ATHENS (ANA) – The Greek foreign ministry expressed its “dismay” on Tuesday over the annual celebrations held by the Turkish-Cypriot leadership to commemorate the Tillyria pensinsula bombing by the Turkish air force in Cyprus in 1964.

“We are dismayed to note the celebrations of the Turkish Cypriot leadership, including Mr. Akinci himself, of the 53rd anniversary of the use of chemical weapons and dropping of napalm bombs by the Turkish air force on the Tillyria peninsula. This was the first use of banned chemical weapons in the history of our planet,” the ministry said in a press release.

“Today, when the whole planet bows to the victims of wars and such hostile acts, the holding of and participation in such celebrations is an affront to international law, to the memory of the fallen, and to the whole of humanity,” it added.

According to a report by the Athens-Macedonian News Agency’s correspondent in Cyprus, about 1,000 Turkish-Cypriots and settlers from Turkey travelled earlier today to the occupied Kokkina enclave, on the Tillyria peninsula, to celebrate the napalm bombing.