Turkish opposition seeks end to ‘Enosis’ plans in Cyprus

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Cyprus reunification talks should not resume unless a controversial decision by the Greek Cypriot parliament to back “Enosis” celebrations is dropped, Turkey’s main opposition party stated on March 1. 

Speaking at a news conference in the Turkish Parliament, Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chair Öztürk Yılmaz said the main reason for a halt in the Cyprus talks was the decision to introduce annual school celebrations to mark a 1950 referendum calling for the island to be annexed to Greece, otherwise known as “Enosis.”

The move has seen peace talks on the island come to a halt. 

The eastern Mediterranean island was divided into a Turkish Cypriot state in the north and a Greek Cypriot administration in the south after a 1974 military coup was followed by violence against the island’s Turkish population and the subsequent intervention of Turkey as a guarantor power. 

The Cyprus issue remains unsolved despite a series of discussions which resumed in May 2015. 

During their last meeting as part of the Cyprus peace talks in mid-February, Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akıncı and his Greek Cypriot counterpart, Nicos Anastasiades, accused each other of storming out of the meeting. 

Akıncı refused on Feb. 22 to attend a scheduled leaders’ meeting on Feb. 23 on the grounds that Greek Cyprus has done nothing to repeal the “Enosis” law.