Association of Rizokarpasso in Britain in letter to PM: UK failed to impose sanctions on Turkey for occupying northern Cyprus

Rt Hon. Boris Johnson MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street,
London SW1A 2AA

Dear Prime Minister,
It is right that the UK has taken a lead on sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. I followed with great interest the video link speech you gave today to the Ukraine Parliament. However, the UK, and other democratic nations, failed to impose sanctions on Turkey for occupying northern Cyprus after Turkey’s invasions in July and August 1974. Turkey still occupies northern Cyprus and has installed a puppet regime there. The UK and the democratic nations allowed Turkey, a large, undemocratic, aggressive neighbour to invade and still occupy its smaller neighbour, Cyprus, without any sanctions being imposed on it even though Turkey is a member of NATO and the UK is a guarantor power of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cyprus and has 2 bases on the island. Russia is following Turkey’s example since Putin’s rationale for the invasion, among other things, was to back a separatist group of citizens, mostly Russian speakers, living in the Donetsk and Luhansk areas of eastern Ukraine, whose self-proclaimed independence in 2014 was not recognized by Ukraine or the international community.
On Monday 21st February 2022, President Putin recognized these areas as independent states and called on the Duma to allow him to move military forces into the area in order to put an end to the genocide allegedly going on for years. Hence, it was under this pretext that the invasion of Ukraine was justified. So it was no wonder that when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke at the Security Council meeting on February 21st, where he sought to justify Moscow’s decision to recognize the “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, he referenced “The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” without qualifying it as a “pseudo-state.” He said, “The only conflict where one of the parties refuses to talk to the other, and this is fully supported by the West, is the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Just look at Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. There is a negotiation process there, mediated by the United Nations.”
Moreover, on February 22nd, through a Facebook post by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov again refers to the occupied side as “The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”, again without qualifying it as a “pseudo-state”. The post read: “Look at Cyprus. The “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” has been unilaterally declared in the North. It refuses to comply with UN Security Council resolutions, but no one denies the representatives of ‘Northern Cyprus’ the right to participate in the dialogue.”
Surely, the UK should also take a lead in taking measures to persuade Turkey to withdraw from northern Cyprus, which it has occupied with thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of illegal settlers from Turkey. This would allow the Republic of Cyprus full control over its territory and refugees and legal owners of properties to return, enjoy, and benefit from their homes and properties throughout the island.
I look forward to hearing your response to this letter.
Yours faithfully

Mrs Mary Helen Karaolis OBE BEd(Hons) MA NPQH FCollT
President of the Association of Rizokarpasso in Britain
on behalf of the Executive Committee & Members