it as an invasion that led to the occupation of the island’s north. The fighting displaced people from both communities and left Cyprus divided along a United Nations-controlled buffer zone.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), declared in 1983, is recognized only by Turkey. The Republic of Cyprus, governed by the Greek Cypriots and a member of the European Union since 2004, is internationally recognized as representing the island.
The ceremonies will take place one week before United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres visits Cyprus from July 27 to 29 for separate talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman and Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides. The UN is seeking to revive negotiations after years without formal peace talks.