Speech of A. Kyprianou, General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL, at the annual mass excursion of EDON to Troodos

 

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 31st January 2016, Troodos Mountains

On behalf of the Central Committee of AKEL, I extend a cordial greeting to the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot youth gathered here. I extend a warm greeting to the youth of EDON, the youth of Cyprus. This annual event is of particular significance this year. The efforts to reach a solution are mounting. The joint efforts of progressive Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots will contribute towards the correct direction.

It is true that if there is anyone who can help to pave the way for reunification and peace, it is the youth of EDON, the youth of Cyprus. If there is someone who can shout out loudly that nothing can prevent peace in Cyprus, it is the youth of EDON by uniting its voice with Turkish Cypriot youth. Let your own generation become the generation of the reunification of Cyprus and our people; the generation that will end once and for all everything that drowned our people in blood and tears.

Our people have suffered a lot. History owes them the vindication of their struggles, but in the world we live in nothing is ever granted – everything is gained through struggle. That is to say, we must win the struggle for the self-evident, for our people to be able to live in the land that gave birth to them, without any barbed wires of division, without armies, bases and guardians. This is a tough struggle, a struggle against powerful adversaries. Imperialism has always sought the partition of Cyprus; its division and dissolution; its subordination to the powerful interests. The question is whether we stand up and resist, struggle for justice and our rights ∙ for the future of our children.

We are not fighting with windmills. The framework of the solution of the Cyprus problem is given. We ask nothing more than that. We are struggling for a solution based on the principles and values ​​of International and European Law; a solution based on the relevant UN resolutions and the High-Level Agreements; a solution that ensures demilitarization and the withdrawal of settlers; a solution that will reunite our homeland and people in a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with political equality as defined in relevant Security Council resolutions; a solution that will lead to a united state with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship that will safeguard the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Cypriots. We are seeking a solution that will reunite our country and people and not a solution that will institutionalize the separate living of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots; a solution that will isolate any fascist and chauvinist elements.

Any other option, in whatever guise it may be camouflaged, will lead to permanent partition. Such a “solution” will not only be tantamount to the selling off our country, but will lead to new hardships for our country and people. AKEL will never accept this. We will never consent to the “closure” of the Cyprus problem that will impose on our people not living together, but living side-by-side; that will seek to impose on our people living together with a threat, with troops, bases and an uncertain future.

There has been much talk these days about AKEL’s trip to Turkey. Those who for so long were saying that we must talk with Turkey were the first ones to oppose our meetings with Turkish officials. Those who, wrongly, for so long underestimated the role that might be played by the Turkish Cypriot leader in the efforts to solve the Cyprus problem and insisted that everything for the solution lays in Ankara, were annoyed because we talked with officials in Ankara. For us it is clear that, yes, we need to talk and we must exploit all possibilities in order to take steps forward in the negotiation procedure.

Meetings such as these help create a positive climate. This does not mean that Turkey is exempt from its responsibilities. Neither are we naive to believe that the Cyprus problem will be solved by such encounters. Everything has to be proved at the negotiating table. We will not rush to say whether our interlocutors were sincere or not. We will wait for Turkey’s honesty and willingness to solve the Cyprus problem to be proved in practice. There is now a positive coincidence. The fact that in the Turkish Cypriot community there is a leadership that wants a solution and that Turkey’s well-intentioned interests also renders this imperative, for various reasons.

In all modesty, I say that AKEL’s qualitative difference from other parties has already been demonstrated. We didn’t try to take to our revenge against Mr. Anastasiades and DISY, by sacrificing the Cyprus problem because we are, and will remain, a patriotic and responsible force. We supported from the very beginning the procedure of the negotiations for a solution, exercising criticism in good faith, wherever and whenever we felt it was necessary. Now negotiations are underway, following a period of not only stagnation, but also regression. We will continue to monitor developments and judge accordingly. However, we will never ever try to dampen the people with illusions, either through empty rhetoric and slogans about a need to change the framework of the solution, or by spreading false illusions about a return to a unitary state – but neither also by cultivating the illusion that the Cyprus problem has already been solved and just a few details remain. We have a difficult and long road ahead. We hope everyone rises to the occasion.

As AKEL, we will continue to devote all our forces for the day when a reunited federal Cyprus will dawn as a beacon and an example for the whole world; a modern example of harmonious coexistence of two communities of different ethnicity, language and religion that will co-manage their common state. It will be a country that will have managed to throw out the armies and channeled all its power and resources towards social investment and economic growth. In this course we join hands with our progressive Turkish Cypriot compatriots and build with them on the solid foundations of rapprochement the hope of peace!