Türkiye has criticized a European Parliament committee’s recommendation to provide EU funding for a proposed memorial in Greek Cyprus, saying the initiative would further undermine trust between Turkish and Greek Cypriots.
The Foreign Ministry said on Sept. 3 that an opinion issued by the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality on the EU’s 2027 budget recommended funding for the monument.
The committee approved an amendment calling on the European Commission to work with Greek Cypriot authorities to finance a memorial commemorating women who allegedly suffered sexual violence during the 1974 conflict.
Ankara said the project was intended to defame the Turkish Armed Forces and rejected the allegations behind it as a distortion and politicization of historical events.
The ministry said Türkiye’s 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation prevented the destruction of the Turkish Cypriot community and brought more than half a century of peace to the island.
“EU institutions are further undermining trust between the two peoples,” the statement said, accusing the bloc’s bodies of departing from the principles of impartiality and justice.
The ministry called on EU officials not to become “an instrument” of groups seeking to distance Türkiye from the bloc.
