AKEL on the 57 years since Turley’s bombing of Tilliria region

 

8 August 2021, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

AKEL pays tribute to the fallen and the victims of Turkey’s bombing of Tilliria region in August 1964, which is another page of blood and pain in Cyprus’ history. The raid by Turkey’s air force, using napalm incendiary bombs, plunged the Tilliria region into blood and destruction. The Turkish air raids in 1964 came at a time of rampant nationalism and inter-communal clashes on the island, alongside the escalation of NATO’s plans to partition the island and impose the notorious Acheson Plan.

All through that period, AKEL emerged as a force mobilising the people in defence of the Republic of Cyprus and its non-aligned policy. At the same time, AKEL played a decisive role in the development of Cyprus’ relations with the Non-Aligned Movement and the socialist community, from which the Republic of Cyprus received valuable solidarity and support in defending its statehood. At the same time, the militants and members of AKEL, EDON Youth and the People’s Movement of the Left, such as comrades Kousoulides (member of the Central Council of EDON), Astanios, Kareklas, Eikosaris, Ftochopoulos and others, rushed together with dozens of other children of our people to defend their homeland from Turkey’s aggression.

The 57th anniversary of the bombing of Tilliria is also a reminder that the only guarantee of peace and security for the Cypriot people is a free, united and independent Cyprus, a homeland for all its sons and daughters. At a time when our country is facing the danger of the definitive division of our homeland, AKEL address a call for the mobilisation of the Cypriot people as a whole for the solution of the Cyprus problem on the agreed basis and framework, for the liberation of Cyprus from the occupation, the colonisation of the occupied areas and from any foreign “guardians”