Archbishop George of Cyprus: Turkey seeks full "Turkishization of Cyprus"

Archbishop George of Cyprus has made alarming statements in an interview with the Greek publication Ethnikos Kyrikas (National Herald), warning that Turkey is seeking the complete «Turkization of Cyprus» and not just its partition. According to Vima Orthodoxias, the First Hierarch emphasized that the situation has not changed in the new year and Turkey is only strengthening its position.

Archbishop George expressed deep concern about the current situation of Cyprus. According to him, Turkey is persistently following the course of Turkization of the island and is ready to wait for years to achieve this goal. «Alone we, as Cyprus, cannot do much. We need Greece as our patron and the whole of Overseas Hellas,» he noted, making a special appeal to the Greek diaspora in America.

His Beatitude emphasized that Cypriot Hellenism, Greece and the Diaspora must remain steadfast in their demands for the rights enjoyed by all free Europeans — freedom of movement, settlement and acquisition of property. He criticized the approach of Cyprus agreeing to discuss concessions in its rights and lamented that the Greek government may be placing greater importance on good neighborly relations with Turkey and NATO cohesion, while ignoring the fact that «part of the nation is in danger and at risk of being lost forever.»

Archbishop George provided historical evidence of Turkish claims, mentioning that the policy of Turkization of Cyprus is not new. He said that in 1975, after the Turkish invasion, the then Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit stated that the partition of the island was not the ultimate goal, but only a stepping stone to a two-state confederation that would allow Turkey to have influence over the rest of Cyprus, with the ultimate goal of establishing sole control over the entire island. These ambitions, he noted, had been stated even before the Lausanne Peace Treaty of the 1920s.

Archbishop George assigned a special role in this context to the Greek diaspora in the United States. «They are close to the place where decisions are made for the whole world. We must, as Israel managed with its Diaspora, influence situations, » he said, emphasizing the geopolitical importance of Greece and Cyprus.

Recall, earlier we reported that the head of the Church of Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew called for friendship between Greece and Turkey for the sake of peace in the Mediterranean region. Bartholomew called Greeks and Turks «friendly nations,» noting the efforts of the Turkish and Greek governments in this direction. The head of the Phanar believes that both sides will benefit from such friendship.