Speech by General Secretary of AKEL K.E. Stefanos Stefanou at the burial of the remains of Vryonis Pieris Adamou

 

30 January 2022, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

We bid our final farewell today to Vryonis Pieris Adamou – to ‘Vyron’, as his friends and fellow villagers called him.

A final farewell as a Hero deserves. No one should wonder what stuff heroes are made of. If they have exceeded human efforts. If their strength, endurance and courage are beyond human measure.

Heroes are people of flesh and blood. With dreams, goals and aspirations. People just like everyone else, who stand out for one reason only – because at the critical moment, they do the right thing.

Vryonis did the right thing at the critical moment. He resisted in the front line of battle, defended the freedom of our country and the dignity of our people – even though he knew that this cause was already lost, since it was betrayed. But Vryonis did not back down. Neither did he, nor the thousands of other young people who found themselves exposed. It is for this reason that Vryonis’ brothers, his relatives and friends, despite the bitterness of the loss of their loved one, should feel proud because their own child did not hesitate to confront death.

As proud as the brothers and relatives are of Vryonis, as proud as the relatives of these brave young lads who sacrificed their lives in defence of their homeland are, so at the same time must those who betrayed our Homeland and handed it over to Turkey defenceless feel ashamed. The Greek junta coup plotters and EOKA B coupists should bow their heads in shame, because they destroyed a country and a people who are still suffering the consequences of the fascist coup, the Turkish invasion and occupation; because they led innocent young men to their deaths; because many of them, engaging zealously in patriotic rhetoric and sloganeering during the coup, during the Turkish army invasion hid in the rear and in the Troodos mountains instead of climbing up the Pendadaktylos mountain range to confront the invaders.

If the coup had not taken place, the Turkish army invasion would not have happened. This is a historical truth that no one can dismiss. That is precisely why it is an insult to the memory of our heroes for certain forces/circles to attempt to delete the destructive and treacherous role of the Greek junta and the EOKA B coupists. It is an insult to the memory of our Heroes the attempts to erect monuments to those who destroyed and murdered Cyprus. We cannot on the one hand still be burying our dead from the 1974 coup and war and on the other hand to honor those who brought Turkey to Cyprus.

Vryonis in the summer of 1974 was just 19 years old. An agile young man, active, full of life. The tenth of Pieris and Stella’s fourteen children, he started working as a craftsman at an early age and later graduated from the Famagusta Technical School.

He served in the 399 Infantry Battalion and in 1974 was posted to Kantara on the Pendadaktylos mountain range. When the coup took place he was sure that he would be one of the first on the EOKA B wanted list to be rounded up because of his progressive beliefs, which were known to all. He was a supporter of democracy, of the constitutional order, he was a fighter against fascism. He never hid these convictions, he never covered them up. That is precisely why the coupists had him branded and targeted. To survive he escaped from the army during the coup and joined the resistance groups to defend the constitutional order and democracy.

With the outbreak of the second round of the Turkish army invasion, Vryonis ran to Varosha to enlist. He did not listen to the pleas of friends to stay behind. He could not stay behind; his character and patriotic conscience didn’t permit him to do so. But the Turkish army had already entered Varosha, since the coup leaders had abandoned it. It was then that the traces of Vryonis disappeared. It was since then that he was added to the long list of our missing persons – that is until recently when his remains were found outside Ayios Loukas School in Varosha.

In truth, so many families have drank the bitter cup of their children’s disappearance in the invasion. So many mothers were left with empty arms. So many were crushed by the grief they had been suffering until they too passed away, like Vryoni’s mother Stella. So many fathers have endured the daily pain, waiting for news, searching among the returning prisoners of war of 1974, holding a photograph of their loved ones. So many waited and are still waiting for the return of their beloved ones.

We must never forget the drama of these families. Regardless of whatever developments on the Cyprus problem, we must persevere, we must encourage those who know their whereabouts to testify, those who are hesitant to speak out. To give any and all information they have about the missing persons.

AKEL, both inside and outside Parliament, will continue to strengthen the efforts to verify the fate of the missing persons. It will continue to fight for Turkey to implement the decisions of international courts, to open up its archives and provide information, to cooperate in order to resolve the humanitarian issue of the missing persons.

Along with the struggle to determine the fate of each of the missing persons, we will continue the struggle to revive the prospect of our country’s liberation and reunification by reaching a solution to the Cyprus problem.

It is true that the situation today on the Cyprus problem is discouraging. Turkey is provoking and breaking the law against the Republic of Cyprus. Exploiting the prolonged deadlock, it is creating new serious fait accompli and deadlocks, undermining the prospect of a solution. And not only that. The Turkish side is now officially raising the issue of a two-state solution, which we will never accept.

Time is passing by, and it is passing by at our expense, to the detriment of Cyprus, at the expense of ending the occupation and resolving the Cyprus problem. We need to take concrete initiatives to break the deadlock and resume negotiations from the point where they were interrupted, preserving and building on what we have achieved over the many years of negotiations.

The grandiose Confidence Building Measures announced by the government cannot provide an effective way out of the deadlock. This tactic was tried in the past and not only failed, but further complicated the situation. We need to stay focused on discussing the substance of the problem. It is imperative that our initiatives meet what the UN Secretary General and the Security Council indicate to the parties involved.

We therefore have a path and a way forward. The way of the solution that we have agreed with the international and the Turkish Cypriot community, namely the solution of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality as described in the UN texts. We have before us the persistent recommendations of the United Nations Secretary-General on how we can move forward, to which we must respond.

AKEL has submitted a specific proposal to the President of the Republic in which we give content to what the UN Secretary General himself proposes. It is up to him to make use of the proposal. He is the one who is responsible for the handling of the Cyprus problem; he is the one who is judged by the end results, which to date have been disappointing – to say the least. We are the victims, and yet internationally we are being blamed. This at least should have given the President cause for reflection about the policy he is pursuing.

Compatriots,

The situation surrounding the Cyprus problem is giving rise to pessimism and killing the hope for a solution. However, we do not have the right to abandon the effort to end the occupation and reunite our country. The status quo not only cannot guarantee lasting peace and security, but is instead a permanent source of danger.

We do not have the right to compromise with the occupation.

We have no right to let the sacrifices of our brave sons, like Vryoni, who sacrificed their lives so that we can breathe the air of freedom, go without being vindicated.

We will insist on vindicating those who rushed to defend our homeland.

Those who fell in battle.

Those who gave their lives, their dreams, their blood to clear the way for our betrayed people to survive and march on, to rebuild their lives in the land that gave birth to them.

Rest in peace Vryoni.

We shall continue the struggle until Cyprus will be fully vindicated.

Immortal!