Five decades after the Turkish invasion we owe the heroes justification, we owe the future of permanent peace and security to our children and grandchildren, so we must leave behind illusions and expediency and remain consistent and committed to the solution we agreed.
In his speech on Sunday, according to the memorial of the hero Ioannis Eleftheriou, at the Church of St. Mutulla, Mr Stefanou said that “AKEL is always ready to contribute to the efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem with all its might.”
Referring to Orora, Ioannis Eleftheriou said, fought in the battle in Agridaki on July 31, 1974, against Attila.
The firstborn of Andreas and Maria Eleftheriou was a 26 -year -old young man when he was called upon to defend his homeland, “a young man like everyone else, working hard on his father’s carpenter and trying to build his life like any young man who dreams of his life,” he said.
“His life, like the life of every Cypriot, was cut in the middle of the black summer of July 1974. Advantized by betrayal, uprooted by the invasion, refugees in their own place thousands of compatriots left their lives in the middle and ran to save their families, scattering death, “Mr Stefanou noted
“The betrayal of 1974 had a basic goal: to divide Cyprus and that is why Makarios had to be exterminated and to overthrow the constitutional order to find Turkey to invade,” AKEL’s Secretary General said, adding that “to prevent them”.
“To prevent this nightmare and justify their sacrifice we are fighting today. Because alas if five decades later we raise our hands, admitting that they were sacrificed unjustly, that justification will never come. Alas if we are subjected to the fate, if we surrender to the silent compromise with the status quo and the fatal one with the partition, “he said.
“We must all realize it. As the Turkish occupation continues, as long as the presence of troops and settlers are perpetuated in our homeland, we cannot sleep quietly. We can’t be sure of tomorrow. We see what happens here next to us with the wars and conflicts that suddenly break out after years of ceasefire, “he added.
“We also see Turkey trying to create a new occupation in the territory, taking advantage of the time passing by. To try to alter the identity of the Turkish Cypriot community, and to make the occupied Cypriot territory of its own extension.
“So we have to continue the struggle to end the occupation and reunite our country. We have to continue and insist on achieving a solution that restores human rights and basic freedoms of our people and reunite our island on the basis of the agreed solution of a bi -zonal, bi -communal federation with political equality as described in the United Nations and the United Nations.
Regarding the at first glance, as he said, some question “but why do we insist that Turkey is now talking about a two -state solution?” Keeping up what was agreed with the international and Turkish Cypriot community? “
“It would be easy to raise our hands high in front of Turkey, to give up our timeless positions, and to say that it is impossible to find a solution. Worse still, to retreat than what was agreed in the negotiations? Which of the international community will support us and why do it? None. On the contrary, we will have given the perfect alibi to Turkey to put a tombstone once and for all on the Cyprus issue with the definitive partition, “he said.
Mr Stefanou said that “for so many years our people have been eating from great words. He was tired of promises given and not adhered to, by pseudo -patriots that paid them with his blood, from hollow slogans that took Cyprus on the cliff. “
“Five decades later, we owe justification to the heroes, we owe the future of permanent peace and security to our children and grandchildren. That is why we must leave behind illusions and intentions. To remain consistent and committed to the solution we agreed, to declare our readiness to safeguard the negotiating acquis and continue from the point where we stopped in Kran Montana, “he noted.
“AKEL is always ready to contribute to the efforts to solve the Cyprus problem with all its might. Because this is what our history and conscience require. Because this requires the sacrifice of our heroes waiting to repay our debt: to finally bring peace to our country, to raise the barbed wire from our soil, to give our children a Cyprus free, “he concluded.
Source: KYPE