The state is insensitive to the problems the1974 prisoners of war face

Statement by Nikos Kettirou, AKEL MP and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees

28 September 2021

The representatives of the 1974 Prisoners of War Association raised their demands today before the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees, including the demand for the provision of free medical care. They are not entitled according to this state to any free medical care. They are forced, and we are forced too, to plead with the state that it covers that minimum cost required for 750 people, for an honory allowance so that they can cover free treatments for health issues caused primarily by the torture they have suffered at the hands of the Turkish army as prisoners either during their arrest or during their detention in prisons.

I want to say that the Finance Minister’s presence made a very bad impression, whose representative did not know where the letters sent by party leaders are, in particular of the General Secretary of AKEL, which was sent six months ago and remains unanswered to this day, as well as the letters sent by the prisoners of war themselves, setting out their demands. They are asking for at least one reply. There has been no response from the Ministry of Finance to all these letters.

As a Committee we have decided that at our next meeting we will prepare and send a letter to the Finance Minister, enclosing the letters, which have not yet received any replies, calling on the Ministry of Finance to take a clear position: are they prepared to discuss and take the political decision to pay the honorary allowance to these people who put their lives and souls on the line for this country? Or will the state remain insensitive and callous watching people seventy, eighty years old crying and in pain?