15 July 1974: the day of the greatest betrayal against Cyprus

 

15 July 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The 15th July has gone down in our country’s modern history as the day of the greatest betrayal ever suffered by the Cypriot people. The coup d’état of 15 July against President Makarios implemented by the Greek Junta and EOKA B was the culmination of the undermining of the Republic of Cyprus by EOKA B fascism with the deliberate execution of the first part of the NATO plan for the partition of Cyprus which consequently gave the baton to Turkey to invade our island five days later.

It was then that the treacherous work of Greek and Greek Cypriot fascism was completed. The Greek junta regime prevented the strengthening of Cyprus’ defences, while the Greek junta officers abandoned battlefields, leaving the sons of the Cypriot people to fight an unequal battle with the Turkish army’s invading hordes. Other coupists hid in the rear or engaged in massacres of Turkish Cypriot civilians and subsequently handed over the city of Famagusta to the Turkish army without a fight.

The blood of Cyprus is on the hands of the Greek Junta and EOKA B. This betrayal was neither forgotten, nor forgiven by the Cypriot people. On the contrary, it was and will remain an infinite seal of shame for its perpetrators, moral culprits and advocates to this day.

AKEL commemorates the Democratic Resistance to the coup d’état and EOKA B fascism.

It honors the fighters who defended democracy and the lawful government of the country with arms.

It pays tribute to the democrats who took on fascism in prisons, in interrogation rooms, in torture chambers, the soldiers who were murdered for refusing to carry out the orders of the coupists.

AKEL reminds the government of the Resolution on the Democratic Resistance approved last year by the House of Representatives which calls for action by the state on the one hand to honor the Resistance and on the other hand to put an end to any activities or funding by the state that are linked to any events seeking to honor those who participated in the treason committed.

The 49th anniversary of the fascist coup d’état finds Cyprus and the cause of the solution of the Cyprus problem at a dangerous and critical crossroads, with new fait accompli being imposed by the occupying power

Turkey against our homeland and in a prolonged impasse of the negotiating procedure.

For AKEL, condemning the black anniversary and honoring the Democratic Resistance is part of the struggle against the extreme right and fascism. It is part of the struggle to reverse the occupation and partition with a solution to the Cyprus problem on the agreed basis of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality. For a free, independent and reunited Cyprus, a common homeland for all Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins.