Speech by AKEL General Secretary St. Stefanou at the event marking the 50th anniversary of Local Club ‘ANAGENISIS’ of the 1974 Turkish invasion refugees

 

 

16 October 2025, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Tonight’s event honors a Club with a long history of service to the refugee and local community, as well as to the city of Limassol.

The ‘’Anagenisis’ Local Club of the People’s Movement of the Left was founded by refugees for refugees, and through its rich activities, it has become a vibrant hub of cultural, athletic, educational, and social activity for all.

When the first refugees arrived in Limassol after the second phase of the 1974 Turkish army’s invasion, with the support and assistance of AKEL and the People’s Movement (Note: AKEL and the mass organisations of the Left), they organized themselves so that they could offer help and relief to people who had been violently uprooted from their homes who did not know what the next day would bring. A group led by Panai Andreou, who had arrived in the area to settle, decided with the support of the Party to establish the Refugee Club ‘Anagenisis’. The Club (‘Renaissance’)took its name precisely because of the effort to revive the area that had been deserted after almost all of the approximately 2,000 Turkish Cypriots who lived there were forced to leave following the Turkish invasion and occupation of a large part of our homeland.

AKEL played a leading role in promoting and solving the problems of the refugee community. By organising committees to highlight the problems, through on-site visits by its officials and MPs, and through daily contact with the displaced, it put all its weight behind efforts to resolve the survival issues faced by refugees. Namely, housing, finding work, daily survival.

The establishment of the Local Club ‘Anagenisis’ was the natural progression of the path that had been followed, the result of the need for the refugee community to organize and find a way out. Despite the difficulties and hostility from various nationalist elements, in November 1975, the Refugee Club ‘Anagenisis’ opened its doors to embrace refugees, young people, and people of all ages. With limited resources but with enthusiasm and excitement, the first Council, with Koko Andronikou as Secretary, managed to develop a wide range of activities in a short period of time. With the organization of young people, a theatre club, a cultural group, a dance group, a volunteer work group, and a Pioneer children’s movement were soon established.

The organization of theatrical and musical events gave hundreds of young people the opportunity to engage in culture, while volunteer work changed the environment and contributed to the development of the entire region. However, ‘Anagenisis’ also excelled in sports, as its soccer team had many significant successes, winning the championship three times and the E.P.O.L. cup four times.

The Refugee Club ‘Anagenisis’ continues its rich activity to this day, but under very different circumstances. This is the big challenge for every left-wing local Club/Association. That’s to say, to use its rich history as a compass for the present and the future, continuing to show the other way: that of cultural creation, vigorous entertainment, the development of sports, voluntary work, and the idea and practice of social solidarity. Local Clubs of the Left in every corner of Cyprus have provided opportunities, literally breathing life into entire regions and neighbourhoods by embracing Cypriot society with their educational, sporting, cultural work and activities. They have provided an outlet for thousands of people.

This is what the majority of Cypriot society is looking for today. An outlet. An outlet for the major and pressing problems of survival it faces. Housing, inflation, inequality, marginalisation, uncertainty, constant anxiety about tomorrow, about the years to come. These are the issues on which AKEL’s daily political action focuses on, with the assumption of specific initiatives and elaboration and submission of proposals.

Cyprus ranks among the lowest in the European Union in terms of basic social indicators. Thousands of Cypriots are unable to meet their basic daily needs. Low and middle income groups are under pressure from high prices, wages remain stagnant, as do social benefits. Meanwhile, the ruling government forces are celebrating the pace of growth. However, this growth is not felt by young couples who are crammed into substandard housing or live with their parents because they cannot otherwise make ends meet. It is not felt by workers who wonder how they will meet their basic needs since their wages are not enough. It is not felt by low-income pensioners who are barely surviving and unable to live with dignity. It is not felt by students who work to pay for their studies and, when they manage to graduate, are employed with salaries of €800 and €900.

Faced with this situation, AKEL does not sit idly by, nor does it limit itself to engaging in sterile criticism. It moves forward with proposals, dares to take initiatives, and exerts political pressure as the strong, proven, and effective opposition force.

AKEL was the party that strongly pressured the government to adopt its proposal to reduce VAT on electricity.

AKEL is the party that dared to raise the issue of the uncontrolled purchase of land by wealthy citizens of foreign countries, which drives up property prices and excludes the average Cypriot.

AKEL is the party that dared to bring to Parliament the proposal to tax the exorbitant profits of banks and energy companies.

AKEL is the party that pushed for and succeeded in preventing the imposition of ‘green’ taxes, and succeeded in postponing the “Pay as you fly” tax until the necessary infrastructure is in place.

AKEL is the party that raises the issue of taxing wealth, high-value real estate, and the abolition of double taxation on fuel.

Because for us, AKEL’s slogan, “A Force for the People,” is not just a slogan, it is our raison d’être, the driving force behind our actions. That is why we ask the people for their support in every election battle. That is why we are asking for it in view of the upcoming parliamentary elections. Because a strong AKEL means strength for the many, strength for the weak, strength for society, strength in action. It means strength for the progress and advancement of society.

This is what a strong AKEL means. It must emerge even stronger from the parliamentary ballot box. Suffice it to say that if AKEL had one more seat in Parliament, our proposal to tax bank profits would have been passed last December and the revenue would have been used to support borrowers who are unable to service their loans.

But a strong AKEL also means strength for Cyprus, for our homeland, which has been waiting for justice/vindication for half a century.

We are the political force that consistently stands at the forefront of the struggle to achieve a solution to the Cyprus problem that will end the Turkish occupation and reunite our country and our people.

The force that unites the Cypriot people in a common goal: the reunification of our country with a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality, as described in the United Nations texts, as agreed with the international and Turkish Cypriot communities and included in the negotiating acquis.

We are the force that refuses to hand over half of Cyprus to Turkey, that without vacillation, contradictions, or backtracking, works consistently and with a clear political line to reunify the country, to mark the time of return, so that our children and grandchildren can live in a peaceful and safe Cyprus.

The Refugee Club ‘Anagenisis’ is celebrating 50 years of life and activity among refugees.

May the day soon dawn when the barbed wire fence of division will be lifted so that refugees can freely take the road back home. With their children and grandchildren in their arms, they will show them the land that gave them birth, the soil they loved, the sea that gave them life.

AKEL will continue to fight with all its might for that day to come!

Warm congratulations to everyone for organizing tonight’s event and for the daily work done by ‘Anagenisis’!