Get rid of Makarios, even if it means I get to see Nicosia on fire behind prison bars”. So said the Greek junta officer to Lagakos[1] as a popular song being played on state radio was interrupted by the announcement that “Today the National Guard has intervened…”
Every year on such days our thoughts turn to the past; to the sirens that sounded on that day; to the marks left by the tanks in the streets and to the announcement of the coup d’état, “The National Guard is in control of the situation, Makarios is dead”; to the Greek junta order “open random fire” and to the command “After the honorable choice made by the armed forces I assume power today…” made by the coupist “President” Sampson; to the sirens and voice of Makarios from the radio of the resistance proclaiming that “We will resist to the very end…the Junta shall not pass!”.
We also remember the fatal blow delivered by the invasion and the coupist “extraordinary war communiqués”.
On such days the same images come back to haunt us.
The mother who laments and yells “Shame on all those who committed this crime!”
The child waiting and holding a photograph of a missing member of the family.
The refugee tents and queues to get some food.
The trucks filled with the bitterness of the mass uprooting of our people and the suitcases of the refugees.
On such days we recall the words of Makarios, “Betrayed and tormented people… the Athens Junta has fallen, but the evil destruction for Cyprus has happened and I do not know what the epilogue of the Cyprus tragedy will eventually be.”
Who and how can anyone forget the crime that was committed?
Who can forget the hundreds of brave young men who rushed to the front line of struggle to shed their blood resisting and fighting fascism?
Who can forget the few cowards who were imprisoning resistance fighters; who were celebrating proclaiming that “Makarios is dead” and who were shooting declaring “Death to the communists!”
“We will not rush to partition the island. We will wait. The opportunity will be given to us on the plate.” This is what Rauf Denktash[2] declared in 1962. That’s exactly what happened. NATO, the US and Turkey wanted our island to be partitioned to serve their geopolitical interests.
“On 15th July, Ioannides[3] intervened in Cyprus against Makarios sure after Kissinger gave him the go ahead, so the Cyprus problem was created by Kissinger…Makarios is particularly to blame because if he had put Cyprus in NATO, nothing would have happened.” That’s what Patakos[4] himself, but also the moral perpetrators of the crime committed against Cyprus, so painfully and cynically confessed the role of the Greek junta.
Imperialism planned the crime and instructed the Athens Junta, Grivas and EOKA B to execute it. The political, military, organizational and ideological preparation of the coup d’état begun before 1974. During the pre-coup period, the stealing of arms and weapons, political crimes and anti-communist frenzy were permanently on the daily agenda. Makarios, the “tyrant who must be overthrown” was the constant target of assassination attempts coordinated by P. Giorkatzis[5] and Papapostolos[6]. The dissolution of Democracy was the permanent objective of the plans of the Junta, Grivas and EOKA B, which were being prepared one after the other.
The democratically elected Archbishop Makarios and the non-aligned policy he pursued represented a serious obstacle for a “settlement” of the Cyprus problem, as the US and NATO sought to impose. Consequently, not everyone from abroad played the same role in the twin crime committed against Cyprus. On the one hand, the Soviet Union was defending the Republic of Cyprus, while the US and NATO on the other hand were elaborating plans for its dissolution and our country’s partition.
Similarly, we did not all play the same role on the domestic front.
On the one hand AKEL, together with the overwhelming majority of the Cypriot people, rallied around Makarios’ non-aligned policy. They were devoted to the vision of the Republic of Cyprus constituting the common home of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, based on peaceful coexistence.
On the opposite stood EOKA B, conscious fascists who were executing the Greek junta’s orders, subverting and conspiring against Cyprus like a serpent.
On the other, the thousands of honest patriots who, sacrificing their very own lives, defended the Republic, Democracy and our homeland.
On the opposite side, the miserable minority of those forces and circles who were acting as warriors with waving Kalashnikovs in the air, but when the Turkish army entered the Kyrenia region, they ran to hide in the Troodos Mountains the same time as they were sending the people of the Left to the front line without weapons. At the same time as they were commanding our betrayed people to be executed, certain “super-Greek” coupists dressed up as doctors and nurses and hid in hospitals to avoid enlisting to fight in the front line of battle.
“High-ranking officers do not die”, admitted the Turkish Lieutenant-General Muzafer Sever to Greek Cypriot journalist Anna Andreu and he is correct. The first to die are those who go to the front line of battle, namely the ordinary soldiers. That’s what we lived through during those days in Cyprus. The people of the Left and Democracy, all those who were marked and suffered because of their political views, were piled in cars and sent without arms simply to be killed in the front line.
