Greek Cypriots living in Dipkarpaz are being “used as political pawns” by the Greek Cypriot administration, Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu said on Wednesday.
Speaking to the Turkish News Agency Cyprus (TAK), he said, “Greek Cypriots, who live in an environment of security and peace in our country, are unfortunately being used as political pawns by the Greek Cypriot leadership.
“By claiming they live in so-called ‘enclaves’, they are being used as tools for political purposes at the expense of being exploited on international platforms,” he said.
As part of the 1975 Third Vienna Agreement, a population exchange agreement between the two sides on the island granted certain rights to Greek Cypriots who wished to continue living in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
To this end, Ertuğruloğlu said, “Greek Cypriots can easily fulfil their rights such as education, freedom of movement, access to healthcare, and freedom of worship.
“Our state has been displaying all the necessary sensitivity to ensure that the Greek Cypriots who have chosen to reside on the Turkish Cypriot side since 1975 … can live in these lands in peace and tranquillity.”
He went on to explain that the three Greek Cypriot schools in Dipkarpaz operate under the supervision of the TRNC Ministry of National Education, and that the Greek Cypriot administration sends teachers and school books to them in coordination with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).
However, he said, the Greek Cypriot side is now “trying to send textbooks containing racist and hateful speech to Greek Cypriot schools in our country, in order to brainwash the young Greek Cypriot children and to instil hostility towards Turks, as it always does.”
Ertuğruloğlu added that the books in question are already in circulation in the south and that the education ministry is examining them.
He added that the inspections carried out at the schools on Monday had determined that textbooks banned in the north as they contained “objectionable” material have been used in lessons since 2015.
The TRNC foreign minister said the results of those inspections reveal “the game being played” by the Greek Cypriot administration, which “has found its only solution to be to poison young minds to create the impression that Greek Cypriots, who have no problems residing in the TRNC, are stranded in our country.”