AKEL will take more initiatives to restore the historical truth

AKEL C.C Press Office, 9th September 2015, Nicosia

After consultation with the United Cyprus Party (BKP) it was decided that the two parties visit together and place flowers at the Greek Cypriot Constantine and Heleni cemetery on the graves of Greek Cypriots murdered by the Greek Cypriot EOKA B organisation and the Turkish invaders and subsequently to graves of Turkish Cypriots in the village of Aloda who were murdered by EOKA B.

The aim of these events was to send a message of peace and reunification of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots and to stress the need for the waging of a common struggle for the liberation and reunification of our country. The aim was to also point out the truth and highlight the historical reality, that is to say that not all Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots are to blame for the crimes that were committed before 1974 or for the Turkish invasion and continuing occupation.

The event at the Constantine and Heleni cemetery took place without any problems. When the event at the cemetery at Aloda ended and statements were being made by the leaders of both political parties, a group of Turkish Cypriots, about ten people, moved with aggressive intentions against the Turkish Cypriots who accompanied the AKEL delegation. “Policemen” of the pseudo-state held them back in their efforts.

The AKEL delegation withdrew after Mr. Izcan denounced in strong terms this behaviour to the Turkish Cypriot media. As AKEL, we were warned that our visit to Aloda would perhaps provoke reactions. Nevertheless, we insisted on carrying out this visit. AKEL believes that this step too had to be taken at some point. We thought we owed it to history to be the ones to do it”.

In any case, we will persist in our struggle for a solution and will take more initiatives to restore the historical truth in the people’s consciousness.

Those who attempted the incidents today at the village of Aloda were very few in numbers. It is our belief that they do not represent the majority of the Turkish Cypriot community, in the same way that like-minded individuals do not represent the majority of the Greek Cypriot community. Let’s not let anything stop peace in Cyprus.