What are you doing, nationalist, in Kyrenia?

Opinion 1974cyprusCyprus problemturkeyturkish invasion What are you doing, nationalist, in Kyrenia? Κερύνεια λιμάνι Id 659161 Relevant News The goal is better living standards for pensioners 22 August 2026 What are you doing, nationalist, in Kyrenia? 22 August 2026 On the treadmill 22 August 2026 Costas Venizelos 22 August 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Kyrenia was on the table. Handed over to the Turks, part of the deal. It sat right there on the agenda of that “high-level” understanding between the junta, Ankara and Washington. The dictator himself, Dimitrios Ioannidis, said as much to the War Council on 20 July 1974, the very day of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus: “We know the solution, don’t we? We know it, Prime Minister” (referring to Adamantios Androutsopoulos). “They’ll land at Kyrenia, and once they’re ashore, they’ll push inland. Whatever the Turks want, they’ll get. We’ll stop them later, once they’ve taken the port, taken Kyrenia and linked up with Nicosia. That’s when they’ll stop. That’s why we’re so sure.” (The recording is published in Alexis Papahelas’s book, A Dark Room 1967-1974, Metaichmio.) Bulent Ecevit said much the same to Henry Kissinger, on the night of 19 July 1974: “I assure you we are not trying to conquer Cyprus. We simply want to establish a bridgehead.” Bridgehead. That was the word, the same word used by Ioannidis, by Ecevit, and by Kissinger himself (Guilty, Ignatiou and Venizelos, Rizes Editions). Betrayed, and under orders not to fire back at Turkish guns, Kyrenia still held out against the invaders with whatever forces it had. It fell to the conquerors on 22 July. From that day on, it was treated as “settled” (was it, though?) that Kyrenia would never be returned, whatever version of a Cyprus solution happened to be on the table. Nobody has ever properly explained why. Was it because the town was the sacrifice, the price paid to seal the triangle’s little arrangement? Was that the plan all along, cooked up in those “high chambers,” nodded through by Greek-speaking traitors? It was part of the game played at Cyprus’s expense. And this isn’t speculation. It’s documented fact. Kyrenia was handed to the Turks, who then, now working hand in glove with the Americans, went on to seize the rest of the territory that remains occupied to this day. And that slogan, “our borders are in Kyrenia”? Is it just a slogan? Or is it, as some would have it, extreme and nationalistic? But when we talk about a real solution, not the legalisation of the invasion’s results and the ongoing consequences of occupation, can we really accept arrangements shot through with restrictions? Can there be borders at all? And yet, realistically, rationally, in any genuine solution, our borders will be in Kyrenia. The people of Kyrenia will live there. Just as Turkish Cypriots will live in their own towns and villages. Anything less, and what exactly would we be calling a solution? President Nikos Christodoulides said as much at the anti-occupation gathering of Municipalities, Communities, refugee associations and Kyrenia organisations (Wednesday, 22 July 2026, Makedonitissa Tomb): “The demand that our borders are in Kyrenia is not a slogan. It is our goal for a solution that guarantees the genuine reunification of the country, in territory, in institutions, in the economy and in every aspect of daily life.” He added that it is unthinkable for half a billion European citizens to hold rights across the entire territory of the European Union, while Cypriot European citizens do not enjoy those same rights in their own homeland. The return of the territories, their liberation, must be a given in any solution, non-negotiable. Yet today, this remains a taboo. That narrative has been cultivated for decades, and cultivated deliberately: that any solution will inevitably mean territorial adjustments, endless restrictions, endless carve-outs. Wrong. Because that wouldn’t be a solution. It would be the permanent entrenchment of the invasion’s results. So no, you cannot talk about Kyrenia and be branded a nationalist for it. “What are you doing, nationalist, in Kyrenia?” The real nationalists are the ones who think the town should be forgotten, written off, never returned. Nationalists in the sense that, whether they realise it or not, they are simply doing Turkish nationalism’s work for it. Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News The goal is better living standards for pensioners On the treadmill Hospital treatment of four-year-old Marios probed after his death weeks after meningitis diagnosis Indonesian students and teachers celebrate Independence Day Apollonio, SHSO clash over claim patient was denied care Cyprus fuel prices dive as EU-wide costs rise On this day: Henry Kissinger was named U.S. Secretary of State in 1973 Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.