The erection of a monument to Commandos who participated in the treacherous coup d’etat is an insolent provocation against Democracy and History

 

8 December 2025, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The erection of a monument to Commandos in the municipality of Strovolos, which also honors the Commandos who participated in the treacherous coup d’etat of 15 July 1974, represents a brutal insult to the Cypriot people and a vulgar distortion of Cypriot history. The choice of yesterday’s date — December 7, the day established to remember the anti-fascist the Democratic Resistance—for the unveiling of this monument by the Association of Reservist Commandos shows that the provocation was deliberate.

This action constitutes an unprecedented and insolent escalation in the long-standing effort to distort the truth about the Cyprus tragedy and to exonerate the coup and the coupists for the slaughter of the Cypriot people and the surrender of half of Cyprus to Turkey. The insolence of those responsible for such actions to reach such levels of provocation stems from the stance adopted by the Christodoulides government, which now openly is aligning itself to the far right.

AKEL joins its voice with the fighters of the Democratic Resistance who are calling for the removal of the monument that honors the participants in the coup. At the same time, we call on the government and the ruling coalition parties to take a stand on this outrageous provocation against our country and people.