Sever however also admitted something that was said for the first time, that is “the landing (of the Turkish troops) could have failed had there been elementary resistance”. If one connects this admission with the statement made by Dimitris Bonanos[7] that he didn’t notify the Joint Staff of the National Guard about the invasion because he had “prioritized other things to do” then one can draw many conclusions about the extent of the conspiracy and betrayal.
The coupists remained unrepentant even after the consequences of their crime had been manifested. Others remain unrepentant to this very day, without even making a single apology for their actions. They even wave an accusing finger at us, delivering patriotic lessons to us. Most of them have passed from the period of the Kalashnikov to the political party that housed and accommodated them, namely the ruling DISY Democratic Rally party, but also others and from there to all kinds of posts: parliamentary, Ministerial and others. If indeed somebody asks them some inconvenient questions about 1974, their memory suddenly fails them. They can’t remember a thing. They have forgotten everything.
We do not forget!
Who can forget that the blood shed to prevent fascism and the invasion was red was ours too?
Who can forget so many sacrifices for our homeland?
Costas Mishaoulis, Costakis Evagorou, Nikos Flourentzou, Kyriakos Papalazarou, Andreas Kestas, Pampos Christofi, Tasos Christofi, Pantelis Charalambous, Christakis Kombos and so many other comrades. From the People’s Movement of the Left sprang courageous comrades like Gabriel Theodosiou, Andreas Stylianou, Gerasimos Leontiou, Evelfthon Ioannides, Karasamanis and so many others. They are our name, honor and pride, representing AKEL’s sacrifice and contribution to the struggle for democracy and freedom.
Five days after the coup, the Turkish invasion completed the 1974 crime. Turkey, violating every principle of International Law, invaded Cyprus. Forty three years after the summer of 1974 and Turkey is still occupying almost 40% of our country’s territory. It has separated by force the Cypriot people, filled Cyprus with graves, missing persons and refugees. To this day, it continues to commit crimes by colonializing our country, illegally exploiting the land of Greek Cypriots, and retaining many troops on our island.
“I left Famagusta as a teenager and was hoping to return albeit as a grandmother”. These were the words of a woman who I met recently, after we returned from the Conference in Crans Montana. Later on, I also remembered the letter written by an anonymous Turkish Cypriot woman which was published some time ago in the press. Wanting to keep her anonymity “so that I won’t be targeted” as she herself said, she wrote the following: “I am a Turkish Cypriot living in the city of Nicosia within the old city walls. I was born here. Now I’m about fifty… In the past they called the area “the smell of jasmine”… That’s how Nicosia was. In the evening everyone used to wipe and clean the entrance of their front door, put their jasmins in order and then sat down. The city within the walls was beaming. The change has been evident since 1990. I remember very well the noise made by suitcases. You know, when suitcases pass by, their wheels make a humming noise. And the Turkish immigrants were coming here dragging their suitcases…And so, slowly, the change began in this region…One by one our jasmins withered away…the Turkish Cypriots began to leave.”
Our thoughts unavoidably turn to all these people who have been waiting for four decades to return to the home, city and life they have lost. All our thoughts inevitably go to the Turkish Cypriots whose survival as a community is being threatened. Our thoughts go to the future generations to whom we owe a peaceful, reunited and prosperous Cyprus.
Mr. Anastasiades has built up many hopes among all these people, which he unfortunately did not vindicate. In saying this, we do not exonerate and pardon Turkey, which bears the main responsibility for what happened at Crans Montana. The same Turkey which due to its intransigence did not enable the opportunities for a solution that were presented all these years to be used. But we have to be honest: neither did our side take advantage of all the room that existed in the talks as a result of the proposals submitted by the UN Secretary-General, the European Union and the international player in general.
Every time AKEL expresses this position, we are accused by the Anastasiades government and the governing DISY Rally party that we are supposedly serving petty-party considerations. That’s what they are saying now. All the time AKEL was backing the negotiation procedure indeed paying a political price, they were saying other things to us. We deliberately chose not to reply to Mr. Anastasiades with the same vulgar and destructive criticism that they themselves were launching against D. Christofias when he was in the presidency. We deliberately put our country and people over and above any considerations and feelings. We deliberately chose to back every opportunity so that we could take steps towards the solution of the Cyprus problem.
