Fifty-two years ago today, Turkish forces invaded Cyprus and carried out systematic atrocities against the Greek Cypriot...

Fifty-two years ago today, Turkish forces invaded Cyprus and carried out systematic atrocities against the Greek Cypriot civilian population that have never received the international attention they deserve. Documented testimonies and medical records confirm that Turkish soldiers established detention camps for women and children in occupied villages including Voni, Vitsada, Marathovouno, and Gypsou. In those camps, women aged 12 to 71 were repeatedly raped by Turkish troops, in some cases so severely that victims suffered internal hemorrhaging or permanent psychological damage. Pregnant women were among the victims, as were girls and elderly women. The village of Voni in the Nicosia province was used as a detention site where women and children were held for months. One survivor described hiding under blankets with children piled on top of her for three months, wearing an elderly woman's clothes to avoid being taken. The abuse continued until the Red Cross arrived. Mass killings of civilians were also documented. Victims included children as young as six months old, elderly people up to 90, people with physical disabilities, and people with intellectual disabilities. Unarmed soldiers who had already surrendered were also killed. Eyewitnesses reported the killing of hundreds. By the second half of 1974, hundreds of abortions had to be performed across Cyprus to address pregnancies resulting from the mass rapes. The scale was so large that special legislation had to be passed and the Church of Cyprus gave its tacit approval for the abortions to proceed legally. Procedures were carried out at private clinics, Nicosia General Hospital, and at hospitals inside the British Sovereign Bases at Dhekelia and Akrotiri. Abortion pills had also been distributed by the Red Cross to women still held in Turkish detention camps, indicating that international organizations were aware of the atrocities before the captives were freed. These events are documented in survivor testimonies and in the book "The Other War of the Doctors in 1974" by Chrysanthos Chrysanthou. Fifty-two years later, they remain largely absent from international discourse on war crimes. #Cyprus #197...