Sakellaropoulou on Cyprus invasion anniversary: ‘The pain remains unrelieved’

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou has deplored the tragic legacy of Turkey’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus, while condemning Ankara’s growing aggressiveness in the broader region.

“The pain remains unrelieved,” Sakellaropoulou said on the 46th anniversary of the invasion of the Mediterranean island Monday.

“We will not forget the barbarity of the Turkish invasion,” she said.

“[We will not forget] its criminal and chronic consequences: the uprooting and displacement, the continuing drama of the families of the missing, the mass violation of human rights, the looting of cultural monuments, the violent separation of Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots, the Turkish settlers,” she said.

In the same message, Sakellaropoulou bemoaned Turkey’s “escalating” aggressiveness across the Eastern Mediterranean region, while condemning the country’s recent decision to turn Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia into a mosque.

“The decision,” the Greek president said, is pulling Turkey away from the values of a secular state and [away from] the principles of tolerance and pluralism.”