Turkish Vice-President Cevdet Yılmaz will travel to the north on Sunday morning to attend a military parade in the occupied part of Nicosia marking the 43rd anniversary of the unilateral declaration of independence in 1983. The self-proclaimed ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ is recognised only by Turkey and has been condemned as legally invalid by the UN Security Council. According to Turkish Cypriot media, Yılmaz will also attend a reception hosted on Sunday evening by Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman at the ‘presidential palace’, as well as the opening ceremony of a ‘peace stadium’ and lake on the campus of the ‘Middle East Technical University’ in the north.
A wreath-laying ceremony at the monuments of Fazıl Küçük and Rauf Denktaş is scheduled for 9.30am on Sunday, which the Turkish vice-president is also expected to attend. The parade along a central avenue in the occupied part of Nicosia will begin at 10am, with Erhürman and Yılmaz due to speak. At 3.30pm, the Turkish Stars, the Turkish Air Force’s aerobatic team, will stage an air show in front of the Atatürk monument on the Kyrenia seafront. Events have also been scheduled in other towns in the north.
Turkish warships are also docked in occupied Kyrenia and Famagusta, where the public will be able to visit them on Sunday. They are the patrol boat TCG Karadeniz Ereğli (P-1214), the missile boat TCG Tufan (P-333) and the patrol boat TCG Karataş (P-1212), all belonging to the Turkish Naval Forces.
Source: CNA
