The Walls They Build
How the Greek Cypriot Campaign to Isolate Turkish Cypriots Is Becoming a Campaign Against Humanity Itself
General view of Barcelona stadium before a match as construction work is seen in the background, Barcelona, Spain, 19 August 2026. (Reuters Photo) Image Source: Daily Sabah
The Pattern of Erasure
In the space of a single week, the Greek Cypriot administration - the entity in control of southern Cyprus, and that also unilaterally claims the territory of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) - has:
This is not a series of isolated incidents. It is a coordinated, decades-long campaign - diplomatic, cultural, educational, sporting, and economic. It is designed to suffocate Turkish Cypriots into submission.
And the world watches in silence.
Yet, the documented evidence is clear.
What They Are Doing
Culture
An international music festival, part of the EXIT World Tour, was scheduled for Girne Castle. ELAM, a far-right Greek nationalist party in the Greek-controlled south - and the third largest political party, ran a campaign from southern Lefkoşa (Nicosia) to Belgrade. They contacted Serbian embassies, government officials, and the festival organisers directly. The Greek Cypriot foreign ministry further pursued it through diplomatic channels. EXIT eventually withdrew, saying it had “not fully understood how deeply the island’s division is still felt.”
A concert was stopped because it was happening in the TRNC, a territory which the Greek Cypriots unilaterally claim as their own, but in reality do not control. Not a political event - a concert, in a territory where they wish to extend their jurisdiction.
Greek nationalist expansionism on Cyprus in a nutshell.
The TRNC protested.
The world did nothing.
Sport
FC Barcelona’s academy announced a football camp for children aged 6 to 18 in Lefkoşa. The Greek Cypriot football federation consulted UEFA and went to the Spanish federation to stop it. Every detail of the camp - dates, venue, programme - was removed from Barcelona’s official website.
ELAM celebrated: “Our target has been achieved.” Their next target is already named: Turkish Cypriot universities appearing in the QS World University Rankings under “North Cyprus” - an apolitical term that doesn’t even challenge the political status quo.
This was a children’s football camp. It was not a political event. It was coaching sessions on a pitch at a university. And they went to UEFA over it. Every child who was looking forward to those two weeks now knows exactly what these people think of them.
The TRNC protested.
The world did nothing.
Education
Turkish Cypriot students were shut out of an international science olympiad in Istanbul, while the Greek Cypriot administration took part as the “Republic of Cyprus” and flew its flag. The 22nd International Geography Olympiad was hosted by the Turkish Geographical Society. Greek Cypriot students won two medals. No Turkish Cypriot students were invited. Not one. The TRNC was isolated. The Greek Cypriots were able to be proud of their “accomplishments.”
The TRNC protested.
The world did nothing.
Diplomacy
The Greek Cypriot administration has been telephoning diplomatic missions in Greek-controlled southern Lefkoşa, pressing them not to attend a briefing by Mehmet Dana, Undersecretary to the TRNC President. The message to embassies was blunt: they had heard the “Cyprus” position, and there was no point listening to the TRNC.
A government that tells the world it seeks a solution has been caught working the phones to ensure the other side of the island is not heard at all.
The instruction came from Nikos Christodoulides himself.
The TRNC protested.
The world did nothing.
Energy
The Greek Cypriot administration has complained to the UN about a gas pipeline between Türkiye and the TRNC. In a letter to Guterres, it strongly objected to the memorandum on a subsea gas line, called the TRNC an “unrecognised secessionist entity,” and asked him to intervene so Türkiye abandons the project.
Note what is being objected to. The first phase of survey work is in Turkish territorial waters. The complaint is that later phases might affect areas the Greek Cypriots claim. Might. And the legal basis invoked is UNCLOS - a convention Türkiye never signed, and which does not even support the Greek Cypriot position in its effort to erase the TRNC's existence - a legal and political reality that even the UN operationally recognises.
The TRNC pays more for its energy and lives with an internationally isolated grid. A direct connection to Türkiye means reliable supply, lower bills, and a working energy system for people told to wait fifty-two years. The same administration backs the €1.9bn cable to Greece and Israel, still unbuilt, still on the framework of denying the existence of the TRNC, still on the framework of denying the maritime jurisdiction of Türkiye. It objects to ours before the first pipe is laid.
This is not a legal argument about maritime zones. It is an objection to Turkish Cypriots having working infrastructure. It is an objection to Turkish maritime rights and sovereignty. It is an objection to international law and the relevant conventions.
