Wednesday, 2 August 2023

Cyprus settlement

Kat THEOPHANOUS (Northcote) (10:01): It has been 49 years since Türkiye invaded Cyprus, illegally seizing and violently occupying 36 per cent of the island, displacing hundreds of thousands of people. I am proudly Cypriot Australian, and this year, along with eight other Hellenic Australian parliamentarians, we passed a resolution at the World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association’s general assembly. Together we condemned the illegal occupation of Northern Cyprus by Türkiye, which contravenes international law and UN resolutions, and we called for the right of return for Cypriot refugees to their ancestral homelands. The resolution appeals to all parliaments, including this one, to fully support the UN-led efforts for a peaceful, just and viable Cyprus settlement.

The international community, bar Türkiye, recognises sovereignty of the Republic of Cyprus over the entire island of Cyprus, yet for nearly half a century Cypriots have endured the consequences of invasion. Both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots have suffered. To this day Nicosia remains the world’s last divided capital. A UN-patrolled buffer zone fractures through it, like a wound that never healed. In the mountains north, a giant Turkish flag is scorched into the earth by the invaders, lit up at night as an ongoing reminder to Greek Cypriots of the injustice and horror wrought by Türkiye on this island. To the north-east is my mother’s village of Asha – we do not go back there. It is occupied by Turkish military, who rounded up the Greek civilians, executed them and dumped their bodies into mass graves. The international community has repeatedly called for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus and a peaceful resolution – a chillingly similar scenario to Ukraine now. I stand in solidarity with them.