The fighters shown on the tickets are in fact Greek Nationalist paramilitaries celebrating after capturing a Turkish flag. (Image: Turkey Posts English)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nIn the words of Northern Cyprus President Ersin Tatar, it’s \u201ca huge and unforgiveable\u201d blunder.<\/p>\n
The Turkish Cypriot Lottery Administration is working to recall thousands of unsold tickets designed to celebrate the 58th anniversary of the Battle of Tylliria.<\/p>\n
Known to Greeks as the Battle of Kokkina, the 1964 conflict saw a group of outnumbered Turkish Cypriot fighters hold out. The battle was against Greek Cypriot armed forces and members of the Greek Nationalist paramilitary organization EOKA.<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Turkish Air Force eventually relieved the besieged fighters, which bombed Greek Cypriot positions that had surrounded Turkish Cypriot enclaves.<\/p>\n
A decade later, Turkey invaded the north of Cyprus and partitioned the island, a division that continues to this day.<\/p>\n
\u2018Great Mistake\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe image printed on the tickets was intended to depict the besieged fighters, known as the Erenk\u00f6y Mujahideen, who are heroes in the eyes of Turkish Cypriots.<\/p>\n
But the figures in the image shown holding a Turkish flag are in fact EOKA fighters celebrating after capturing the flag from a Turkish Cypriot stronghold four months before the Battle of Tylliria.<\/p>\n
It is a great mistake to use the photographs taken by Greek-Cypriot soldiers and EOKA members as Erenk\u00f6y Mujahideen in the lottery tickets printed by the State Lottery Administration to commemorate the glorious Erenk\u00f6y Resistance,\u201d <\/strong>complained Tatar.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cThis is never acceptable,\u201d he continued. \u201cNo matter what, you cannot humiliate our mujahideen, the glorious Erenk\u00f6y resistance, our national struggle, and our saintly martyrs. No one has the right.”<\/p>\n
Investigation Launched<\/strong><\/h2>\nPrime Minister \u00dcnal \u00dcstel said that an investigation had been launched into the incident and those responsible would be fired.<\/p>\n
In an official statement, Osman Uzun, head of the lottery administration, asked for forgiveness.<\/p>\n
We apologize to our people and our heroes of the \u015eanl\u0131 Erenk\u00f6y Resistance for the image used as a result of an inadvertent mistake,”<\/strong> he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nBut Turkish Cypriot newspaper Avrupa<\/em> stoked the flames by accusing the lottery authority of deliberately doctoring the photo to obscure the image\u2019s original location and context.<\/p>\nThe draw, scheduled to take place on the August 8 anniversary of the battle, has been postponed for ten days. The jackpot has been raised from 500,000 to 1 million Turkish lira (US$56,000).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lottery tickets are causing a political stink in the de facto state of Northern Cyprus. That\u2019s after a batch designed to commemorate Turkish Cypriot resistance inadvertently depicted enemy Greek Cypriot fighters rejoicing with a captured Turkish flag. In the words of Northern Cyprus President Ersin Tatar, it’s \u201ca huge and unforgiveable\u201d blunder. The Turkish Cypriot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":223148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13699,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Northern Cyprus Lottery Image Blunder Commemorates \u2018Wrong\u2019 Side<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n