22nd Congress of AKEL

 

Statement of Andros Kyprianou, General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL 

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 20th February 2015, Nicosia

 

From the 4-7th June 2015 the 22th regular Pancyprian Congress of AKEL will convene, under the central slogan of “Strength comes from struggle and hope comes from the Left”.

For AKEL, every Congress is a milestone. Our goal is that the 22nd Congress of the Party will be a milestone for Cyprus as well. If one were to review Congress papers and documents over the 90-year history of AKEL, he/she would see unfolding before them the entire contemporary history of our homeland; all the difficult path of struggle the Cypriot people, the manual and intellectual workers began to take Cyprus forward.

Today, one could say that we are at the most dangerous juncture of this difficult path of struggle. The Cyprus problem remains unresolved with the danger of permanent partition growing day by day. Our people’s gains and rights, all that it has so painstakingly built and won over the years are under attack. The elderly on low pensions, the unemployed, refugees, single parents, large families, recipients of public assistance, young scientists, farmers and workers are all thinking that perhaps for the first time in their lives they cannot hope that tomorrow things will get better.

This responsibility AKEL will dare to lift on to its own shoulders with the convening of the 22th Congress; the responsibility to be the strongest wall upon which the nightmare of our country’s partition will be shattered; the responsibility to remain a leading force in the struggle for resistance to the dissolution of everything which the Troika, together with the Anastasiades Government and the governing DYSI Rally party, are attempting.

The Central Committee of AKEL has already elaborated the text of the positions to be discussed at the Party Base Organisations. Given that that it is shaped in its final form based on the views of the party membership, it will also be discussed at the Congress itself. We call on all the party members of AKEL to participate actively in the discussion procedures of the positions that will guide the actions of AKEL for the next five years.

The goals of the 22th Congress are many and important. We aim to reaffirm the character of our Party, enhance its ideological-political identity and strengthen its organizational force. We aim at its continuous renewal and to enhance its capability of having a powerful presence and intervention in all matters of concern to the people of Cyprus. The 22th Congress of AKEL will not only look inwards. It will also look outwards, towards the future. It will deal with the principal issues our country is facing, first and foremost with the Cyprus problem, the prospect of the reunification of our homeland and the revitalization of rapprochement of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

It will discuss issues related to energy, developments on international and European affairs ∙ developments in the region and on the economy. It will debate existing problems and needs that demand solutions, the elaboration of innovative and radical solutions. This is the reason why our Congress will deal with issues of concern to the young generation, women, workers, farmers, the middle strata, the refugees, large families, pensioners, the cooperative movement, the people of culture, local self-government, the promotion of human rights, the stamping out of corruption and interwoven interests and much more.

In it’s almost 90 years of struggle AKEL had and maintains its own analysis of society and the economy. This however has never prevented, nor will it now prevent it from discussing, listening to positions and ideas from all people who care about what is happening in society and will take initiatives to formulate positions on contemporary issues. In the 22th Congress will also discuss these issues. We will also do the same on issues which while in other countries are considered as self-evident, in Cyprus unfortunately until yesterday they were not, such as the combating of the various forms of racism or the issue of civil partnership.

Our desire is that the 22th Congress of AKEL conveys to the people a strong message that we are the force that has the strength to struggle and to win together with the people its own future.