In their graves our dead are restless
Haris Karamanos, member of the Central Committee of AKEL
15TH July 2016
The memory lives on and guides us. The knowledge of the historical truth about the tragedy of 1974 is the solid foundation on which we are waging our struggle.
Each year on the 15th July our hearts are clad in black for the grave mourning and disaster that struck Cyprus in July 1974: the treacherous fascist coup by EOKA B and the barbaric invasion of Attila.
The wounds on the mutilated body of Cyprus for 42 years remain open and are still bleeding. Our memory goes back to those dark days when people’s minds were bought and corrupted by “treason’s pieces of silver”, when state services were infiltrated, schools were in chaos, National Guard military camps and police stations were being transformed into launching pads of subversion and fascist actions.
Chauvinism, together with fascism and the criminal actions of the extreme right both became Trojan Horses, which were exploited by Turkey and imperialism to undermine Cyprus from within.
The great devastation resulted in the dead, injured, the missing persons, refugees, war-stricken people and the enclaved people in the occupied areas. It left our country divided and a large part of our island under Turkish occupation.
We of course understand that the current government and ruling forces around it are trying to get rid of the stigma of ’74 attached to them and attempting to keep the myths of the extreme right alive; to continue to tell fairytales to the young generation about who is responsible for the twin crime committed against Cyprus and our people and to monopolize patriotism.
They are franticly seeking to promote forgetfulness, amnesia and the falsification and distortion of history. They are trying by all means to justify and vindicate Grivas, EOKA B and the coup d’état. With their actions they are not only provoking the democratic sentiments of our people and all those who sacrificed their very lives defending Democracy, but they are also undermining our struggle for justice in Cyprus.
We have reached the point where costly monuments are being announced to exonerate and pardon Grivas, the leader of EOKA B and portray him as an anti-junta patriot.
We have reached the point where visits are being organized to the grave of the leading fascist Grivas by the Ministry of Education for them to argue more or less that the coup was executed by aliens or even that Makarios did it and that the was supposedly a civil war.
We have reached the point where the authorities of the state need an invitation to attend events in memory of those who defended the Republic of Cyprus as if it’s some kind of reception and not our obligation to honor our dead.
We have reached the point where even the mere reference to the coup is reported as “inciting passions” and viewed as “dividing the people”.
We have reached the point where those who are impinging in the most brutal way the people’s sense of justice, and undermining the foundation of unity as a result of their daily actions, are the ones talking about “justice and unity”..
We are all judged by our actions.
We are judged by our position towards the coup and their victims.
We are judged whether we justify the coup and whether we disregard and marginalize the resistance fighters and their families.
We keep memory alive. We transmit it to the new generation so that it won’t be misled by any unscrupulous forces, who today, despite the occupation and division, have the nerve to poison people’s consciences with false empty slogans.
We will not stop reminding the people of this crime and to demand justice.
We will not stop struggling for our rights until our voice is heard.
We will not stop fighting for our country’s liberation from the military occupation of Turkey, for the reunification of our homeland and people, for the restoration of our human rights.
We will never compromise with the coup d’état and fascism.
We will never worship the coup.
For us, the respect of the memory of the resistance heroes is a life stand.
Besides, we owe it to the future generations.
We also owe it to all those who sacrificed their lives defending democracy and the independence of Cyprus.
