Northern Cyprus: Week of National Struggle and Martyrs

In December 1963 widespread armed attacks against Turkish Cypriots began in the Republic of Cyprus. In the days after 21 December many civilians were killed, and tens of thousands of Turkish Cypriots were forced to leave their homes and live in enclaves, a situation that lasted until 1974.

The memory of those days is preserved in the Museum of Barbarism, set up in the house in Lefkoşa's Kumsal district where the family of army doctor Major Nihat İlhan lived. The unity and endurance of the Turkish Cypriots in those hard years became the foundation of their later national struggle.

Week of remembrance

21–25 December is observed in the TRNC as National Struggle and Martyrs' Week, with ceremonies at martyrs' cemeteries and memorials, tributes to the fallen, and lessons in schools about the history of the Turkish Cypriots.