The TRNC protested.
The world did nothing.
The Mechanism: ELAM Sets the Agenda, Christodoulides Delivers
The pattern is consistent: ELAM speaks the agenda out loud. The administration delivers.
Christodoulides and his officials do the work. The far right sets the agenda, and the leadership delivers it.
This is the same man who sat opposite the TRNC President and called the campaign against Turkish Cypriots “entirely normal developments” - adding that if we wanted it to stop, we should work faster towards a solution on their terms.
A head of a political administration holding children's sport in a territory they do not control hostage to a negotiation they hope will grant them sole jurisdiction over the entire island. Said openly, in a meeting, without embarrassment.
And yet the Greek Cypriot administration’s spokesman, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, further consolidated this position to the press, stating: “We are doing exactly what a recognised state should.”
Note the projection there.
The administration that in January had bluntly rejected a proposal for a bicommunal children’s football match to be played, was now justifying attempting to prevent children from playing football, and calling it “a diplomatic victory,” when it is clearly a defeat for all people and humanity as a whole.
The glory of Hellas - the “cradle of civilisation” - and “European values” indeed.
The Voice of the Exhausted
Deniz Birinci is a Turkish Cypriot who does not defend the TRNC. She is not a nationalist. She wanted to be a diplomat, but refused to work for the Turkish Cypriot Foreign Ministry because she does not recognise it as having legal standing. She has spent her life trying to build bridges. She has spent her life defending the Greek Cypriot administration, its narrative, and its claims to legitimacy. She has spent her life believing in the bi-communal partnership “Republic of Cyprus” (ROC).
And she is saying: “Even I have had enough.”
“I am one of the last people who would defend the TRNC. I know that internationally and legally it does not exist. I wanted to be a diplomat, but I never wanted to join the Turkish Cypriot Foreign Ministry.”
She voted Yes to the Annan Plan. She believed in a solution.
“We said ‘yes’ to the Annan Plan. We went out onto the streets, we demonstrated, we overthrew an entire regime. We voted overwhelmingly ‘yes’ to the Annan Plan. But even that was not enough...”
She has watched compromise after compromise be rejected.
“What I care about is whether my children cannot play a game with a ball on this island where they were born. That is unfair.”
And she has concluded:
“Honestly, recognition can go to hell. All these years, who cares about recognition? What I care about is whether my individual and collective rights are recognised.”
She does not care about statehood. She does not care about the TRNC. She cares about whether her children can play football.
And she is being pushed away by the very people she tried to reach.
“If you have a mind to celebrate, if you believe that all this business with Barcelona is a victory, congratulations! Another brick in the wall.”
The Response: What They Took Away, We Will Rebuild
Within two days of the Greek Cypriot administration blocking the Barça Academy camp, the Turkish Cypriot response was swift and decisive, and not without the inevitable support of Türkiye.
After talks between Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, Cyprus Turkish Football Federation (KTFF) President Hasan Sertoğlu, Youth and Sports Minister Osman Aşkın Bak, and Turkish Football Federation (TFF) President İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu, an agreement was reached.
Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor are bringing their academies to Lefkoşa. Coaches from the Turkish national team set-up will join them. A friendship tournament and camp for our children will be held.
Around 500 children, aged twelve and thirteen, were due to train under Barcelona’s coaches. There was no politics in it. Only children wanting to play. They waited weeks. Some told their families Barcelona’s coaches were coming to watch them. Some imagined pulling on the shirt.
That door was closed.
But the message from the Turkish Cypriot side is clear: they can close a door. We will keep finding a way around it. And Türkiye was unequivocal in its support.
Meanwhile, Hasan Sertoğlu asked the EU and the UN directly: “When it comes to children playing football, why the silence?” And the General Secretary of the National Unity Party (UBP) Oğuzhan Hasipoğlu made the same point: “They could not tolerate even under-15s being coached, and the South is celebrating it as a triumph.”
They are not simply protesting.
They are acting.
The Inversion
The Greek Cypriot narrative presents itself as the “victim” seeking a “solution.”
The evidence shows the opposite:
TRNC President Tufan Erhürman responded:
“Cancelling a festival, attempting to prevent children from playing football, is, from my perspective, not a diplomatic victory, but is clearly a defeat for all people and humanity as a whole.”
He added:
“I do not want any Turkish Cypriot or Greek Cypriot young person to be deprived, because of the Cyprus problem, of the opportunities available to young people in other countries.”
