Nicosia, Cyprus. The Customs department on Tuesday apologised after republishing on its official Facebook page an image featuring Archbishop Makarios, saying the post was shared accidentally.
The repost concerned Makarios’ address to the UN Security Council on July 19, 1974, delivered hours before Turkish forces landed in Cyprus.
Post and reaction
The image showed Makarios speaking at the United Nations alongside the caption “the ultimate betrayal”. The caption reflected a narrative advanced by his critics that his speech contributed to subsequent events and “invited the Turks into Cyprus”.
Critics of Makarios have long argued that his description of the July 15 coup as an invasion by the Greek junta, as well as his appeal to the Security Council, provided political or legal justification for Turkey’s subsequent military intervention.
The post drew criticism on social media before it was removed.
Department response
The department expressed its “sincere regret” for what it called the “unfortunate republishing of a story by a specific political party”.
It said the repost may have occurred while the page administrator was uploading information about a recent seizure of tobacco products at Larnaca airport.
According to the department, the error was identified after the post had appeared on its official page. “As soon as the repost was noticed, the administrators of the page made every effort to delete it and did so immediately,” it said.
The department apologised on behalf of all staff for the inconvenience caused by the repost.