We didn’t approach Mr. Anastasiades’ positions. On the contrary, we succeeded at various stages in Mr. Anastasiades himself embracing our own positions. He sought to start the negotiations from scratch, with the backing of the parties of the so-called “intermediate centre spectrum”. We were adamant back then that the negotiations had to start from the point they had left off. We were saying that if the Christofias-Talat convergences were abandoned we would enter into an endless procedure. Mr. Anastasiades didn’t listen to us then, and the result was that the Turkish exploratory vessel “Barbaros” was able to roam undisturbed around our southern shores and the UN Secretary-General submitting to the Security Council the worst report for the Greek Cypriot side since 2004.
That policy pursued by Mr. Anastasiades collapsed. After the assumption by Mr. Akinci of the leadership of the Turkish Cypriot community and the bringing back of the Christofias-Talat convergences on his part, Mr. Anastasiades was forced to follow him.
Despite the fact that precious time had already been lost, AKEL supported the procedure to move it forward. After many setbacks, regressions and contradictions we arrived at Mont Peleran.
At a time when it was apparent that there would be a convergence recorded with regards the percentage of land that would remain under Turkish Cypriot administration, Mr. Anastasiades cut off the talks to return to Cyprus. His action raises a great number of questions concerning his intentions. From that point onwards the regression on the Cyprus problem was continuous.
It had by now become obvious that he had taken his decisions. He was putting the upcoming election over and above the future generations. The second Mont Peleran failed. Under the threat of a final collapse, the convening of a Conference on Cyprus in Geneva was decided. We had a different point of view, both with regards the possibilities for success and its composition.
However from the moment the decision was taken by both leaders and the UN, we supported the effort. Unfortunately, developments there weren’t positive.
The first phase of the Conference ended without substantive results. The decision was taken to convene another one with technocrats so that they could prepare for the next phase. The well-known developments surrounding the Enosis day referendum issue intervened, which Mr. Akinci unfortunately exploited to break off the negotiation procedure. While AKEL was issuing warnings about the negative consequences, the Anastasiades Government and DISY were accusing us of being responsible for the Turkish Cypriots’ finding out about what was approved in the House of Representatives – as if the irresponsible stand of all the political parties could conceal what was approved. DISY subsequently tabled a proposal for transferring the responsibility for school events to the Minister of Education. Although we disagreed with the proposal, we voted in favour. However, Mr. Anastasiades once again did his “miracle”. Thinking in a petty-party way he referred the House’s decision to the Supreme Court.
At the same time he brought back in another version of the policy of “protaxis” (Note: the policy of setting “preconditions” that predetermine the results of negotiations) so as to satisfy a section of his voters. He demanded that first there should be an agreement on the issue of guarantees and security, followed by an agreement on the territorial issue and then the other chapters should be discussed. When we reacted by warning about the dangers yet again the representatives of the Presidential Palace and DISY were “decorating” us with various characterizations. Unfortunately, developments have once again vindicated our assessment. Mr. Anastasiades was forced to withdraw his maximalist demands. But the damage had been done. The trust between the leaders of the two communities was lost.
At Crans Montana just before the end of the procedure, the UN Secretary-General proposed the self-evident, that is the “packaging” and parallel discussion of the core issues of the Cyprus problem.
Mr. Anastasiades was forced to adopt what we as AKEL had for six months been telling him he should do and was refusing to do. Since January we were insisting that he should proceed to a cross-negotiation of the main outstanding issues on all the chapters of the internal aspect of the Cyprus problem. The goal should have been to bring them within range of an agreement and the Conference to deal with the issues relating to security on which Turkey was not in a strong position. Mr. Anastasiades back then was refusing to do so. At Crans Montana he accepted it. But there was little time to discuss such important issues and the preparation was inadequate. The result is regrettably disappointing, despite the fact that information states that significant steps were taken on the issue of security.
We don’t have delusions that at Crans Montana we would have arrived at an overall settlement of the Cyprus problem. But we should have made every effort to take a decisive step forward. If we didn’t do that at least we shouldn’t permit the procedure to collapse.
What is matters right now is to make a correct assessment of the situation and not to forget that day by day the occupation and its consequences are being consolidated.
The presence of 40,000 occupation troops and the de facto division is continuing.
The abhorrent Treaty of Guarantee and Alliance Treaties continue to be valid.
The refugees are still waiting to return to their homes and properties.
