This year is a sombre milestone which serves as a reminder that the occupation of a large part of our island has been ongoing for far too long.

In 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus and divided the island by force. The invasion was a vicious military operation which targeted civilians as well as soldiers.

Numerous war crimes were committed by the Turkish soldiers and their Turkish Cypriot helpers. Captured Greeks—soldiers and civilians—were often slaughtered in cold blood. Women were gang raped and then killed. Some prisoners were taken back to Turkey to be paraded through towns and villages. Some never returned. When it was all over, 1,619 Greeks were unaccounted for: soldiers, civilians, children, women.

As a result of this brutal campaign, around 37 per cent of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus fell to the Turkish military, and almost one third of the population, some 200,000 Greek Cypriots, were forcibly uprooted from their homes and villages. More Greek Cypriots became refugees, than the total number of Turkish Cypriots on the island. When these refugees were not allowed to return to their homes, it became clear that Turkey had ethnically “cleansed” a massive area in the north of the island.

Five decades later, the Turkish Army is still there propping up the puppet government it installed, despite UN resolutions calling for Turkey’s withdrawal. The legitimate Greek Cypriot inhabitants, who constituted a majority in the occupied territory, have still not been allowed to return to their homes and, to make matters worse, Turkey has engaged in a huge and unlawful programme of colonisation and Turkification of the occupied territory. There are now anything from 200,000 to 250,000 illegal Turkish settlers in Cyprus, in flagrant breach of the Geneva Convention.

In this 50th year it is imperative that we do not forget. Turkey has unleashed a campaign to persuade governments around the world to recognise its illegal state built on stolen, ethnically-cleansed territory. We must do our utmost to prevent any such recognition, and to push for Turkish withdrawal. It is time for Turkey to repatriate its troops and settlers, and release the island from that stranglehold.

On the afternoon of the 21st of July we will be holding a Memorial Rally in Federation Square to raise the flag of Cyprus and to call for a just settlement. We will never forget!

Pavlos Andronikos is the President of ΣEKA Victoria.