🇨🇾🇮🇱🇹🇷 As pro-Iran and pro-Palestinian activists target Cyprus over its defense and diplomatic ties with Israel and the UK, Cypriot voices are reminding the world of a harsh reality: Cyprus itself remains occupied—not by Tel Aviv, but by Turkey.
🔻 In 1974, Turkey launched two invasions of Cyprus within three weeks, seizing the northern third of the island. Since then, Ankara has systematically altered the region’s demographics through the import of settlers from mainland Turkey, displacing Greek, Armenian, and Maronite Cypriots, and marginalizing the native Turkish Cypriot community.
🔻 Turkish Cypriots themselves have frequently protested Ankara’s interference and Islamist influence, advocating for secularism and autonomy from Turkish political control. This undermines narratives that Cyprus is aligned with “Zionist oppression,” when it is Ankara that holds military and political dominance over the occupied north.
🇪🇺 Cyprus is the only EU member state under direct foreign military occupation, a fact often lost in geopolitical debates about alliances and identity.
As misinformation spreads, especially from pro-Iranian channels, it is crucial to recognize that Cyprus’s sovereignty is compromised not by Tel Aviv, but by Ankara—a nation whose track record includes military invasions, forced demographic changes, and increasing suppression of secular values.
