Martyrs of Haspolat commemorated with a ceremony
Date Added: 15 August 2023

A ceremony was held on Monday at the Haspolat Martyrs’ Cemetery to remember the 15 martyrs who fell in Haspolat on August 14, 1974, during the offensive launched as part of the second phase of the 1974 Turkish Peace Operation.

Celal Bayar, the President of the Cyprus TMT Freedom Fighters Association, who delivered a speech at the ceremony, said that the first attack on the morning of August 14, 1974, began in Haspolat at the defence line that the Greek and Greek Cypriot forces had deemed “impenetrable.”

He recounted that the line was swiftly crossed, opening the way for Turkish forces to proceed towards Mesarya and Gazimağusa.

Bayar highlighted that it is thanks to these martyrs and the unity with the motherland, Türkiye, that they reached these days.

“Now, the Greek Cypriots, backed by the European Union, are trying to detach us from our motherland. We will not allow this,” he said.

Also delivering a speech, the Speaker of Parliament Zorlu Töre, pointed out that the name Haspolat was given to this region by combining the first name and surname of a Turkish soldier. He stated that the village of Haspolat can no longer be called “Mia Milia” and stressed that this place holds the blood and lives of the Turkish soldiers and the Turkish Cypriot people.

Töre recalled the events of August 14 and the moment when the Turkish troops launched an attack, causing the Greek Cypriots to flee the area without looking back.

He affirmed that these lands were now a part of Turkish soil and emphasized that the TRNC’s territory will never be given to the Greek Cypriots.

Töre declared, “We now have our own republic. There is the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. We moulded it with our lives and our blood. We’ve come this far. They should not wait anymore. There is no Unified Cyprus. There are two separate states. In the south, there is the occupied Cyprus Republic, and in the north, there is the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.”

The ceremony, which included a recitation of a poem by a student and a prayer by a religious official for the martyrs, concluded.