Report : Tazeen Akhtar | Camera : Raja Ghulam Farid
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus TRNC celebrated 42nd National Day, 15th November Independence Day (proclamation of TRNC) in Islamabad asserting the statehood of the republic. Representative of TRNC Ms Buket Kop hosted a reception to mark the day and advocated the recognition of the state by the world.
The TRNC has an effectively functioning state mechanism, democratically elected Government and legislature, and an independent judiciary and all other state institutions intact.
Ambassador of Turkiye Dr Irfan Neziroglu, Ambassador of Azerbaijan Khazar Farhadov, Ambassador of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Kistafin, Ambassador of Philippine Emmanuel R. Fernandez. Ambassador of Sudan, Salih Mohamed Ahmed Siddig; Ambassador of Uzbekistan Alisher Tukhtaev,DHMs of Kyrgyzstan, Palestine and Belarus and many other diplomts attended the reception.
From Pakistan Mr. Naeem Iqbal Cheema, Director General (AIT) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Director General think tank ISSI and Secretary General D-8, Amb Sohail Mehmood, Former Minister Saleem Saif Ullah Khan, Former Minister Dr Ramaish Kumar, Secretary General Inter Parliamentary Union, Sitara Ayaz, Senator Sehar Kamran graced the event with their presence.
They congratulated Ambassador Kop and the TRNC citizens on the memorable occasion. At the start of the national day of the TRNC, national anthems of the two countries were played and a cake was also cut.
The host, Ms Buket Kop, in her address called upon the international community to end the double standards on the republic and recognize its statehood that it deserves by all standards and definitions.
She quoted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkiye who in his address at the 79th UN General Assembly called upon the international community to recognize the citizens of TRNC as an independent sovereign nation.”
Turkish President has time and again taken up the TRNC case before the international community calling upon them to acknowledge the realities on ground. President Erdogan emphasized that Cyprus was home to two states and two peoples and that the Turkish Cyprus would not accept a minority status.
Ambassador Buket Kop said that as an observer member of the Organization of Islamic Countries, Economic Cooperation Organization and Organization of Turkic States, the TRNC is a rising international actor.
Ms Buket Kop briefed the guests about the substantial progress the island has achieved in various domains including democracy, economy, social equality and human rights (HR). Established in 1983, the TRNC has remained steadfast in preserving peace and stability on the island, supported by Turkiye, she said.
She also gave a background of the TRNC citizens’ just and long struggle for recognition as a sovereign nation.
She recalled that the Republic of Cyprus was established as a partnership between the Turkish Cyprus and the Greek Cyprus in 1960. Its legitimacy depended on the joint participation and equal representation, however, that partnership lasted only for three years and in 1963 the Greek Cyprus side attempted to alter the constitution and to strip the people of the Turkish Cyprus of their cofounder status and reduced them to a minority. This led to the collapse of the partnership and expulsion of the Turkish Cypriots from all state institutions.
“The root cause of the Cyprus issue was the problem of status. The Greek Cyprus administration was acknowledged by the international community and recognized as the sole representative of the island while the Turkish Cyprus people were just an isolated and unrecognized community” , she concluded.
Turkish Cypriots first proclaimed North Cyprus in 1975, a year after the split with the Greek Cypriots. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was established on 15 November 1983, by the Turkish Cypriot community and Turkish Cypriot Leader/Northern Cypriot State President Rauf Denktash.
I visited TRNC some 13 years ago as state guest thanks to the then Representative Mustafa Evran’s consideration that he did to my work on international affairs, specifically on Pakistan TRNC relations.
Our organization, with Mr. Evran did a lot of work on the promotion of information of TRNC in Pakistani people and officials. I remained in touch with Mr. Ali Santel , Mr. Mehmet Davulcu and Ms Dilshod Senol later on. Cyprus is actually Island of Qabras that was in the rule of Muslims for centuries. Greeks were about to occupy the island in 1974 when Turkish population stood for their right of freedom and established a state that is now called TRNC.
Our cooperation and support for TRNC will continue like the past 1.5 decade to promote its statehood and get it acknowledged by the world and United Nations.
The history of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is intertwined with the larger history of the island of Cyprus, which has been inhabited since at least 12,000 BCE. Following periods of rule by various empires, the island gained independence in 1960 but was divided in 1974 after a coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece prompted a Turkish military intervention. This led to the self-declaration of the TRNC in the north.
The Island of Cyprus is situated in the far eastern end of the Mediterranean at the crossroads of three continents – Europe, Africa and Asia. Due to its strategic location, it was ruled by many civilizations throughout history, namely the Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, Romans, Arabs, Knights Templar, Lusignans, Venetians, Ottomans and the British.
