28 June 2025

From Kyrenia to Gaza

Two countries, two peoples under occupation. Victims of ethnic cleansing. Cyprus and Palestine. Events unfolding in Gaza, as well as the West Bank, reveal the true face of the occupying power. In the Gaza Strip, genocide is taking place.

In Cyprus, Turkey invaded in 1974 and occupied territories which it has held by force for nearly fifty-one years. Dead, missing, dead. To this day the wound remains open. The occupying power methodically and systematically consolidates the occupation’s realities. By constructing an illegal entity that functions as a supposed state, it changed the population by bringing in settlers whilst driving out Turkish Cypriots (“Turk leaves, Turk comes,” as the former leader of the occupation regime, Rauf Denktaş, once said).

In Gaza too, everything is being razed. Human life, hospitals, schools, homes. They search for terrorists beneath the rubble. Yet they find lifeless bodies of children who never had the chance to look the sun in the eye. Their lives were brief.

Two neighbouring peoples with parallel journeys. With the same problems, those under occupation can understand each other. Hence the solidarity demonstrations. It is naturally normal and expected that attention should turn to the open front, the deadly attacks the Palestinians are enduring. They need the support and solidarity of all who feel they must champion freedom and justice.

Cyprus too needs solidarity and support. Continued occupation is not normality. Nor can the occupation’s status quo be accepted.

Just as we cry out for freedom in Palestine, in Gaza, we must do the same for Kyrenia, Morphou, Karpasia, Famagusta, Kythrea. First we Greeks of Cyprus, then others.

In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, such common steps were taken for granted. Support for the Palestinian liberation movement was practical. At Tel al-Zaatar and elsewhere. There was unity of forces in international forums and student political struggles. Cypriots have a long shared journey with Palestinians. They face the same problem—continued occupation. Cypriots confront Turkey whilst Palestinians face the Israelis. This is the point that unites the two peoples, their common reference point: occupation of their territories and efforts to end occupation’s realities. From Kyrenia to Gaza. Hence the slogan must be shared: From Kyrenia to Gaza, to Kurdistan. Just as they hold Gaza’s soil with their lives, we too must demand return through liberation in Kyrenia.

At the same time, it’s clear that geopolitical developments and broader interests shape a different picture. States operate within a broader international, geopolitical environment they cannot ignore. Israel is a neighbouring country; we have historically good relations. But these relations cannot prevent any reaction to the continuing genocide. What’s happening in Gaza provokes reaction from the UN Secretary-General and the entire EU, which sent a clear message to Israel the day before yesterday. Cyprus participated in that message.

P.S.: Israel’s ambassador to Cyprus, Oren Anolik, issued a written statement referring to “the emergence of untypical antisemitic rhetoric in public discourse in Cyprus“. Deploying this argument about antisemitism is an alibi for what his state perpetrates against Palestinians. Antisemites and enemies are manufactured everywhere. Conspiracies don’t hide crimes under the carpet. All humanity is watching what’s happening. This isn’t self-defence, and Israel’s survival cannot be achieved through other peoples’ disappearance.

Only from Netanyahu would one expect that when he sees himself in the mirror, he feels no guilt for what’s being perpetrated in the Gaza Strip.