Gelisim News

Turkish and the TRNC national swimmers, on the 46th anniversary Cyprus Peace Operation  began to swim from Turkey to Cyprus under the slogan “Taking flag to the Cyprus”. In the event, which also draws attention to the exposure of Cyprus as an international nation, as 'two states one nation', the swimmer team of 6 people arrived in Cyprus today at noon. Swimmers, including Kürşat Tüzmen, one of the former state ministers, went ashore after swimming 90 kilometers. In addition to Tüzmen, in the event world master champion Ahmet Nakkaş, national swimmer Tarkan Tüzmen, the first athlete who made a double in the English Channel, Faruk İlgüy, the first TRNC sportsman Osman Akkuş and Istanbul Gelisim University Faculty Member Kubilay Çimen also took part. Mayor of the Anamur Hidayet Kılınç and many citizens supported the athletes leaving the Anamur pier. Accompanied by drums and flutes, the athletes were accompanied by a boat and 2 ships of the Coast Guard Command.
 
“OUR AIM IS TO ANNOUNCATE CYPRUS AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL”

Pointing out that Cyprus is trying to be assimilated from political areas and it is not included in the sports arena, Çimen said: “Our aim was to bring the Turkish flag back to Cyprus and raise awareness completing 90 km course on the 46th anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation. Besides, Cyprus has been assimilated very much in the political and economic arena, especially in the sports arena at the international level. Therefore, we were here to state that we are not indifferent as Turkish athletes. We also wanted to show the world that we can realize such an organization by taking certain health conditions and precautions during the pandemic process.”

“THE NIGHT STAGE WAS VERY DIFFICULT”

Stating that the night stage is more tiring and difficult during the 90-kilometer course, Çimen finished his words as follows: “Our night stage was very difficult, with the special request of our Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, the coast guard teams accompanied us with 2 boats throughout the organization. Today we arrived in Cyprus at noon and we delivered our flag to the General Directorate of Sports here.”