2024 marks 50 years since the Turkish invasion of July 20, 1974. This constitutes half a century of illegal and violent occupation of 36.2% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus by the Turkish army.

All these years, the Turkish occupier continues to keep approximately 170,000 refugees away from their ancestral homes and properties – more than a third of the population – who were forcibly driven away, while the fate of 758 Greek Cypriot missing persons remains unknown. 

In the fifty years since 1974, more than twenty-three thousand Greek Cypriots who were enclaved in the Karpasia region have been gradually forced, through intimidation and deprivation of their basic human rights, to abandon their homes and find refuge in the government-controlled area. Today, only 331 persons remain enclaved in the area. The attempt to Turkify our occupied areas continues with the illegal settlement of hundreds of thousands of Turkish settlers, thus altering the demographic character of the island, and the systematic destruction of the cultural heritage of these areas.

Despite the changes that have taken place in recent years on the worldwide international stage, Turkey continues to maintain an anachronistic and harsh policy against Cyprus in breach of every rule of international law and morality, asking for more and more concessions in order to accept a solution that would exclusively serve its interests and consolidate the outcome of the invasion.

Nevertheless, the Republic of Cyprus continues its efforts for a just and lasting solution to the Cyprus problem which is in accordance with the Resolutions and Decisions of the United Nations, which will safeguard the independence, integrity, sovereignty and unity of Cyprus and which will guarantee the respect and protection of the human rights of all its citizens.

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