Turkish Cypriot Kyrenia mayor Murat Senkul on Friday warned that political pressure exerted to bring about the cancellation of the Nexus electronic music festival in his town serves only to “lay the foundation for the division of the island”.

He confirmed that he had been officially informed of Serbian music company EXIT’s decision to cancel the festival, which was due to take place at the Kyrenia castle next month, and said that it had come about “due to the political pressure exerted by southern Cyprus on Serbia”.

“This is not the first time for us. We are facing a Greek Cypriot leadership and state which is unaware that it is constantly laying the foundation for division on the island by trying to prevent Turkish Cypriots from integrating with the world, even in fields such as art and sports,” he said.

He added that “we are, of course, very saddened by the unhappiness of our entrepreneurs, who put in great effort to organise this, and our young people, who were excited to participate”.

Addressing Kyrenia’s young people directly, he said that “there is absolutely no need for you young people to be upset”, as “we promise you that next year, at the same location and on the same date, both I and our municipality will actively participate in organising an even more world-renowned event than EXIT”.

“As Turkish Cypriots, perhaps our population is small, and our influence in the world may be limited, but no one can make us bow our heads,” he added.

Senkul belongs to pro-federal Cyprus solution party the CTP and will stand for re-election as the Turkish Cypriot Kyrenia mayor on December 6. He has also won the endorsement of fellow pro-federal solution party the TDP, and of Serdar Denktash’s Tam Party.

The planned festival had been cancelled after Disy member of the European Parliament Loukas Fourlas, who chairs the delegation to the European Union-Serbia stabilisation and association committee in the European Parliament, reached out to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Fourlas said on Thursday that the decision to cancel the event reflected an understanding of “the deep historical and emotional significance that Kyrenia and its castle have for the Cypriot people”.

EXIT, meanwhile, said that it had come to understand the “deep historical and emotional significance” of Kyrenia and the Kyrenia castle to the Greek Cypriot community, and as such decided to cancel the event.

Previously, Kyrenia’s Greek Cypriot mayor-in-exile Akis Violaris had told the Cyprus Mail that the Kyrenia castle is “a monument of historical and cultural heritage of our country”. 

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