Speech by former General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL, Andros Kyprianou, at the political memorial event for the hero Sotiris Adamou Konstantinou

 

10 July 2025, EAS Ag. Dometios Club of the Left, Nicosia

AKEL C.C. Press Office

It is with great emotion and honour that I am here again to honour a hero, Sotiris Adamou Constantinou. A hero whose name reflects the bitter history of our country. He carries the heavy shadow of betrayal by the Greek Junta and EOKA B. A betrayal demanding from the entire political leadership the heavy debt of vindication. Namely, the solution and the reunification of our long-suffering homeland.

Sotiris Adamos Konstantinos, son of Adamos and Martha, like everyone else, was not born destined to become a hero. He was a young boy who had dreams, who wanted to live and enjoy life with his loved ones. To build his future in the place where he was born. Sotiris Adamou Konstantinou did not happen to become a hero. He chose to be a hero. That is the greatness of his sacrifice. He could, like others, compromise with the fascists. He did not. He chose the path of honor and democracy and paid for it with his own life.

His parents raised him with few means at their disposal, but with a lot of care and love. In their small home they raised him with the greatest ideals born of humanity: peace, democracy, justice, solidarity. These values and these ideals, which he was taught by his family and by the progressive EAS Ayios Dometius Club of the Peoples Movement of the Left, sealed them with his own blood. He defended them with his own life.

For more than three decades, instead of being written in gold letters in the pantheon of heroes, Sotiris Adamos Konstantinos’ name was buried in the list of coupists. Instead of being a chapter of modern Cypriot history, as an example for future generations, he was written as just another name among those who attacked democracy. It took many years to restore his memory. His parents and other members of his family made a huge struggle to achieve his posthumous vindication. To have it officially recognized that Sotiris was backhandedly and cowardly executed by the coupists because he refused to participate in the treason by participating in the attack that was launched on the Presidential Palace. As the investigation proved, Sotiris was stabbed and shot with weapons that at the time only officers of Commando Units possessed. Namely, the ones who were instrumental in the execution of the coup. He refused to carry out their orders and that’s precisely why he was murdered. Years later, the State issued an official apology because instead of being among the list of heroes, his name was among those who took up arms against Democracy and the constitutional order against Cyprus.

The vindication, albeit late, came for Sotiris and his family. But the catharsis for this family and thousands of others who lived through fascism, death and uprooting during those days has not yet come. No one has apologised to Sotiris’ family for his cold-blooded murder. None of those who planned and executed this crime, neither from inside, nor from outside Cyprus, have apologised to the Cypriot people and have not been punished. Most importantly, because our homeland remains under occupation with thousands of Turkish troops and settlers threatening the very future of Cyprus and its people as a whole.

Unfortunately, instead of drawing the right lessons from our country’s turbulent history so many decades later, we behave as if we have learned nothing. We are repeating the same mistakes under the guise of “patriotism”, which in practice is nothing more than sick nationalism.

The historical experience of the Cyprus problem since 1974 demonstrates that during periods when there is no ongoing negotiation procedure the situation deteriorates and Turkey attempts to create new fait accompli. By way of illustration, the so-called “TRNC” was declared in 1983, after the rejection of the De Cuellar Indicators, which constituted a very general negotiating outline. The official turn by Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leadership away from federation towards confederation took place in 1997 when there was once again no ongoing negotiation procedure and the frenzy over the supposed arrival of S300 missiles was at it highest point and the so-called “active volcano” theory, all slogans of Clerides and DISY party. The intense efforts to promote the direct trade of the pseudo-state with the outside world were made after the well-known result of the 2004 referenda.

The period we are going through now is extremely critical. Seven years have passed since the collapse of the Crans Montana conference on Cyprus without the resumption of talks. Turkey, following Anastasiades’ treacherous reference to two states, has seized the opportunity to put the unacceptable demand for a two-state solution on the negotiation table. This is a negative and very dangerous development.

