Photos of the members of the EOKA terrorist organization were printed on the lottery tickets prepared specially for the 58th anniversary of the Erenköy Freedom Fighters Resistance instead of a photo of the Erenköy Fighters by the State Lottery Department.
It emerged that the same mistake was made in a video prepared by the Presidential Press Office for the 20th July Military Operation anniversary.
The State Lottery Department that specially printed the 8th of August lottery tickets in memory of the Erenköy Freedom Fighters Resistance used the photograph which shows EOKA members holding a Turkish flag.
The lottery tickets have the signatures of the Chairman of the General Board of the Sports Department Hüseyin Cahitoğlu and the supervisor of the Lottery Unit Osman Uzun.
Osman Uzun apologized for the mistake and called to be relieved from his post. Uzun said that the printed lottery tickets had been recalled and that the lottery draw for August 8th had been postponed for August 18th and that the 500 thousand TL price had been increased to 1 million TL.
Tatar: “No one can humiliate our martyrs”
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar who reacted harshly to the photo of EOKA members used on lottery tickets said that this was unacceptable. “It is a great mistake and unacceptable to use the photograph taken by the Greek soldiers and EOKA members on lottery tickets that were specially printed by the state lottery administration to commemorate the Erenköy Freedom Fighters’ resistance which is an epic comparable of Çanakkale. No matter what, no one has the right to humiliate the Erenköy Freedom Fighters, the glorious Erenköy resistance, our national struggle and our dear martyrs, no one has the right.”
Üstel “Those responsible will face the consequences”
Condemning the incident, Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ünal Üstel said that this type of mistake was unacceptable, “Those responsible will face the consequences for this unacceptable mistake, if necessary they will be dismissed” Üstel said adding that an investigation into the incident at the State Lottery Unit had begun and that necessary legal actions according to the law will be taken towards employees working at institutions and not performing their duties properly.
Stating that the necessary investigations have been initiated in the State Lottery Unit, Üstel said that if the people working in these institutions do not perform their duties properly, the necessary actions will be taken within the framework of the legal legislation.
A similar incident scandal was experienced following a video prepared by the Presidential Press Office for the 48th anniversary of the 20th July Military operation. Photos of EOKA members were used instead of Erenköy Fighters. Once the mistake was noticed the video was removed from the presidential twitter account. In the prepared video, photographs of EOKA members were used, assuming they were Erenköy Fighters.
Meanwhile Leader of the Peoples Party (HP) Kudret Özersay in a statement on social media called on Üstel and Tatar to apologise to the Erenköy Freedom Fighters.
Tatars reaction was different
The mistake made by the Lottery Department was similar to the mistake made by the department under his authority. Although he called the mistake by the Lottery Department as unforgiveble, referring to the video scandal for the 20th of July Peace and Freedom Day Tatar said , “we used a photo but did not actually mention the Erenkoy Freedom Fighters”
“There is no statement on the so called photo saying these are Erenköy Freedom Fighters” was the written statement shared by the presidency regarding the video scandle. Those with an ill mentality can say that photos of Greek Cypriots who immigrated from their villages was shared on the presidential page, the written statement said.
