AKEL on the day Democracy was restored in Greece
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 23 July 2018, Nicosia
23 July 1974 is the day when the junta of Athens collapsed by handing over to Constantinos Karamanlis, while the eight-day “President” of the coup d’état in Cyprus Nikos Sampson handed over to Glafkos Clerides. These were developments that were dictated by the tragedy that was unfolding in Cyprus and under the weight and rage of the peoples of Cyprus and Greece for the treacherous role of the Greek Junta in the tragedy of Cyprus.
The Greek Junta and its accomplices in Cyprus not only carried out the fascist coup and opened the back door to the Turkish Attila army, but in addition left Cyprus unprotected militarily to confront the invader. The evidence about the events of those days as regards the military field testifying that the Junta and its organs in Cyprus had consciously acted together in the plan to divide Cyprus and put it under NATO control are indisputable. Nor were they deceived or misled by the passion for the Union of Cyprus with Greece. History has written that the “super-patriots” of the Greek Junta and EOKA B were the ones who had abandoned the battlefields and left the sons of Cyprus to wage the unequal and betrayed fight against the Turkish army.
The anniversary reminds us that the restoration of Democracy in Greece came after the massacre of Cyprus and its people. It also remind us that the Cypriot people had to continue the struggle to achieve the return of Makarios to Cyprus and the leadership of the state so that constitutional order and democracy could at last be restored in Cyprus too. However, we recall that the leaders of the betrayal committed in Cyprus and Greece were never punished as they deserved to be for their crimes. In fact in Cyprus, they even found political cover in a political party, found themselves in political and state posts and are attempting to rewrite history.
On the occasion of today’s anniversary we honor those who fought and sacrificed their lives for democracy in Cyprus and Greece by struggling to defend historical truth and democratic memory; by struggling against neo-fascism today’s glorifiers of the Junta and by struggling to reverse the crime they committed against Cyprus and its people.