At the same time, we have noted with great concern the statements made by Turkish Foreign Minister Cavousoglou that a solution needs to be sought outside the parameters of the United Nations.
What is important right now is not to give up. It is logical and to be expected that Turkey will seek that we abandon our goals. But we should not do Turkey a favour. We must insist to the end on the solution of the Cyprus problem; a a solution that will end the occupation and colonialization and that will be based on the UN Resolutions, High-Level Agreements, International and European Law; a solution that will demilitarize Cyprus and exclude interventions and guarantees from foreign powers; a solution that will reunite the land, the people, the institutions and the economy; a bi-communal, bizonal federal solution with political equality, as described in United Nations texts; a solution that will lead to a united state with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship.
“The best solution to the problem of Cyprus is partition. And I say to you that if I had the US Sixth Fleet at my disposal I could solve it even tomorrow,” declared Dean Acheson[8] in 1964. It is important to recall this position today because if some circles and forces today have ended up suggesting that partition is the best solution or if they are proposing supposedly new strategies that in the end will lead us to partition, we must remind them that from the very beginning the was the goal of the enemies of Cyprus. This was Turkey’s goal from the outset.
Therefore our people shouldn’t be misled by the slogans demanding a new strategy. It’s enough to look at the other side of the barbed wire of division.
Who are the ones talking about the need for “a new strategy” there?
Who are the ones talking about abandoning federation?
It’s the Party of the settlers.
Who are the ones in the Greek Cypriot side calling for a new strategy?
It’s the staff/team of Mr. Papadopoulos and Mr. Lillikas.
Who opposed the Christofias-Talat convergence for a rotating presidency?
It was Serdar Denktas and his party, and then Mr. Eroglu.
Who came out against this convergence among the Greek Cypriot community?
It was Mr. Anastasiades when he was opposition, Mr. Papadopoulos and Mr. Lillikas.
Our people has had enough of the President’s “I pledge to…” It was betrayed many times by empty slogans. It is thirsty for the truth.
Let’s, even now, dare to tell the truth to the Cypriot people.
Let’s stop appeasing young people with unhistorical myths and pompous slogans.
Let us stop sacrificing our country’s future for the sake of the pursuit of the presidential chair.
Mr. Anastasiades has the responsibility, and indeed has to assume it, to create conditions of unity and collectivity, and not to issue threats (how can this be possible!) that if criticism doesn’t stop by Tuesday, he will reply.
Really, in what other country do such things happen?
In what other country does the President give the opposition a deadline until when you can criticize him? Does he think that this is the way to build unity? Is unity forged by silencing us so that he only hears himself and his supporters in the mass media?
Our answer is very clear: If they think that they will silence us, they should forget about it.
Our voice wasn’t silenced when we were being murdered in the streets. It will not be silenced neither today.
As AKEL we will not stop fighting for the vindication of our people.
We will not cease asserting our vision of Cyprus: a Cyprus that will belong to its people, a Cyprus, the common home of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
We will not stop having at the centre of our attention all that really threatens the future of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus, namely Ankara’s policies of integration and absorption against the Turkish Cypriot community.
We will not stop joining our voices with those of the progressive Turkish Cypriot movement.
We will not cease to be the voice, the common voice of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots which is shouting for all of Cyprus. And we will continue to strengthen this voice.
So that our belief that nothing can stop peace in Cyprus and that our future belongs to us will be heard everywhere!
[1] Efstathios Lagakos, Greek junta Ambassador to Cyprus before the fascist coup d’état of 15th July 1974
[2] Reactionary, nationalist and anti-communist Turkish Cypriot leader for many years
[3] Fascist dictator, Greek Army Brigadier General, fierce anti-communist
[4] Greek military colonel and one of the leaders of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974
[5] Greek Cypriot politician, fiercely anticommunist. Served as the first Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Cyprus
[6] Greek junta officer Dimitris Papapostolou, commander of LOK Special Commando Force in Cyprus, one of the main protagonists of the fascist conspiracy.
[7] Greek junta General
[8] US Secretary of State in the Truman administration 1949-1953. He played a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War. He was a key player in the development of the Truman Doctrine and creation of NATO.
Speech by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL A. Kyprianou at the mass meeting to denounce the black anniversaries of the fascist coup d’état and the Turkish invasion
14th July 2017, “Skali” Amphitheatre Aglantzia Municipality, Nicosia
AKEL C.C. Press Office, 14th July 2017, Nicosia
