Speech of Nicos Ioannou, Member of the Political Bureau of AKEL, at the mass memorial meeting in honour of 4 Heroes of the Resistance against the fascist coup

 

14th July 2014, Ay Yianni neighbourhood, Larnaca

 

For 40 years we have been gathering in this very square; the square of the 4 Heroes of the neighbourhood of Ay Yianni[1]; the square of the Resistance. We solemly bow our heads, honour and pay hommage to our heroes. We remember the betrayal committed and are filled with rage and anger because a bunch of sell-outs committed such untold harm and damage to an entire people.

15th July 1974. The city of Larnaca is resisting by all means having heard the news about the coup d’etat. The people spontaneously poured out on to the streets instinctively, filled with indignation on hearing the news that Makarios is dead. In the neighborhoods women curse the traitors of the coupists. The organised People’s Movement of the Left, headed by the EDON[2], assumes the leadership of the people’s rage. The first task is to transmit the message everywhere that Makarios is alive, and subsequently to organize the resistance; to convey the message that fascism will not pass!

 

The brave youth were led by comrade Stelios Vassiliou, District Secretary of EDON, together with other fellow fighters such as Doros Christodoulides, Kostas Adamou, Andreas Parashos and others who assumed their responsibilities at that time in line with their consciousness. They subsequently transmit the message of Resistance to the neighbourhoods of Larnaca. The only way for the people to resist was to come out on to the streets in protest. This was accomplished without much difficulty. In no time, hundreds of people of all ages filled the town cewntre by all means.

 

There were other points of resistance against the coup led AKEL members in other areas of the city and villages of Larnaca district, where AKEL members and cadres, together with other democratic compatriots, formed the spearhead of the resistance, putting their life in danger, but also the safety of their families. Many of them were arrested and brutally beaten and tortured. One such group of resistance fighters was the group led by comrade Vladimiros Charalambous and other resistance combatants. With the minimum resources at their disposal they resisted the coup fiercely, and tried to organize the resistance throughout the whole Larnaca district.

 

The decision of the Captain of the National Guard Pamporis shortly after the outbreak of the coup to join – together with his men and weapons – the legitimate legal state forces boosted the morale of the Resistance fighters. Many of them on hearing this news rushed to the police station to get weapons to actively resist the fight against EOKA B. The turn of events would certainly have been differen had there not been treason from within. The cowardly murderers would certainly have looked for a place to hide had AKEL’s proposal submitted to Makarios been heeded to arm 1,000 anti-fascists to provide support to the lawful forces of the state. Those who retrospectively blame AKEL that it did not predict and warn Makarios about the coup are not guided by any objective motives.

 

AKEL acted then as it always acts, guided by our country’s interest. It subordinated everything towards the goal of avoiding national disunity, repulsing the plans and intrigues that were elaborated against Cyprus and saving our homeland. Even in those extremely difficult conditions, AKEL worked responsibly and wisely. It did not put petty-partisan interests above legality and the Constitution, whose expression was the lawfully elected President of the Republic, Archbishop Makarios. On the contrary it fully respected and defended him consistently, upholding in this way the constitutional order and popular sovereignty.

 

The coupists on seeing the resistance spreading were worried. It was unarmed citizens who initially put up spontaneous resistance against the coup d’etat, but their determinationto stop the plans for the overthrow the constitution caused insurmountable obstacles to the prevalence of the coup. Hence, the coupists decided to strike to kill and murder unarmed civilians. The murderous bullets fired by known unknown assassins right here in this very square of our meeting cut down the bodies of the four brave comrades who at that time were marching with their fists raised, following a convoy of cars who were trasnmitting messagesof resistance.

 

George Hajistefani, Achilless Kourtellos, Georgios Charalambous and Andreas Theodosiou.

 

Their bodies bullit-riddened hang from the pick up trucks….

