Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias’ reply to official Turkish reactions over his earlier high-profile statements, ahead of the dour 50-year anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and its contiuned occupation, was immediate and scathing.
An announcement by the Turkish defense ministry said Dendias’ statements were “low-level, false and slanderous”.
Speaking from Cyprus on Monday and during a meeting with his Cypriot counterpart Vasilis Palmas, Dendias noted that “…First I need to refer to today’s dark anniversary. It has been 50 years since 15 July 1974, the date of the junta coup in Cyprus, a coup against the nation that opened the back door to the intruder, who was lurking.”
Ο Υπουργός Εθνικής Άμυνας Νίκος Δένδιας πραγματοποίησε σήμερα, επίσκεψη στην Κύπρο. Επισκέφθηκε το Υπουργείο Άμυνας της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας, όπου είχε συνάντηση με τον ομόλογό του, Βασίλη Πάλμα, την Δευτέρα 15 Ιουλίου 2024 (Γ.Τ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΑΜΥΝΑΣ/ EUROKINISSI)
The Greek defense minister, who was previously the country’s foreign minister, was referring to a coup attempt engineered by the military junta then ruling Greece against the Makarios government in Nicosia.
He added that “…I express my deepest respect and patriotic gratitude to the Cypriot and Greek fighters of democracy and the unequal confrontation in 1974 against the invasion. They faced superior military forces under the burden of the fratricidal criminal coup. We remember them with respect and we honor their contribution. Of course, we absolutely condemn the Turkish Cypriot fiestas of shame and the sacrilegious illegal presence for half a century of the Turkish invasion army in Cyprus.”
It was the latter statements that generated the ire on the part of Turkey’s defense ministry, which accused Dendias of undermining joint and recent statements by the Greek and Turkish leaders, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, towards warmer bilateral ties and cooperation.
In a later reaction, the defense ministry in Athens replied:
“We sincerely regret that the Minister of National Defense, Nikos Dendias, during his recent visit to Cyprus, failed to ‘thank’ the Turkish invasion and occupation forces for their ‘services’ in defending the principles of the UN Charter, the territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus, the protection of human rights and democracy”.
In a related development, PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be in Nicosia on Saturday for events commemorating the “bleak anniversary” of the Turkish invasion, and the ongoing occupation of 37 percent of the island republic’s territory.
In a statement related to the occasion, a government spokesman in Athens on Wednesday underlined that “…History cannot be rewritten. Greece and Cyprus are requesting a solution that looks to the future, in the context of the UN resolutions, and we certainly cannot talk about a two-state solution”.
Spokesman Pavlos Marinakis added that “it’s imperative for Cyprus to stop being the last divided country; I don’t think there is a issue of tabling different positions,” he stated.
The original reaction by the Turkish defense minister was posted on X:
Yunanistan Savunma Bakanı’nın İftira Dolu Sözleri Hakkında Açıklama#MillîSavunmaBakanlığı pic.twitter.com/zaqRqyrOdr
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) July 17, 2024
