Pupils in Cyprus have protested the unilateral declaration of independence of the Turkish occupied areas of Cyprus, declaring their determination to continue the struggle against the occupation with the aim of reunifying Cyprus on the basis of the UN Security Council resolutions.

The protests took place in all districts of the government controlled areas of Cyprus, denouncing the 42th anniversary of the UDI.

The pupils were waving Cypriot flags, chanting slogans and holding banners against the occupation and in favor of a federal solution for the island.

In Nicosia, Vice President of the Pancyprian Coordinating Committee of Pupils Despina Kyprianou said that the international community and the UN Security Council have condemned Turkey’s separatist actions adding that the new generation of Cyprus declares its will to fight until the final vindication of Cyprus, until the liberation and reunification of our country.

Similar events were held in Limassol, Larnaka and Pafos. PSEM President Achilleas Georgiou, said that the long period of impasse in the Cyprus issue has had its consequences, adding the pupils, being the voice of the future, “must rise to the occasion and stand as a barrier to those who promote partition, we must fight for the peaceful coexistence of Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenians, Maronites and Latins in the place that gave birth to them”.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

An illegal breakaway entity declared independence unilaterally, on November 15, 1983, in the areas under Turkish occupation, an action condemned by the UN Security Council and the international community as legally null and void.

The illegal declaration followed the partition of the island after the Turkish military invaded Cyprus in 1974, occupying one third of its territory ever since.