The martyrs of Haspolat were commemorated on Wednesday morning at a ceremony.
A ceremony was held at the Haspolat Martyrs’ Cemetery to remember the 15 martyrs who fell in Haspolat on August 14, 1974.
Speaker of the Republic’s Assembly Zorlu Töre, National Unity party MP Hasan Taçoy, Haspolat Muhtar Talip Özdemir, the President of the Cyprus TMT Fighters Association Celal Bayar and members from other veteran associations all attended the ceremony.
The ceremony at the Haspolat Martyrs’ Cemetery started with the laying of wreaths and continued with the raising of flags accompanied by a moment of silence and the reciting of the national anthem.
Delivering a speech at the ceremony the Speaker of the Republic’s Assembly Zorlu Töre spoke about the hardships experienced during the second peace operation and the atrocities committed in the Atlılar, Muratağa and Sandallar villages.
Noting that imperialist powers remained silent on Israel’s massacre and genocide against Palestine, Töre stated that the only assurance of the Turkish Cypriots was Motherland TĂĽrkiye, the Turkish Armed Forces and the Security Forces, so that they continued to live in peace on the island.
Töre emphasized that the Turkish Cypriots, who have made their land a homeland and established a state by giving many martyrs and sacrifices in Cyprus since 1571, will not give up their state.
He noted that the bi-zonality in Cyprus will never be broken, the TRNC lands cannot be given to the Greek Cypriots and there will be no question of making concessions adding that the Turkish Cypriots will not go back from their rights in the “blue homeland” and “sky homeland”.
The President of the Cyprus TMT Fighters Association Celal Bayar for his part said that the island of Cyprus suffered from the Greek-Greek Cypriot duo’s dream of Enosis, but at this point, Türkiye is still trying to be conveyed as the guilty party.
Stating that martyrs are the inevitable result of wars, Bayar underlined that the homeland cannot be a homeland without martyrs and wished mercy to those who lost their lives for the defense of the homeland and a long and healthy life to those who are still alive.
Bayar added that it is a debt to the martyrs to keep the free and sovereign Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) state alive and to take it forward.