High-ranking Turkish opposition politician Ayyuce Turkes Tas on Wednesday reacted with anger after a Greek Cypriot delegation was invited to the International Geography Olympiad in Istanbul, describing the matter as “unacceptable”.

“At the ceremony hosted by the Republic of Turkey, where the youth deputy minister Enes Eminoglu attended and presented awards, students from the Greek Cypriot administration of southern Cyprus were announced as the ‘Republic of Cyprus’ and the flag of the Greek Cypriot administration was raised on stage,” she said.

“With what audacity can a regime not recognised by Turkey be presented as the ‘Republic of Cyprus’ right at the heart of Istanbul?”

She also asked why Eminoglu “did not intervene at that moment”, before demanding, “are the Republic of Turkey’s official Cyprus policy and the TRNC’s rights unprotected?”.

The matter, she said, “cannot be brushed off as a simple ‘protocol error’”.

“The Turkish Cypriots cannot be ignored. The TRNC cannot be ignored. Turkey’s national cause on Cyprus cannot be abandoned to such irresponsibility. Those responsible must be identified, and the necessary actions mut be taken immediately,” she said.

A four-member Greek Cypriot delegation travelled to Istanbul for the International Geography Olympiad, and returned with two bronze medals, with Marina Malli and Thanos Hadjikyriakos both standing on the podium.

 “I am very happy on a personal level, but also that we represented Cyprus worthily,” Malli said after the event.

Eminoglu has made no comment on the matter since the opening ceremony.

Ayyuce Turkes Tas is one of opposition Iyi Party’s deputy leaders. Her father, former Turkish deputy prime minister Alparslan Turkes, was himself a Cypriot.

The International Geography Olympiad is organised for teenagers aged between 16 and 19 years old and consists of a three-stage programme of a written examination, a multimedia test, and a field study.