Write to your MP - Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus

ASK YOUR MP TO SUPPORT TURKISH CYPRIOTS AND NORTHERN CYPRUS

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Dear ,

I am a constituent of yours (my address is at the bottom of this email). You will likely have heard about how Cyprus, and particularly our Sovereign Base Areas, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, remain one of our most strategically important platforms in the region. It is also an island with a complex history.

Given this, please may I urge you to consider the perspective of the Turkish Cypriots in Northern Cyprus. They face unprecedented discrimination simply due to their ethnicity and where they live on the island. They are locked out of international trade, are unable to directly fly to their homeland without having to change planes in Türkiye, and are even prohibited from partaking in friendly sports contests. Turkish Cypriots living in this constituency face these difficulties too - most acutely with the arbitrary lack of direct flights that adversely affects the elderly, pregnant, and disabled. This isn’t fair, respectful, or right.

Can I encourage you to engage with advocacy groups such as ‘Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus’ to understand the challenges Turkish Cypriots face, and be a champion in dismantling the barriers to their equality - notably by supporting direct flights and trade to and from Northern Cyprus and the UK.

The UK still has a role. When Britain ceded control of Cyprus in 1960 it, alongside Türkiye and Greece, became Guarantor Powers for the Republic in which power was shared between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The Guarantors had (and still have) a constitutional duty to preserve this, ensuring both were treated equally. This was essential given Turkish Cypriots had, for decades prior, suffered strategic assassinations by Greek Cypriot ethno-nationalists (‘EOKA’) who strived for a racially pure island.

In 1963 this collapsed and an attempted genocide began. EOKA, aided by Athens and the Greek Cypriot leadership expelled Turkish Cypriots from power, ghettoised them, and commenced ‘Enosis’ - annexing Cyprus into Greece and exterminating its Muslim citizens. Thousands of Turkish Cypriots and hundreds of Greek Cypriots were killed. The UK, citing domestic issues, didn’t act to prevent this, forcing Türkiye, as a Guarantor, to intervene in July 1974. This stopped the massacre and ushered in a peace that exists today.

This was not an ‘unprovoked invasion’, as some allege - this whitewashes history. It was a legal act that prevented a genocide and allowed for the Turkish Cypriots to exercise their right to self-determination and establish the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in 1983. As my MP, it is important you acknowledge both perspectives of the conflict - not just the dominant one.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my email.
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