Salute to Erenköy
NEARLY 1,000 people attended a ceremony to mark the 55th anniversary of the Erenköy resistance on Thursday.
The event was held in the Erenköy enclave, now under military control, which saw fierce fighting in August 1964 when the bridgehead came under attack by the Greek Cypriot National Guard and Greek Army units led by General George Grivas.
The onslaught forced the village’s Turkish Cypriot defenders, including some 500 university students who had returned from studies abroad, and the civilian population to retreat to a narrow area until Turkey launched airstrikes.
Protecting Erenköy was crucial to the survival of the Turkish Cypriot community after it had been forced into pockets of land comprising just 3 per cent of the island’s territory.
Located in the west of the island by the coast, it provided the Turkish Cypriots’ only sea link with Turkey, allowing for the delivery of food, aid and weapons for defence.
A convoy of 53 vehicles took those attending the ceremony from the Yeşilırmak checkpoint to the TRNC exclave via South Cyprus.
Visitors laid flowers at the graves of loved ones who fell defending the village.
President Mustafa Akıncı, Prime Minister Ersin Tatar and Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar were among those who paid their respects.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Akıncı said: “August 8, 1964, is a very important, symbolic [date] for the Turkish Cypriots.
“The people’s passion for freedom gains more meaning on this day.”
A statement by Mr Tatar said the Erenköy resistance fighters had “written history” by refusing to become a “minority in a Greek-ruled Cyprus”.
“This opened the way for the July 20 [1974] Peace Operation, which led Turkish Cypriots to their freedom and then to the formation of their State,” he said.
Signing a memorial book, Mr Akar said the Erenköy resistance was a “struggle for existence” put forward by the “sons and martyrs of the great Turkish nation . . . who did not stay silent in the face of the cruelty and brutality experienced by Turkish Cypriots on these lands”.
Erenköy Veterans’ Society chairman Mustafa Arıkan said the stand marked the “foundation stone in the formation of the TRNC”.
“All we wanted was for our future generations to be able to live freely under the star and crescent flag in a free and democratic homeland,” he said. AN F-100 FIGHTER jet — the same model as the Turkish Air Force plane shot down by Greek Cypriots 55 years ago during the Erenköy resistance — and a new statue were unveiled in memory of hero pilot Cengiz Topel at a ceremony on Thursday.
Four modern-day F-16 jets performed a fly-past in honour of the pilot, who was captured, heavily tortured and shot by Greek Cypriot forces after ejecting from his aircraft on August 8, 1964, when it was hit while defending the Turkish Cypriot enclave of Erenköy.
The body of Cengiz Topel, who was 29, was later returned to Turkey and is buried in Edirnekapı, İstanbul. He was the first Turkish fighter pilot killed in action.
Turkey’s Defence Minister Hulusi Akar and a relative of Topel joined President Mustafa Akıncı, Prime Minister Ersin Tatar and other senior government and military officials at the emotional ceremony.
Mr Akıncı paid tribute to the pilot, telling those in attendance that he and others had sacrificed their lives for Turkish Cypriots’ freedom.
The F-100 jet, which was no longer in service, was restored in Turkey and then brought over to the TRNC and installed at the existing coastal Cengiz Topel monument site near Lefke.
It was placed on a plinth bearing a commemorative plaque listing the names of Turkish pilots and veterans who saw action in Cyprus, beside a statue of Cengiz Topel.