Statement by the General Secretary of AKEL after the laying of wreaths at the Makedonitisa military cemetery on the occasion of the black anniversary of the Turkish invasion

 

• We will continue with undiminished intensity the struggle to achieve a solution to the Cyprus problem
• May the memory of our people’s heroes live on forever

20 July 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

For yet another year, a large delegation of AKEL and the mass organisations of the Left, together with prisoners and wounded of the war in 1974, together with Resistance fighters against the coup, visited the Makedonitisa Tomb to lay wreaths and flowers of honor, expressing our appreciation and love to all those people who fought the invader and sacrificed their lives to prevent the occupation and for us to breathe the air of freedom.

We feel it is our duty to do so because we must always pay tribute and express our gratitude to all those who, despite the fact that they were betrayed and frequently found themselves without weapons, fought an unequal battle to save our country.

At the same time, we also feel a debt to the young generation, to the future generations that will come and live in this land. We have no right to bestow our homeland semi-occupied and exposed to the immense dangers that Turkey’s illegal presence in Cyprus generates.

On the occasion of the anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, I would like once again to convey the message that as far as AKEL is concerned, we will continue with undiminished intensity the struggle and effort to achieve a solution to the Cyprus problem. A solution which liberates and reunites our land and people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, within the framework of a bi-communal, bi-zonal federation with political equality, so that we create the necessary preconditions for our people to become the real masters of a free and prosperous homeland, to determine our country’s present and future. We have this obligation and will seek to fulfill it.

We know that the situation on the Cyprus problem is desperate because of the ongoing deadlock. We have the longest deadlock ever witnessed on the Cyprus problem. We know that this situation is being instrumentalised by Turkey to create new fait accompli and reinforce the existing ones. We also know very well that our people are feeling very pessimistic about the prospects for a solution to the Cyprus problem.

However, we have no choice but to try to create, through our specific and correct initiatives, the momentum to resume the dialogue from the point where it was interrupted in 2017 at Crans Montana, on the basis of the Guterres Framework and by preserving the convergences that have been recorded so far. That is precisely why we have submitted specific proposals to the President of the Republic. We are always ready to discuss them and continue the effort for a solution.

May the memory of the heroes of our people live on!

May the memory of the people who fought even though they were exposed and betrayed, who have left and have very painful memories of the battles in Kyrenia, Pentadaktylos, Morphou and elsewhere and are here with us today, live on forever because we are indebted to them too, we owe them appreciation and love. And to them we owe the continuation of the efforts to reach a solution of the Cyprus problem.