He also addressed the legal argument used against Turkish Cypriots:
“The participation of young people, artists or clubs from other countries in any event held in our country does not mean that those countries recognise the TRNC.”
If a political context must be sought, he added, it should be the statements made since 2004 by the UN, the EU and the Council of Europe, all saying Turkish Cypriot isolation must be lifted.
This is likely part of the Erhürman Gambit - a strategy I have documented since his Presidency began in October 2025. And it joins the efforts of others to have our voice heard on the international stage, even if it is ignored.
History will be the final judge.
The Tragic Irony
Deniz Birinci, a Turkish Cypriot who has spent her life trying to build bridges, is being pushed away by the very people she tried to reach.
They are forcing her - among their strongest proponents - to come to terms with their own track record, something she has otherwise strongly resisted.
And the world watches in silence.
The Greek Cypriot administration is not isolating Turkish Cypriots into submission. It is strengthening their resolve, increasing their distrust, adding to the documented record, and making Ankara the only route they have left. Every door closed to Turkish Cypriots in Europe pushes them further into reliance on Türkiye.
The administration is not building a solution. It is building walls. And it is building them so high that even those who wanted to climb over them are giving up.
Sefa Karahasan captured the moment:
“The Greek Cypriot leadership is systematically intensifying the injustices, embargoes and blockades against Turkish Cypriots every single day. The efforts to cut off Turkish Cypriots’ communication channels with the world, to deepen economic and cultural isolation, have become a state policy.”
He noted the unprecedented nature of this campaign:
“Even during the period of Tasos Papadopoulos, known as ‘Mr. No’, there was not such a despicable, hypocritical and ruthless attitude towards Turkish Cypriots.”
Even former EU Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, the wife of former Greek Cypriot leader Giorgos Vassiliou, has criticised the campaign. She said:
“Do you see how many dynamic measures we are taking to eliminate the occupation? We cancel youth gatherings, we cancel concerts, we cancel the training of sports teams. This is how we help rapprochement...”
The irony was not lost on her.
International Law
The Greek Cypriot administration’s campaign of isolation is not only morally indefensible - it is legally questionable.
The UN, EU, and Council of Europe have all called for the isolation of Turkish Cypriots to be lifted. The EU’s 2004 declaration, following the Annan Plan referendum, explicitly stated that measures to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community should be implemented without delay. The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1416 (2004) recognised that the isolation of Turkish Cypriots is unjust and must end. Successive UN Secretary-General reports have echoed this call.
The Greek Cypriot administration is acting in direct defiance of these calls. It is not simply maintaining the isolation - it is intensifying it. It is not simply denying Turkish Cypriots their rights - it is preventing children from playing football.
The international community has spoken. The TRNC has consistently protested. The Greek Cypriot administration has ignored it.
And the world continues to watch in silence.
The Walls They Build
The Greek Cypriot administration is building walls.
Every door they close is a brick in the wall. Every cancellation is a rejection. Every complaint to a foreign government is a declaration: “They do not exist. They do not deserve to exist.” “We are not cooperative. We are intransigent.”
But walls do not isolate only those they confine. They isolate those who build them too.
The Greek Cypriot administration is not isolating Turkish Cypriots into submission. It is isolating itself into irrelevance. It is building a prison of its own making - and locking itself inside it with the people it claims to want to reunite with.
On the Legal Status of the TRNC
We have documented a campaign of isolation. We have not argued the legal case for the TRNC’s legitimacy. That case has been made elsewhere. It is watertight. It is also contested. So is the ROC’s legitimacy, and the international community’s application of the doctrine of state continuity - following its destruction in 1963, and the doctrine of necessity to treat the Greek Cypriot administration - which claimed to control the entire territory of Cyprus - as the legitimate government of that state - a political, not legal, decision.
The documented evidence is clear on that.
What is not contested is this: the campaign against Turkish Cypriots - against their culture, their customs, their sport, their education, their diplomacy, their energy, their right to self determination, their very existence - is real. It is documented. And it is being pursued with an intensity that even critics of the TRNC and supporters of the Greek Cypriot administration, like Deniz Birinci, find unbearable.
That is the story. That is the scandal. And that is what the world refuses to see.
Hade eyvallah.
Farewell in peace.
Εντάξει, τα λέμε.
Until the next one.
The value of truth is measured by the cost of ignoring it.
My name is Mustafa Niyazi, and I connect the disconnected.
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