Speech by the General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou at the burial of the remains of Ioannis Hadjikypris

 

 

 

Speech by the General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou at the burial of the remains of Ioannis Hadjikypris

Saturday 17th July 2021, St. George’s Church, Pano Deftera

Forty-seven years have passed!

Forty-seven years since the day the traitors opened the backdoor to Turkey’s invading army and the sirens of war sounded.

Forty-seven years since the day when Yiannakis Hadjikypris, the son of Maroula and Kyriakos, at the age of twenty-three, restless and genuine patriot as he was, on hearing the call issued for conscription, did not hesitate not for a single moment. With determination, he took the decision to fight, even telling his family that he might never see them again.

The preceding days were particularly hard for Yiannakis. The coup against Makarios and the dissolution of democracy filled him with anxiety, with a radio in his hand, as his brother notes, to keep him constantly informed. On hearing Makarios’ voice from the Free Radio station in Pafos, he ran shouting in the neighbourhood that Makarios was alive.

He joined the 306 Infantry Battalion in Kythrea and although testimonies record that Yiannakis and his fellow soldiers were informed of the betrayal underway and urged to flee, they asked for guns and a camouflage. They fought at Ayios Georgios in Kyrenia until 22nd July when they were forced to retreat.

We lost such brave lads in that black July of 1974. Young men who defended their country and sacrificed their youth and lives for democracy and the freedom of Cyprus. The last time Yiannakis was seen was in an exchange of gunfire somewhere between the villages of Karmi and Templos.

A young man with a dynamic and enthusiastic character, with an appetite for life and love for his country. This is how friends and acquaintances describe Yiannakis.  A child who did not have time to fulfill his dreams, to create his own family and enjoy singing which he loved so much.  His absence was noticeable from family tables, celebrations, everyday life and in the joys of his brothers, who made sure to name their children after him, so they can keep the memory of Yiannakis alive.

Life was an ordeal for the whole family who did everything possible to find him, but even more so for his parents. A deep, open wound for Kyriakos and Maroula who lived every moment with the hope of their child returning. They passed away recalling “the house of the missing person”, expressing in this phrase their pain, but also their hope for the return of their son.

Almost half a century later, we are still burying our dead. Families immersed in the pain and death brought to our land by fascism, nationalism and imperialism. Families receiving their children, the flower of our land, in small boxes filled with bones. A divided homeland, shattered souls and lives.

Its sad, but we have no good news to tell. We cannot say that the sacrifice of our heroes, of those who fell fighting, of those who were clad in black, those who lived a life with the memories of the loss of a martyr, the memories of the blood that was shed, of the fire of war, has been vindicated. Our country remains enslaved. The occupation is taking root and consolidating itself, creating fait accompli that are increasingly undermining the prospect of a solution.

Today, the ideas that fostered hatred, that injected our people with the poison of nationalism and chauvinism, are gaining ground. Today, we are menacingly close to the danger of the definitive loss of our homeland, close to the realisation of the goal set by NATO and Turkey in 1974 to partition Cyprus.

Today we are called upon to give an answer to the question on the substance:

How can we vindicate all those who have lost their lives?

How do we heal the wounds?

Only if we speak the language of historical truth. To tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. About the Junta and EOKA B, about Grivas and his henchmen.

We will heal the wounds if we remove the barbed wire that wounds our country every day, if we tear down the checkpoints to reunite our country and people within the framework of a viable and workable solution.

Only then will we repay our debt to the brave young lads who sacrificed their lives defending democracy and fighting for the freedom of our country. For us, this is a debt that does not permit us to take a single step backwards in our efforts to fulfil it.

Turkey’s stand is unacceptable, provocative and longstanding. Today, the effort to achieve a solution is even more difficult. Turkey is as defiant as ever and in the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community is a man who is the spokesman for Erdogan’s aspirations for a two state solution. Ersin Tatar. We do not underestimate these facts, nor do we write them off.

Regardless of the difficulties, however, are we going to give up or should we reflect on how the Greek Cypriot side side, the Anastasiades government, should handle the Cyprus problem and confront Turkey’s new provocative actions in Famagusta?

The answer is quite clear. We have to address the new provocations in such a way that the need for the resumption of negotiations to resolve the Cyprus problem is put before Turkey and the international community.

AKEL, and all those who are fighting for peace and reunification in Cyprus, know that there is no solution other than Bi-zonal, Bicommunal Federation.

A solution based on the UN Resolutions and the agreed framework.

A solution that reunites our land and people, our institutions and economy.

A solution that frees our land from barbed wires of division, checkpoints and foreign armies.

A solution that paves the way for our people to live together in a united state – the continuation of the Republic of Cyprus, with a single sovereignty, a single citizenship and a single international personality, without guarantees and intervention rights and with political equality, as provided for by the resolutions of the UN.

It is imperative that we act now in such a way that we get out of the corner. We need to address the international community and the United Nations by taking drastic action. We must intensify our efforts and initiatives for a resumption of the negotiations, to convince them that we have proposals that will create a momentum for a solution to the Cyprus problem. We submitted these proposals to the government and the President of the Republic and we shall continue to do so until the government ruling forces move from words to deeds.

Only then will the sacrifice of Yiannakis Hadjikypris and all the heroes who fell for Cyprus not be in vain.

Only in this way will we honor their memory. For their vindication and for our Cyprus we shall continue the struggle until liberation and reunification.

May the memory of Yiannakis live on forever!

Your sacrifice is a flag in our struggle until the final vindication!