 

Among them Andreas Theodosiou just 14 years old, the youngest hero and martyr of the Resistance. The fascists would not even allow his burial and funeral for fear of the people’s rage breaking out. For four days his mother and father were begging them to permit  burial of their child. When Jesus was crucified and died the soldiers at least let the dead body be taken down and buried, as befits a dead person. In the case of Andreas though, and even when they eventually decided to give the lifeless body of the martyr to his own family, the priest from afar barely mumbled a few words, as if a virus was to be buried.

The crime of 1974 is twofold. One aspect is the treacherous coup of the Athens junta and its associates here, and the other is the barbaric Turkish invasion and occupation of 37% of the territory of the Republicof Cyprus. Our people are still suffering from the consequences of this double crime for forty years now.

 

One cannot speak about 1974 and erase one of the two crimes committed. It is true that this deliberate ommission suits some circles and forces. Indeed this is what they have been seeking because they have never condemned the fascist coup. They mention just two phrases, namely “fratricidal disunity” or a “foolish coup”, believing they have fulfilled their duty. And then they continue with the Turkish invasion and its consequences. They organize commemorative events in memory and honour of 1974, but their homage and own historical memory is one-sided. They never condemn the criminal role of EOKA B and keep quiet about Grivas’ actions in the pre-coup period. On each 15th July they equate the perpetrators and the victims, laying wreaths and paying hommage to those who turned their weapons against democracy and legality.

 

Our goal is not to open wounds. For our people as a whole, the wounds are open for four decades now and are still bledding. It is our duty, however, to keep historic memory alive, continue the struggle to fulfil our obligations and vindicate the sacrifices made by both the heroic resistance fighters of 1974, as well as of course of all those who died on the battlefields fighting the Turkish invasion. This debt is particularly urgent today, when those who deliberately ignore one part of the crime are now in power. The President of the Republic himself must give answers as to all that he is accused with regards his involvement in that period.

 

It is worth remembering that the last time the Democratic Rally party was in power back in 1993, it had unleashed an all-out campaign to impose the falsification of history in order to pardon and exonorate the coup d’etat, EOKA B and Grivas. None of us can forget that the first political act of the government of the Democratic Rally party after its election was to reinstate the “62” civil servant coupists dismissed from their posts in the public interest. There followed the laying of wreaths at the graves of well-known coupists, the monument to Grivas valued indeed at one million pounds, the glorification of and turning the Commando troops killed during the attack on the Presidential Palace into heroes and the incessant projection of the ideas of Griovas and Enosis[3] in schools, the army, football and athletic grounds.

 

This time, the governing Democratic Rally party’s ascent to power has signalled the beginning of a new campaign to falsify and revise the history of Cyprus. In the past they had been saying that we should not be talking about the crime in 1974 because “we should not go on about the past and open up old wounds.” Today they want to talk about 1974, but only to rewrite history to suit the Right. Politicians, researchers and journalists – openly allied to the political spectrum of ​​so-called “liberal and cosmopolitan” Right – are engaged in an attempt to exonerate historically the U.S. and NATO of their responsibilities for their role in the planning and preparation of the double crime of the coup d’etat and invasion committed against Cyprus. Indeed – some of them openly and others indirectly – blame President Makarios and AKEL that supported him- as the ones guilty of the tragedy of Cyprus because they did not accept the NATO partitionist plans proposed in the 60’s and 70’s. In effect we are being told that we are to blame because we didnt ourselves accept to partition our country and therefore forced NATO, the Junta and EOKA B to set up the bloody conspiracy for the disolution of Cyprus. Indeed they have even reached the point of attributing equal responsibilities to the lawful government of President Makarios and EOKA B fascism for the destabilization of Cyprus before the coup..

 

From promoting the policy of forgetfulness and attributing equal responsibilities they have now proceeded to revise the historical truth. They are trying to rewrite history according to their own perceptions and outlook. Today for example we learn then, that it is primarily the Cypriot people itself and secondly the Soviet Union that is to blame for all of Cyprus’ woes, but most of all it is our people’s anti-Americanism and anti-Western obsessions.

