Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman has criticized the European Parliament's decision to allocate funds for the creation of a monument in honor of those missing during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
He described the decision as "one of the most painful examples of how Turkish Cypriots seem to not exist on the island."
Erhurman said all necessary measures would be taken “without delay” with the participation of all parties. According to him, this decision demonstrates that the European Parliament does not take into account the work of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP), which has been investigating issues affecting both communities for many years.
Erhurman also drew attention to the fact that two seats in the European Parliament reserved for Turkish Cypriots are currently occupied by Greek Cypriots. According to him, this “prevents Parliament from knowing the true state of affairs in Cyprus.” He stressed that the issue will not be limited to just condemning the decision.
Separately, the Turkish Cypriot “government” issued a statement confirming that the problem of missing persons from 1963 to 1974 is of a humanitarian nature and affects both Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The document notes that the mandate includes the search for missing persons from both communities and that the work of the committee continues in accordance with this.
The statement also criticized the European Parliament's plan to allocate funds for the monument in the 2026 budget, calling it a "very flawed position" as it treats the issue of missing persons one-sidedly. It emphasizes that the CMP can only be effective in the absence of political pressure, and that the amendment to fund the monument was adopted for political reasons, which undermines this principle.
The Turkish Cypriot leadership demanded that this decision be immediately reversed. Guarantees were given that all measures would be taken to ensure that the humanitarian problem was not used for political purposes. Source: Cyprus mail
