AKEL on the 62 years since Turkey’s bombardment of Tillyria
True peace and security can only be guaranteed by liberation from the occupation and foreign “guardians”
7 August 2026, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia
On the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of Turkey’s raids and bombings of the region of Tillyria in August 1964, AKEL pays tribute to those who fell and to the victims of the raid. At the same time, it expresses its respect and deep gratitude to all those who defended the Republic of Cyprus against Turkey’s aggression. Among the heroes were members of AKEL, EDON and the wider People’s Movement of the Left, such as Michalakis Kousoulides, a member of the Central Council of EDON Youth, Astanios, Kareklas, Eikosaris, Ftochopoulos and others who fought alongside hundreds of other young people of the Cypriot people to defend our homeland.
The events in Tillyria unfolded at a time when NATO’s plans for the partition of Cyprus were intensifying. At the same time, nationalists in both communities, under the banner of ‘Enosis on the one hand and ‘partition’ on the other, were undermining the unity of the Cypriot people and the Republic of Cyprus itself. During those turbulent years, AKEL was the force fighting to build unity between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in the face of plans to partition and put our island under full NATO control.
62 years on, this anniversary serves as a reminder that the only true guarantee of peace and security on our island is our liberation from the occupation, foreign “guardians2 and partitionist barbed-wires; it is the freedom and reunification of our island and people.
For this reason, AKEL reaffirms its commitment to the struggle for a solution to the Cyprus problem on the agreed basis of a Bizonal, Bicommunal Federation with political equality, and its commitment to the objective of resuming negotiations from the point at which they were suspended in 2017, whilst safeguarding the negotiation acquis, including the convergences recorded and the Guterres Framework. Our guiding principle is a free, independent, united homeland – a common homeland for all Cypriots.