 

They are targeting the minds of the youth who have not lived the events of 1974. The fact that an ongoing campaign is underway on the 40th anniversary of the betrayal and invasion to rewrite Cyprus’ modern history, which is focused on the 1974 tragedy in particular, is a provocation and a disgrace.  This campaign is not unrelated to the fact that the Right is in power right now.

 

The campaign to rewrite history from the beginning serves another goal, namely whitewashing and exonerating NATO in the hearts and minds of Cypriots to enable the DISY Government to promote its position for Cyprus to join NATO. They know that only when feelings of guilt are created among our people about its resistance to foreign, unjust and partitionist plans will the people be able to accept in the coming period their ideas for a “loose federation”, the implementation of NATO guarantees and the withdrawal of the demand for the demilitarization of our island.

 

There a vast amount of evidence from written documents, including real testimonies about the role played by the U.S., their servants in Athens and their representatives EOKA B, for the partition of Cyprus. But perhaps the most damning evidence about the role of the U.S. and NATO in Cyprus was the public apology to the Cyprus people for all that the United States had done through time by the US State Department’s special envoy on Cyprus Richard Holbrooke in 1999. And while the Americans themselves recognize the role they played against Cyprus, even asking for forgiveness, certain historians, who are employed at the Presidential Palace, serving  specific aims, are attempting to whitewash them.

 

The continued impasse on the Cyprus problem causes objectively fatigue and pessimism. These feelings, however, must not lead us to abandon the struggle and efforts to achieve a solution. We cannot compromise with the occupation and current situation, which harbours dangers for our people’s survival.

 

The solution for us is not something elusive and vague, but concrete. It is outlined in the relevant UN resolutions. It was agreed by the two Cypriot communities in 1977 and ’79 with the High-Level Agreements agreed between Makarios-Denktash and Kyprianou-Denktash.

 

It is the solution of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation within the framework of one state with a single and indivisible sovereignty, a single citizenship and a single international personality. The state should safeguard political equality between the two communities, as described in the relevant UN resolutions. It will also ensure the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Cypriots, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, who will co-manage their joint state without any third party being able to intervene in our country’s internal affairs. The Cypriot people have suffered enough from foregn guarantors and foreign interventions. It is time to solve the Cyprus problem, to open a new page for Cyprus; a page of lasting peace, security and cooperation between Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins, who, free, should determine their own fate and that of the future generations.

 

To bring this coveted day nearer, we need to continue our struggle. We will continue to support the negotiation procedure because the talks are the only way we can reach a solution that will on the one hand be a compromise – the coupists who through their actiobs brought Turkey in Cyprus didnt leave us with any other choice – but at the same time this compromise must be dignified, viable, functional and under the circumstances fair.

 

In view of the difficulties caused by the Turkish side’s intransigence and negativism in the negotiation process underway, we urge President Anastasiades to abandon the policy of petty considerations and expediences he is following for a negotiation of the Cyprus problem from scratch. We urge him to call for the continuation of the negotiations from the point they had been stopped by the Turkish side in March 2012. In this way, the significant convergences reached in negotiations between Christofias and Talat will be safeguarded and the distance needed to reach a solution will be reduced or, in the event of a deadlock, we will protect our side from the danger of the international community apportioning blame on it, a development that will cause new problems and difficulties.

 

Dear relatives of our heroes,

 

Our presence here in this this sacred square to lay wreaths to our heroes is not only fulfilling an obligation. We are here 40 years after the loss of your beloved ones to tell you that AKEL will never lower the flag of struggle and dignity lifted very high by comrades Georgos Hajistefanis, Achilleas Kourtellis, Georgos Charalambous and Andreas Theodosiou.

 

We renew our vow that we will not yield and that despite the difficulties we will continue our struggle until the vindication of Cyprus, for the liberation of this long-suffering island.

 

Honour and glory to our heroes!

 

 

[1] Working class and poor neighbourhood of Larnaca

[2]Youth organization of AKEL, United Democratic Youth Movement

[3]Union of Cyprus with Greece