Türkiye slams Greek minister's remarks on Cyprus op

ANKARA

Ankara has strongly condemned Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias for describing Türkiye's 1974 military operation on Cyprus as an "invasion."

"We call on the Greek defense minister to stop trying to undermine... the common position that aims to advance relations between Türkiye and Greece with a constructive approach," said a statement issued by the Turkish Defense Ministry on July 17.

The dispute arises amid a thaw in relations between the neighbors, initiated during a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at a NATO summit last July.

Ankara described Dendias' remarks as "out of level, full of lies and slander."

"Mr. Dendias' efforts to make a political career by sowing discord between the Turkish and Greek peoples will not yield results," the statement said.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of Türkiye's operation, launched five days after a coup orchestrated by the junta then in power in Athens sought to unite the whole island with Greece.

"The heroic Turkish army... rescued the Turkish Cypriot people, who had been subjected to all kinds of atrocities by the Greek Cypriot side, from an attempted genocide," Ankara said. "Mehmetçik [Turkish troops] will be the guarantee of peace and tranquility in Cyprus tomorrow as it was yesterday and today."

On July 15, Dendias visited Cyprus and condemned "the shameful festivities of Turkish Cypriots and the illegal presence of the occupying Turkish army in Cyprus for half a century."

The rejection of a U.N. peace plan by Greek Cypriot voters in a 2004 referendum meant the Greek Cypriot administration entered the European Union that year still a divided island, with Turkish Cypriots denied the full benefits of membership.

The northern part is recognized only by Ankara.

U.N.-backed efforts to reunify the Mediterranean island as a bizonal and bicommunal federation have been at a standstill since the last round of talks collapsed in 2017.