The Speaker of the Republic’s Assembly Zorlu Töre on Friday expressed his gratitude to his Turkish counterpart Numan Kurtulmuş and Türkiye for their response to claims made by the Speaker of the Greek Cypriot House of Representatives at the Conference of Presidents of European Parliaments.

In a written statement issue on Friday, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Zorlu Töre slammed the Greek Cypriot House Speaker Anita Dimitriou for accusing Türkiye of being an ‘occupier’ in Cyprus, and Azerbaijan in Karabakh.

He said that the Greek Cypriot speaker continued to mislead the international community with the Greek-Greek Cypriot thesis that the Cyprus issue began in 1974.

“The desperate attempt by the Greek Cypriot side, which effectively eliminated Turkish Cypriots’ partnership in the 1960 Cyprus Republic and initiated a campaign of ethnic cleansing, to brand Türkiye as an “occupier” at the Conference of Presidents of European Parliaments and on every other international platform is a manifestation of the unchanging Greek Cypriot mentality. The aggressive and baseless accusations made by the Greek Cypriot speaker were given the appropriate response by Mr Kurtulmuş,” he said.

“In this context, I would like to express my gratitude once again to the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Mr. Kurtulmuş, and to Türkiye,” Töre concluded.