Lydia Demetriou, a Greek Cypriot, speaking at the harbour in Paphos, Cyprus, about how her family lost its home in Northern Cyprus after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. She was speaking on July 20 2024, 50 years after the landings. Filmed by Roderick McMurray
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00:00So, I'm here in Paphos, Cyprus with Lidia, Lidia Dimitriou, and tell me a little bit
00:08about this flag here, this panel in the background.
00:11Okay, this is the flag of our refugee club.
00:15We come from Kyrenia, Kyrenia district.
00:18Kyrenia was the first town that the Turks occupied in the invasion of 1974.
00:26And you lived in northern Cyprus when the invasion happened.
00:28You saw the invasion yourself.
00:30There is no such a thing as northern Cyprus.
00:33Cyprus is only one country.
00:36I come from the northern part of Cyprus, yes.
00:40And I was there when the invasion took place.
00:42As a matter of fact, it took place only a mile away from my house.
00:47We witnessed everything.
00:49And this is why we stand here for the last 10 years, we have been standing here in order
00:55to protest about this injustice that the whole world has to hear about.
01:03A lot of things going on with Russia and Ukraine, but no one is paying attention to our problem,
01:09the Cyprus problem, which is not a problem of division between Muslims and Christians
01:15as people want to show it.
01:19It's a problem of invasion and occupation.
01:2336% of our country has been under the Turkish occupation for 50 years now.
01:30That's a long time.
01:31There must be a solution.
01:33And if you are asking me what kind of a solution, as a refugee, I expect to see is for the Turkish
01:40troops to get out of Cyprus and let the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots live harmoniously
01:47together.
01:48We did in the past, we can do it now.