The European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) will visit Cyprus at the end of May to give  a platform to Cypriot women who suffered the atrocities at the hands of the Turkish invadors in 1974.

Speaking at a press conference, Cypriot MEP Loukas Fourlas, who had the initiative to invite FEMM to Cyprus, said that the aim is to record the women’s testimonies and highlight this crime at a European level. 

Fourlas said that more than 800 women were raped by Turkish soldiers, hundreds of others were executed even though they were unarmed.

“Next May, on my own initiative, the FEMM Committee will be in Cyprus. We will listen to the women who survived war crimes. We will bring the truth to light. A platform will also be given to women who lost or are missing their husbands, their children,” he said.

It is time, the Cypriot MEP added, “for Europe to officially recognise the horror they suffered, to demand justice and to ensure that such atrocities will never be repeated.”

“We cannot forget. We cannot let Turkey’s crimes fade into oblivion. Girls as young as 12, 13, 14, still children, were raped and scarred forever. Women were forced to give birth to the children of their rapists. Others suffered forced abortions, fearing that society would stigmatize them. Our goal is to give a voice to women who were raped, tortured, lost families and have been struggling with their wounds for decades,” he stressed.

The Cypriot MEP said that Turkey is accountable.

“Fifty 50 years later and Turkey has not been held accountable yet for its atrocities. These women had no protection, no mercy from the horrors of war. Rape was a weapon of war. Violence was part of Turkey’s strategy to terrorize and force families to flee their homes. Turkey did not only invade territories. It invaded bodies. It invaded souls. It invaded lives and destroyed them. And 50 years later, we demand the obvious: Recognition, Justice, Memory,” he noted.

Fourlas pledged to continue his efforts “until Europe listens, recognizes and demands accountability from those responsible”.

“Fifty years later, silence is not an option. The truth must be heard. The women of Cyprus must be vindicated. Because these women are not numbers. They are wives, daughters, mothers, grandmothers,” he concluded.