Speech by Sotiroulla Charalambous, General Secretary of the class trade union federation PEO and member of the Political Bureau of AKEL at the commemorative meeting to honor the missing persons of the Municipality of Geri

 

18 July 2023

For yet another year, the families, fellow villagers, the People’s Movement of the Left of Geri and the refugee settlement are present here to honor the missing persons Makis Pamporis and Andreas Koukoumas.

This year 49 years will have elapsed since that horrific summer of 1974 which changed the life of our beloved Cyprus and turned the lives of hundreds of thousands of Cypriots upside down.

Makis and Andreas were two young people with an appetite for work and creation.  Both of them plaid football for the “Apollon” Local Club of the Left of Geri and were raised with the values of democracy, freedom and contribution.

In 1974 Andreas already had his own family.  Two working class young men, just like thousands of young people of their generation whose life was cut short by the coup and the invasion.

With the outbreak of the invasion, Makis and Andreas did what their conscience and values they grew up with dictated. They enlisted as reservists in the 305th Battalion.  As of 15 August 1974 their fate is unknown. Their names are still registered on the list of missing persons.  For 49 years now, their families have lived with anguish and uncertainty.

The open wound of the unknown fate of the missing persons of the Cyprus tragedy is the harshest confirmation of the suffering that the coup and the invasion brought to our country, but at the same time it also highlights the need for this aspect of the Cyprus tragedy to be dealt with independently and outside of any procedures for the solution of the Cyprus problem.

The families of the missing Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots have the right to know what happened to their beloved ones. They have the right to know.

AKEL will continue to support the programme of exhuming the remains and determining the fate of the missing persons.  We will continue to stress the obligation of Turkey, and of the Turkish army in particular, to cooperate on the basis of UN resolutions and ECHR decisions, so that the fate of every missing person can be determined.  This is a human and moral obligation to the parents who have passed away with the unanswered question of what happened to their children. It is an obligation to the children who grew up without a father, to the generations who hear stories of their missing relatives.

These days of July and August, in almost every corner of Cyprus, our people remember and honor the victims of the treacherous coup, the people who lost their lives in the war and we recall the drama of our missing persons.

49 Julys have wounded our lives.  Days of pain, days of anger and rage.  Days when we have an obligation to stir up and stimulate our memory, against the deliberate campaign of forgetfulness and equating the culprit with the victim that certain forces and circles are deliberately cultivating seeking to justify their political stand and behaviour.

No matter how much some have consciously and purposefully tried over the years to convince us that we should forget and look to the future we stubbornly insist on remembering.

We remember the role of American imperialism in the turbulent years before the coup.

A role that abetted Turkey’s divisive policy.

A role that tolerated and supported the subversive role of the Greek Junta and EOKA B against President Makarios.

A role of that tolerated and essentially supported the invasion of Cyprus by NATO member Turkey.

Precisely because the role of NATO is well known not only in the period before and during 1974, but also today, given that NATO continues to provide cover to the occupying Turkey. It is indeed a provocation to hear on the eve of the Turkish invasion leading members of DISY party proposing that Cyprus should become a member of NATO.

Because we remember the coup and the coupists and because we need a correct, objective presentation of history so we can move forward, we are outraged at the President of the Republic who sent his Minister to lay a wreath at the graves of those who attacked the Presidential Palace on the 15 July Our anger is even greater because instead of at least apologizing in the face of the pain and reaction of the relatives of the fallen, the President had the nerve to say that this is not the first time this has happened.  Yes he is correct, given that he too continues in this what his predecessor did, acting as a worthy successor to Anastasiades.

For us this action simply confirms what we have been saying all along that they are two sides of the same coin.

For us, the motto “I will not forget” is not some slogan, it is a position which has a specific content. It is the assumption of our own obligation to realise the unfulfilled goal for which the courageous young men we honor today perished for, namely the goal of a free and united Cyprus.

After 49 years, with the fait accompli being consolidated, with Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot leader Tatar putting forward the demand for a two state solution, there is no place for any false dilemmas about the form of the solution which should seek. The only protective shield against Turkey’s separatist, divisive positions and against mistrust and perhaps the apportioning of equal responsibilities on the part of the international community, is our own active commitment to the form of a solution of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality as outlined by the UN.

Today, after 6 years of stalemate surrounding the Cyprus problem, the longest ever in its history, if we really want to move towards a solution, the Greek Cypriot side must convince the United Nations through its actions and initiatives that it is indeed ready for the resumption of the talks from the point where they had left off at Crans Montana, accepting the Framework presented by the UN Secretary General and all the convergences recorded so far during the negotiating procedure over many years without any asterisks, footnotes and preambles.

Anything else, especially if the Greek Cypriot side side engages in communication tricks for internal consumption purposes, apart from not having the sought effect, will be considered by the UN too as a confirmation of the concept of equal responsibilities.

AKEL will continue consistently and steadfastly what we have been doing for 49 years now.  Defending the principles of the solution of the Cyprus problem based on the UN resolutions and decisions, ready to support any sincere and genuine action by the President of the Republic of Cyprus that opens up the prospect of a resumption of the talks. AKEL will continue to resist and combat the forces of nationalism, division and intolerance. To work for the forging of a strong social front of the forces supporting the solution of the Cyprus problem and the reunification of our people Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

Recalling today the missing persons Makis Pamporis and Andreas Koukoumas, we renew our commitment to continue to assert a full investigation into the fate of our missing persons, because only in  this will way the pain of the families be eased somewhat and the cycle of uncertainty will be closed.

At the same time, the anticipation, insistence and perseverance of the relatives of the missing demand that we continue the struggle for our liberation from the occupation, for a solution and reunification.

The wounds of 1974 will only be healed if we manage to build a peaceful Cyprus, free from the occupation and foreign dependencies, a Cyprus of progress and creation for its children.

Honor and glory to our heroes!