Speech of Andros Kyprianou, General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL, at the mass meeting on Workers Day
1st May 2014, Nicosia
On behalf of the C.C. of AKEL I extend a warm and militant greeting to today’s meeting. Today is a different Workers May Day from previous ones. Today Workers Mayday will unite in practice Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot working people. After 56 years, a joint Workers May Day rally will be held. Today we, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots together, will raise our fist in the air and shout out loud “We have had enough!”
Forty years of occupation are far too many. The open wound of the betrayal committed and of the division imposed must end. We have had enough of the army of occupation, the settlers, and the denial of basic rights and freedoms of all of our people. We have had enough of the “super-patriots” who argue that it is better that we should all live in the same country, but separately; enough of those who believe that it is better to have half of Cyprus – but Greek -instead a common homeland for all Cypriots, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. They should know that this is how we would vindicate those who wanted to divide our country in 1974. The non-resolution of the Cyprus problem would mean living with the Turkish occupation army; it means living with a formation that will be controlled by Turkey, within our own homeland.
We, AKEL together with the People’s Movement of the Left as a whole, are determined: We will not give away or surrender even one inch of our land to injustice. We maintain that the just solution of the Cyprus problem is the only way forward. It is a difficult path, but one we have to take. We will pursue this path having as our protective shield the long-standing positions of the Greek Cypriot side, International and European law, the relevant resolutions of the United Nations and the High-Level Agreements.
The longer time passes by without any positive results will we end up with the permanent partition of our homeland. That’s why we support with all our strength the prospect of our country’s reunification. We urge President Anastasiades to handle the negotiations wisely, be committed to principles and to stay clear from any delays, tactical games and manoeuvrings. Only then can we reunite our country and people for a solution that will ensure full demilitarization and the withdrawal of settlers; for a solution that will reunite our country and people within the framework of a bi-communal bi-zonal federation with political equality as set out in the UN Security Council resolutions; for a solution that will lead to a united state with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship.
For sure, we will not achieve this goal if we abandon what has been agreed so far. Consequently, we insist that President Anastasiades will commit a big mistake if he abandons the Christofias – Talat convergences. The responsibility for any subsequent developments in case of such an eventuality will be on him and him alone, nor will we reach a speedy solution if we respond to Eroglu’s unacceptable statements with PR stunts and communication games instead of undertaking substantive steps and actions. Neither will we be able to deliver to the next generations a peaceful Cyprus if we drive our homeland into the arms and chains of any foreign guarantees, or into NATO.
On this opportunity permit me to once again make a reference to the task we all have, namely to isolate and stamp out politically nationalism and chauvinism. I am certain that today’s joint May Day rally will send out a strong message to neo-fascism that it will not pass! Neo-fascism will find a broad popular front of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots opposing and combating it. AKEL will be in the front line and devote all of its forces in this struggle.
The Cyprus problem cannot withstand anymore the burden and pain of the occupation, as our people will also not withstand for a long time the yoke of the Memorandum. We are now the first country in percentage growth of unemployment in the European Union. One in two young people are out of work. In total, the number of unemployed has reached 75,000. 45,000 people wait for a plate of food from food banks. Thousands of Cypriots live with the fear that tomorrow, the day after, the bank will confiscate their home.
Where are all those today who were accusing the Christofias government and AKEL of “mismanagement of public finances”? Where are all those blaming the Easter bonus granted by the Christofias government to pensioners for the crisis? They all now admit that it was the erroneous decisions of banks and the criminal lack of supervision by the then Governor of the Central Bank that led us to the crisis. This is not all though.
Time will prove that on that fateful evening when the decision was taken for the haircut on bank deposits President Anastasiades willingly accepted the Eurogroup pressing the trigger and subsequently striking the fatal blow to Cyprus. Where are the “partners” and “friends” who Anastasiades and the governing DISY party were boasting about that they share their positions and that they will help Cyprus? Where are all those promising time and time again to the people the dawn of a new day? If anything this whole bitter experience teaches our people that only through resistance to anti-peoples policies will it salvage its dignity, that it may pave way for another perspective. For years the Right in Cyprus and the Right of Europe didn’t resist but accepted willingly every Directive and dictate from Brussels. For years they misled the people by presenting everything coming from Brussels as positive. For years they were accusing AKEL of “ideological dogmatism and obsession” because it did not accept everything emanating from Brussels without resistance. Even today, after they accepted Cyprus becoming a “guinea pig”, they provocatively insist that the Memorandum would anyway have been their own political and ideological Manifesto!
For all these reasons, today we stand up and shout out loud: Enough is enough! Now, our time has come. The time has come for our people to abandon apathy and fatalism. In just one year of the government of Anastasiades and DISY one-by-one our people’s gains and rights are being abolished. They are arbitrarily taking back all that the Cypriot working people has gained with their sweat and fierce struggles in Health, education, the welfare state and public wealth and property. On 25th May 25 have an opportunity to declare loudly: Enough is enough! Let’s send the message that arrogance, arbitrariness and authoritarianism shall not pass!
They tried on many occasions to silence AKEL. They tried by many ways to harm, denigrate and weaken it through communication games and machinations, trumped up and fabricated charges, false allegations and accusations, through headlines of lies and undermining. All of these however don’t last for long and are incapable of destroying AKEL’s stature and prestige. No-one should be fooled – this election is critical.
Thousands of voters consciously abstained in the last Presidential Elections. Today we all are experiencing the consequences of the decisions of the Anastasiades Government. Now, there is no room for illusions. In these elections, no one can and must not be indifferent. The result of every election determines his/her own future; the future of his/her children; the future of our own country. If the next election day we result in a stronger AKEL, this will mean that there will be a powerful force that will lead the struggle for the solution of the Cyprus problem; that there will be a strong force of resistance to the anti-peoples policies of the Troika and the Anastasiades Government. Working people, every Cypriot knows that now only the Left can be counted on to resist the selling-out of his/her labour; only AKEL can be counted to defend the people’s dignity and perspective.
So, enough is enough! From today until 25th May we will not permit people’s consciousness to be misled. We’re not giving away to anyone the future of this country and our people. We lift up our heads and we battle! For resistance – dignity – the peoples future!
