Speech by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL A. Kyprianou at the Pancyprian Peace March

 

Akrotiri British bases area, Limassol

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 10 June 2018

“And I am again every time you hear me a march running like a river through the streets…to bite the rocks of injustice, the roots of hunger…a great peace that will embrace the world in its bosom as a mother, as a loved one, as a sister…”

Cypriot poet Pierides’ lyrics today have become our slogan, banner and flag. We are here today to raise our voices for peace. For Peace in Cyprus. For Peace in the world. We are here today to raise the voice of resistance to imperialism that is dividing and re-drawing the world, charting borders over and over again by shedding the blood of the peoples.

We have gathered here today to raise our voices that we want peace. The horror of war is literally next to us. In Gaza, over a million people do not have even elementary human rights. More than half a million people have been killed over the last eight years in Syria. Millions have been uprooted as refugees, including children. Meanwhile Yemen is being bombarded continuously, with the horror of destruction and war haunting millions of people.

While all this is happening, the Anastasiades-DISY government instead of adhering to positions of principle, instead of projecting for the peoples of the region all that it should supposed be projecting for the Cypriot people, is focusing on other things. Right next to Cyprus, Syria is drowning in blood, but the government is sinking into a guilty silence. When we called on the government to give a clear reply with regards the use of the British bases in Cyprus, it insisted that it isn’t taking a position on the war in Syria. However the Anastasiades government went to Brussels and fully aligned itself with the US and British strikes on Damascus. 

AKEL stresses that the use of the British bases or other facilities on the island for military raids makes Cyprus an aggressive launching pad for waging attacks and therefore part of the war against Syria and its people. The Anastasiades government has the crucial responsibility to clarify that our homeland stays out of this war.

The government says one thing and does another, and means another. They have demonstrated this stand on the Cyprus problem as well. Instead of focusing on how the talks should resume, they just make statements for internal consumption purposes. They fabricate spectacles, indeed even accusing AKEL for adopting Turkish positions. Turkey’s position on the Cyprus problem is partition. We will never compromise with this scenario. If other circles and forces have reconciled themselves with partition, if some of them in the back of their minds have compromised with the idea of ​​ a two state solution, they should say so honestly and very clearly to the Cypriot people.

We are struggling and we will continue to struggle for peace in Cyprus. 

We will never accept to hand over half of our country to Turkey. 

We will never consent to the legitimization of the crime that imperialism ordered to be executed in 1974 against our homeland.

Generations and generations of Cypriots were nurtured with the ideal of common struggles of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. 

Generations and generations of Cypriots struggled against imperialism and nationalism.

Generations and generations of Cypriots were raised by the vision of peace. 

Today’s March is yet another link in the chain that unites us with the future. 

It is yet another solid foundation of our struggle for peace and social justice in Cyprus and in the world; the struggle from which the peoples will be victorious
Long live peace!