Speech by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL Andros Kyprianou at the mass event of EDON Youth at the Troodos Mountain peak
Sunday, 5th February 2017
On behalf of the Central Committee of AKEL, I extend a warm militant greeting to all the members and militants of the Youth Organization of EDON, as well as to the youth of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), the Communal Democracy Party (TDP) and the United Cyprus Party (BKP); to the youth of Cyprus are again here together in EDON”s mass event; to all of you, both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, who will together take responsibility for your country’s future. AKEL see in your faces the new generations of the Cypriot Left. We see in you honesty, unselfishness and radicalism. We see in you those young people who will realize and live our dreams for our homeland, but also for the whole world.
Our Party recognizes and highly appreciates the activity of EDON youth, not only because it is at the forefront of all the political battles that AKEL wages; because we fully understand what conditions EDON has been developing its activity recent years. Certainly it was never easy to be a member or militant of EDON. There have always been difficulties and daily sacrifices made. EDON has suffered stigmatization and persecution. In the past, EDON even faced murderous attacks. Today, however, conditions are much more complex with the times more cunning than they were for our own generations.
Individualism, the pursuit of profit and self-interest are being promoted as the purpose of one’s life. Non-involvement and denigration of political engagement and struggle is being promoted as fashionable. Ideologies and organized struggle are being denigrated as some deplorable path challenging the system’s beautiful world. Collective struggles for the right of young people to education and work are considered as undermine the general norm. Moreover, as in the case of the school students of the Pancyprian School Pupils Coordinating Committee (PSEM) struggling for a humane and democratic school, are being portrayed by the government as “politically-motivated” and “troublemakers.” It is even true that – in the years of the crisis and Memoranda – life itself has become much more difficult for young people. Uncertainty about the future of their studies, finding work, making a family and obtaining housing, frequently generates despair. Sometimes it blurs the truth as to what is really happening in society and in politics, hiding the real culprits and alienating young people from political activity.
You therefore need courage and perseverance to declare – in these testing times – not just to being politically involved and aware, but to become consciously and actively engaged in an organization with a left ideology; an organization with daily actions; an organization with a history that has deep historical roots and which has visions that go much farther. You need unwavering belief in our visions for you today to opt and fight for a different way of life than that the one promoted and favoured by the system and the mass media. You need a conscience and a strong will to be a militant of EDON; to belong to a left Turkish Cypriot youth Organization; to be the one at school, the university and at the workplace who will not scared, but you will go ahead to organize campaigns and struggles; to sacrifice days and nights working tire4lessly to build a Youth Festival, theatre and dance groups and concerts so that our country’s young people have an alternative option in culture; to love knowledge, education and self-education; to dream with the lyrics and the songs of the Poets of struggle and life; to care about what is happening on the other side of the world; to raise with emotion the flags of Cuba and Palestine and the banners of all struggling peoples; to fill the streets with Cypriot flags and to shout out loud in Greek and in Turkish for freedom and the reunification of our homeland; to come here, at the highest peak of our island, to shout so that our voice is heard everywhere that Cyprus does not belong, neither to NATO nor to any “mother countries”, not to any blue or gray wolves; to declare loudly that Cyprus belongs only to its people – to the unconquerable and sovereign Cypriot people.
This is the reason why comrades as a Party we know that every youthful heart and mind that EDON convinces, every success EDON wins in schools and universities, is the result of hard work, perseverance and staunch belief in the ideals and values of the left. This fills us with optimism and confidence for the future, because we see that your generation can – and must – surpass ours.
Our country and the cause of the solution of the Cyprus problem are at a critical point. The negotiations between the two communities progressed significantly. Maps have been submitted on the territorial issue. Turkey is taking part in a discussion on the issue of security, namely on the issues of the troops and the guarantee system. However, there are still major and thorny issues unresolved. A lot of work must be covered and a serious preparation be made. AKEL addresses an appeal to the Government for all of us to elaborate together common positions that though they will be based on long-standing principles they will contribute towards overcoming obstacles. Our appeal to the UN is to concentrate on bridging these disagreements and avoid hasty actions that will only cause damage. AKEL supported and will continue to support the procedure of the negotiations, as we did also when the President was Tassos Papadopoulos and Glafcos Clerides. We will continue to exercise constructive criticism within the National Council and put forward creative proposals. We will continue to defend principles with determination and the political influence that we have as a Party so that unacceptable thoughts are abandoned. This is precisely what AKEL achieved on the issue of NATO and demilitarization. We shall continue to call for unity and the minimum of understanding between the political forces while the negotiations are ongoing. It would be easy for us to act and behave differently and seek avenge on DISY and Anastasiades for their dishonest and deceitful stand they took towards the Christofias government. Such a stand and position might yield some temporary electoral gains. However we are not thinking about the next elections, but about the future generations. Our thoughts and attention are focused on the solution of the Cyprus problem based on principles – on the day of liberation and reunification.
AKEL’s stand is truly patriotic. This is the stand that befits AKEL. Many times during our 90-year path of struggle, we have been vilified and slandered as a “traitorous” party, but our History has vindicated us. This policy is truly anti-imperialist and anti-occupational. It is the only one that can lead to the reversal of the 1974 the crime committed by NATO. This policy is the only way forward between the two schools of thought on the Cyprus problem; the one school of thought that is submissive and the other that is rejectionist. Whenever these two schools of thought on the Cyprus problem have prevailed they have led to deadlocks. Our policy is one that can unite Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in a common front for independence, reunification and a federal solution. The solution of the Cyprus problem is the way through which the working class and all the working people of our island can be reunited, so that we can once again struggle together for justice and our united people’s rights. It is the only way to push ahead to fulfill the big visions of the Left. AKEL is certain that the members and militants of EDON will yet again be in the forefront of the struggles ahead. Raise our banners high and strengthen your spirits and determination…
