For a better homeland – Article by Eleni Mavrou, AKEL Political Bureau member

 

Sunday 2 October 2022, “Haravgi” newspaper

I was watching the black and white historical documentaries of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation yesterday about the foundation of the Republic of Cyprus. What the official speeches and ceremonies did not show was the true picture of yesterday’s anniversary. The fact that at the same time as the signatures were being added to the “birth certificate” of the Republic of Cyprus, its independence was simultaneously being undermined.

On the one hand, the Zurich-London Agreements were laying the foundations of a mechanism of foreign intervention (both political and military). On the other hand, the ideological obsessions of the Right within the Greek Cypriot community saw independence as a stepping stone towards achieving Enosis [union with Greece], and within the Turkish Cypriot community as a stepping stone to partition.

Together they undermined the unity of the Cypriot people, the only solid foundation on which the future of our small country could be built.

The policy of separation and partition was based on both sides, on the false perception that the Cypriot state does not constitute a common home and achievement of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. Unfortunately, we did not all see the Republic of Cyprus as a shield to ward off aggression and as a common conquest of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots on which we can build a better future.

This does not, of course, diminish the importance of the establishment of our own state.

The turn towards independence created, in the then historical context, a perspective of the utmost historical and political importance and in the process became an important weapon in the struggles of our people for survival.

The Republic of Cyprus may not have functioned then, but it created the only historical precedent that can reverse the fait accompli of the invasion and enable Cyprus to survive in the new historical context in which we live. The Republic of Cyprus, in a new form, due to the historical changes, namely that of a bizonal, bicommunal federation, is the only one that can lead us to a peaceful future.

Most people now understand that the perpetuation of the current division through time, creating such a fait accompli and consolidating such situations that will make the reunification of Cyprus impossible, is perhaps the greatest threat to the entity and integrity of the Republic of Cyprus.

At the same time, we have to contend with pathologies that, over the last decade in particular, have assumed gigantic dimensions – corruption, the devaluation of principles, the pursuit of profit at all costs, individualism…

History is always an arena of assertion, an open struggle.

Things do not change by themselves. Our lives will not be made better by some divine intervention. The current government ruling forces (and any of their branches) cannot construct a better society, despite all the sloganeering, grandiose words and empty talk. Cyprus will never become the common home of all its children as long as we permit nationalism and racism to develop.

Let us hope that the experiences of the past decades – often traumatic and painful – of the journey of the Republic of Cyprus have taught us enough to enable us to find our way forward.