AKEL C.C. Press Office, 6^th August 2015, Nicosia

70 years have elapsed since the dropping of atomic bombs by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was one of the greatest crimes committed by imperialism against humanity, especially since this action was not justified by any military necessity.

The death toll and ecological disaster caused continue to shock humanity today. At the same time they are also a constant reminder of the need to rid humanity of nuclear weapons, which could in a few hours wipe out life on the planet.

Instead, however, nuclear weapons on the planet are developing and spreading, led by NATO which declares at every opportunity that it is and will remain a nuclear power. The recent agreement in the international community on Iran’s nuclear program, while one the one hand it deescalates the tension, on the other hand it highlights the West’s hypocrisy in relation to Israel’s nuclear arsenal which is in breach of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

AKEL, together with the peace movements of our region, is fighting for the declaration of the Middle East and the Mediterranean in general into a zone free from nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. Indeed on the initiative of AKEL, the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus expressed last year – in a resolution that was approved unanimously –  its support to this goal and called on the Government to take action diplomatically towards this end. If this goal were to be fulfilled it would make an enormous contribution to peace and security in our troubled neighborhood. It would also represent a big step towards achieving global nuclear disarmament so that no people would again suffer a nuclear holocaust and no people will live under the nightmare of a nuclear threat.