Turkey’s foreign ministry on Monday stressed that the actions it took in Cyprus fell in line with its rights and responsibilities under Cyprus’ 1960 Treaty of Guarantee in its own message marking the 52nd anniversary of its troops’ arrival on the island.

“Exactly 52 years ago, Turkey took action within the framework of its rights and obligations arising from the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, thereby ensuring the safety of life of the Turkish Cypriots and guaranteeing their presence on the island,” it said.

As such, it added, “today, the Turkish Cypriot people live with their heads held high, in peace and security, under the roof of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, beneath their freely waving flag”.

“The motherland and guarantor, Turkey, will continue today and in the future, as it did yesterday, to protect the interests of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and to work tirelessly for the recognition of the Turkish Cypriots to sovereign equality and equal international status,” it said.

It added that it wished to “commemorate with mercy our soldiers and freedom fighters who established peace in Cyprus and attained martyrdom for the sake of our national cause without a second’s thought”.

“We proudly celebrate the 52nd anniversary of the Cyprus peace operation, which crowned the Turkish Cypriot people’s fight for freedom,” it said.

Turkey’s invocation of the Treaty of Guarantee is disputed. While the Parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe had in on July 29, 1974 acknowledged that Turkey had “exercised its right of intervention”, the majority international view of Turkish actions on the island had changed by mid-August that year.

On August 16, 1974, the United Nations security council issued resolution 360, in which it said it “records its formal disapproval of the unilateral military actions undertaken against the Republic of Cyprus”, which it recognised as the government of Archbishop Makarios III and subsequently of acting president Glafcos Clerides.