The black anniversary of the coup d’état of 15 July 1974 recalls the greatest betrayal committed against our country and people. The coup d’état executed by the junta of Athens and Grivas’ EOKA B to overthrow President Makarios represented the escalation of the plan hatched by NATO aiming at the partition of Cyprus and its people. The Republic of Cyprus itself, President Makarios and AKEL were the obstacles to this plan. This was the reason why they were targeted both by the bloody fascist terror and propaganda that preceded both the coup as well as during the coup itself.

The coup d’état was followed by the invasion and the atrocities committed by Turkey, the occupation of half of Cyprus. This is what the plan provided for which the coupists consciously served, who knew they weren’t fighting for Enosis (Note: Union with Greece), but for “double Enosis” (Note: the division of Cyprus between Greece and Turkey). Those executing the coup d’état were neither “fools”, nor was the coup a “civil war”. The coup was a deliberate betrayal, carried out within the framework of the geopolitical plans of the US and NATO. Besides, it is also documented also in the Finding of the Cyprus File commissioned by the House of Representatives that the military junta of Greece didn’t want the Turkish invasion army to be halted, while the coupists of EOKA B were the ones hiding behind the lines in the rear, leaving the brave sons of our people to fight in the front lines to resist the invaders.

The historical truth about the perpetrators, architects and the ideology of the coup d’état does not suit the Right and extreme-right which stick to the same historical narrative for 1974 and are reproducing the same nationalist slogans and ideological concepts. The Right and the extreme-right have the long-lasting goal of falsifying the historical truth surrounding 1974 and equating Makarios with the fascism of EOKA B, as well as seeking to incriminate AKEL’s anti-imperialist stance. However, no matter how many memorial services they hold and monuments the Right and the extreme-right erect for the coupists, the Cypriot people know who massacred and uprooted it.

The democratic memory of 1974 is a duty to history, to the fighters of the Resistance, the Cypriot people who paid the price of the treachery committed. It is also a debt towards our country’s future. Unless the nationalist ideals and symbols of betrayal aren’t finally buried, we will not be able to reverse the occupation and division of our island. The lesson of history that the greatest crimes in our country were committed under the guise of “national-mindedness” remains timely.

AKEL pays tribute to all those who resisted the coup, the fighters of the Resistance who, during those days, raised the dignity of the Cypriot people to new heights in the bastions of Democracy, which during those days put up resistance in the Presidential Palace, the Archbishopric, the Ephapathos crossing and the third Gymnasium of Limassol, Kolossi, the working class neighborhoods of Kaimakli and Ayi Yianni Larnaca, the city of Pafos and in every corner of Cyprus where our people confronted and fought fascism.

On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the coup d’état and invasion, AKEL is organising a big anti-occupational event on Monday, 15 July at 20:00 at the Amphitheatre of the Municipality of Dali, with the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL Andros Kyprianou as the keynote speaker. We call on the Cypriot people to attend in mass numbers and send out a message of the defense of the historical truth, democracy and the struggle for the vindication of Cyprus.