The Justice or Cyprus Coordinating Committee (ΣΕΚΑ) have issued a statement on behalf of Greek and Greek-Cypriot communities, expressing “their alarm at the email invitation sent” to Victorian parliamentarians by a group “aligned with the illegal regime in the north of Cyprus that refers to itself as the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” (“TRNC”)”.

Neos Kosmos has seen a copy of a media release from the group claiming to represent Turkish Cypriots who aim to hold what they call a “peace parade in the CBD on Saturday, 20 July 2024, commencing at noon at Parliament House in Spring St and finishing at Federation Square”.

According to that release, the group is “expecting several thousand community members to participate.”

It invites “elected Members of Parliament” to participate “or engage with us to support our community”.

The media release/invitation portrays the “intervention of the Turkish Government, as a guarantor power” in 1974 as one that forced Turkey to establish two distinct and separate entities—Greek Cypriot-controlled South Cyprus and the so-called ‘Turkish Republic of North Cyprus’ or ‘TRNC’ “administered by Turkish Cypriots.”

It emphasised the Greek-led coup of 1974 as the legitimation of the full-scale invasion of Cyprus’s north.

Over 5,000 died in the invasion, mostly Greek Cypriots and hundreds of thousands of Greeks were displayed.

According to ΣΕΚΑ, the “invitation attempts to rewrite history with misinformation and outright lies and seeks to legitimise the illegal Turkish military invasion and occupation of 37 per cent of Cyprus in 1974”.

“It cannot go unanswered, and it puts parliamentarians at risk of breaching Australia’s foreign policy position.”

“The UN, the EU, and indeed every country in the world other than Turkey does not recognise the ‘TRNC’,” the statement says.

The release emphasises the Australian government’s position – which also applies to the Victorian Government – and refers readers to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“Australia supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus and recognises the Republic as the only legitimate authority on the island. Australia does not recognise the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus'”.

The ΣΕΚΑ release advises all parliamentarians of “the potential breach of protocol should any Member of Parliament attend or engage with the proposed event in support of the ‘TRNC'”.

‘TRNC’ activists seeking to legitimate the occupied part of Cyprus’s north as a nation have stepped up their efforts recently with a visit to Ersin Tatar, the leader of the Turkish-occupied northern part of Cyprus, in Australia.

The self-proclaimed ‘Republic’ in the occupied north of Cyprus’ (TRNC) remains unrecognised internationally except by Turkey, and is under embargo. All sstates consider the so-called TRNC to be part of the Republic of Cyprus, which was occupied by Turkish forces in 1974.

Bangladesh and Pakistan, which initially recognised the so-called ‘TRNC’, withdrew recognition in 1983 amid international pressure. Azerbaijan is sympathetic to the ‘TRNC’; apparently, high-level contacts between Azerbaijan and Northern Cyprus have increased.