A couple of hundred people gathered at the Ayios Dhometios crossing point in western Nicosia on Saturday morning to protest against the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to northern Cyprus.

Erdogan is set to visit the island to open a new official residence for Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and a new ‘parliament’ building for the north, both of which are a stone’s throw from the crossing point.

Among those in attendance were Simos Ioannou and Joseph Violaris, the Greek Cypriot mayors-in-exile of Famagusta and Kyrenia, as well as MPs Christos Chistofias, son of late president Demetris, of Akel and Chrysis Pantelides of Diko, and Diko member of the European parliament Costas Mavrides.

At the protest, the names of villages and towns in the north were read out to the crowd, with the crowd first chanting “I do not forget” in reply, and then later “return”.

In addition, a resolution was read out in both Greek and Turkish, with the Green party’s Oz Karahan reading out its Turkish version.

“We, the legal representatives of the municipalities of the occupied district of Kyrenia, strongly condemn the illegal visit of the Turkish president to the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus, under occupation since 1974, in violations of international law and United Nations resolutions.

“The presence of such an illegal visitor in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus is a gross violation of the rights of all the people of Cyprus. We would like to issue a reminder that the Republic of Cyprus is an independent country which is a full member of the UN, and a full member of the European Union since 2004,” the resolution began.

“We would like to issue a call upon the UN and the security council to condemn any illegal action against the sovereignty of UN member state the Republic of Cyprus, and to remind Turkey of its obligations regarding the UN charter and the resolutions regarding the Republic of Cyprus.”

It concluded by calling for a “resolution to the Cyprus problem which will be viable and sustainable, and which will respect the human rights of all Cypriots, which will respect both the UN charter and the EU’s acquis Communautaire”.

After the resolution was read out to the crowd, it was handed over to a member of the UN police who was waiting at the crossing point.