The UN Secretary-General in his repeated Reports over the years has set out how we should proceed.  We should start negotiations from where we left off in Crans-Montana. On the basis of the Guterres Framework, the convergences reached so far and the informal document on the mechanism for implementing the solution. With a discussion on one table of the security and guarantees issue and on the other of the internal aspects.

Anastasiades, unfortunately, only verbally accepted these positions of the UN Secretary General. He hid behind Turkish intransigence and attempted to gnaw away at time without taking any initiative. It gave the occupying country Turkey the opportunity to become more aggressive and provocative, including by proceeding to the imposition of new fait accompli. Turkey has engaged in numerous provocations in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of Cyprus, going so far as to engage in illegal drilling. At the same time, it is gradually opening up the enclosed city of Famagusta, further removing the prospects of reaching a solution to the Cyprus problem.

In the face of this worrying situation, AKEL presented a comprehensive proposal to Anastasiades in December 2020, which it repeated to N. Christodoulides after his election in 2023. Our proposal is simple and comprehensive. We should declare that we are ready to proceed with the conditions set by the UN Secretary General, but be convincing. Namely, to make it clear that this time, if talks resume, we are ready to go all the way if the Turkish side also responds to the agreed framework. Let us say that if Turkey abandons its unacceptable demand for a two-state solution and is ready to discuss on the agreed basis, we will submit bridging proposals on all six points of the Gutiérrez Framework. All these proposals will in no case go beyond what we call “red lines”.

At the same time, we should use the incentive of natural gas for Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots, provided that they cooperate with us to solve the Cyprus problem properly.

We should say to the Turkish Cypriots, if we reach an agreement in the Gutiérrez Framework, that they will participate in the Commission that decides on natural gas issues.

And to Turkey, we should state that if it helps to resolve the Cyprus problem properly, then we are ready to discuss on two axes as far as gas is concerned. First, to explore a possible commercial agreement for the sale of natural gas. First, to explore a possible commercial agreement for the sale of natural gas. Second, to start discussions on the most appropriate way of transporting natural gas from the Mediterranean basin to various destinations. Once the political issues have been resolved and relations between us have been normalised, any decisions will be taken solely on economic grounds.

Unfortunately, neither Anastasiades nor Christodoulides were interested in discussing our proposal. And Christodoulides, to date, is only interested in the management of the Cyprus problem to serve communication purposes and not in its substance. Unfortunately, he either does not realise or does not care that every day that passes, the permanent partition of Cyprus is getting closer.

As far as we are concerned, our positions are based on principles and the positions of the Greek Cypriot side as decided over time in the National Council. We will continue to uphold them consistently and with the firm belief that our people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, can live together in the land that gave birth to us. We will continue to fight for a solution to the Cyprus problem. A solution that ends the occupation and colonization. Based on United Nations Resolutions, the High-Level Agreements, International and European Law. A solution that will demilitarize Cyprus and exclude interventions and guarantees by foreign powers. A solution that reunites the territory, the people, the institutions and the economy. A solution of a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality as described in the UN texts. A solution that will lead to a united state as a continuation of the Republic of Cyprus with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship.

Turkey has consistently for decades been developing policies that deepen the dependence of the Turkish Cypriot community on Ankara and weaken it. It has promoted the economic integration of the occupied territories through funding in the construction and tourism sectors and beyond. It has sought its steady intervention in the occupied territories. It attempts to cultivate religion as a means of exercising greater control over society. A section in the Turkish Cypriot community is resisting all this policy. But a small community will not forever resist by taking on a powerful Turkey. If we do not understand this in time, very soon developments will be extremely negative.

Cyprus will only be saved if it is reunited. The sacrifice of Sotiris Adamou Konstantinou, the sacrifice of all our heroes will only be vindicated if we thwart the partitionist plans of those who ordered the treason, those who carried out the crime against our people. Their sacrifice will only be vindicated by the reunification of our country and people.

May his memory live on.