Tourists gathered near an abandoned hotel in Varosha.
Turkish Cyprus has strongly condemned remarks by the leader of the Greek Cypriot administration, Nikos Christodoulidis, claiming rights over Varosha, describing them as nothing more than “empty rhetoric and blank threats.”
Christodoulidis made the controversial remarks during a ceremony commemorating Solomos Solomou, a Greek Cypriot nationalist who was shot dead in 1996 while attempting to remove the Turkish flag in the buffer zone on the ethnically-divided island.
During the ceremony, Christodoulidis called for the return of Varosha, a coastal district adjacent to Famagusta that was sealed off following the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation and remained closed for 46 years before parts of it were opened to public access in 2020.
The event also saw a series of slogans directed against Ankara, while Türkiye was accused of “occupying” Cyprus.
Christodoulidis’ renewed call for the return of Varosha drew a strong reaction from Turkish Cyprus.
In a statement on Aug. 15, Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ünal Üstel said Christodoulidis’ remarks were “nothing more than empty words and blank threats that ignore the realities on the island,” stressing that they were unacceptable.
“There is an approach that, on the one hand, delivers speeches about a ‘solution’ while, on the other, seeking to usurp even the most fundamental rights of the Turkish Cypriot people. This is an obvious contradiction and hypocrisy,” Üstel said.
“Christodoulidis and his team must know very well that the Turkish Cypriot people have never allowed, do not allow today, and will never allow tomorrow any attack targeting their dignity, their right to live in human conditions, their sovereignty, their freedom or their state,” he added.
