The Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Bulent Ecevit, looking elderly and frail, adopted a robust hardline stance yesterday during celebrations of the 25th anniversary of Turkey's invasion and occupation of the northern third of the Cyprus.
"There are two alternatives for Cyprus: the status quo or integration" (of the Turkish Cypriot area with the mainland), he said. "Federation", the solution proposed by the international community, "is not on the agenda of the Turkish side". He held the EU and Greek Cypriots responsible for the failure of federation.
On the one hand, Brussels rejected Turkey's candidacy for EU membership; on the other, the Greek Cypriots refuse to accept the existence of a second sovereign state on the island. "Only a confederal solution [between two equal states] is possible," he asserted.
Mr Ecevit, a Turkish Cypriot hero because he was the prime minister who ordered the invasion in 1974, said Turkey had "saved them from extinction" by the Greek military junta which had overthrown President Makarios.
Turkey had also given Turkish Cypriots their freedom and precipitated the collapse of the junta, restoring democracy to Greece, he added. The Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, recalled: "On the morning of July 20th, Turkish Cypriots were waiting for Turkey to come and rescue them and to see the Turkish flag unfurled on the island, but they feared that Turkey could change its mind" as it had during an earlier crisis.
"Then the Turkish parachutists came down from the sky . . ." Mr Denktash said that Greek Cypriots had to recall how they had treated Turkish Cypriots before 1974 and agree to change that in future. He said that negotiations could resume on a "state-to-state basis only" and Turkey must continue to act as guarantor of the rights of Turkish Cypriots.
Several hundred guests sat in the shade of a vast reviewing stand decorated with red and white bunting and bundles of balloons.
The sides of the broad avenue were lined with up to 2,000 citizens sheltering from the summer sun beneath red awnings. The parade was heralded by paragliding men and women bearing flags and portraits of Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey. They floated out of the sky beneath bright red, blue and yellow striped parachutes and landed on an "X" marked on the road.
The march-past began with scouts and students, representatives of organisations and well wishers from the mainland. There were elderly veterans from Turkey's post-first World War strug gle for independence, moustachioed men in tall black hats, baggy trousers and richly embroidered vests, silver-chased flint-lock pistols tucked into wide sashes round their waists.
A rank of second World War veterans in olive drab, Lee Enfield rifles over their shoulders followed. Musicians of the Ottoman period, dressed in floating gold and red silks, danced and weaved along the street.
They were followed by high-stepping soldiers of the Turkish army who marched ahead of an array of vehicles: jeeps mounted with anti-aircraft guns and missiles (manned by women), Howitzers and mortars, light and medium tanks of US manufacture, a field kitchen, ambulances and a bright yellow mechanical shovel. A motorised glider, helicopters and light planes flew overhead.
"Military types call this a kitchen-sink parade," remarked a companion. "They've thrown in everything."
While Turkish Cypriots watched the colourful martial display, Greek Cypriots attended church services in memory of the 5,000 members of their community killed during the invasion. The internationally recognised republic's President, Mr Glafkos Clerides, in a televised address, said both communities bore the blame for the current situation.
"Instead of co-operating . . . we clung to attitudes which undermined" the unified state, he said, but he hoped that "extremist positions" and "intransigence" would not prevent the two sides from resuming settlement talks this autumn at the invitation of the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan. He called his effort, supported by the G8, "the most important initiative ever".
Without citing the US Secretary of Defence, Mr William Cohen, who said last week during a visit to Ankara that Washington would not exert any pressure on Turkey to soften its position, Mr Clerides rebuked countries which failed to use their influence with Ankara to relinquish its "unacceptable position". He called upon Turkish Cypriots to join Greek Cypriots in negotiations on EU accession.