Speech by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL Andros Kyprianou to denounce the 1974 Cyprus coup and invasion

“Makarios is particularly dangerous for Greek-Turkish relations. The Greek Government has come to the conclusion that the key prerequisite for a lasting and just solution in Cyprus is the removal of Makarios himself from the political scene. On the above, the Turkish Ambassador said that the opinion of the Turkish Governments was always that Makarios was against any reasonable and acceptable solution of the Cyprus problem by our two countries.”

The extract from the minutes of Greek junta Ambassador to Cyprus Panagiotakos’ meeting with Turkish Ambassador Turkman in March 1972 is yet further proof that the crime committed against Cyprus was premeditated and pre-planned; that Cyprus was betrayed both from inside and outside Cyprus and that that Cyprus was handed over by these very traitors themselves to Turkish expansionism.

Why do we feel the need to recall all these facts today? We do so because forty-four years later, the Right and the ultra-right are attempting to persuade us to “see the mist with another eye.” To put it in other words, that we should revise and falsify History. They refer with vagueness to “young lads” who were misled by the vision of Enosis (Note: the union of Cyprus with Greece). They argue that “everyone is to blame”, making references to a “civil war”, “Makarios’ responsibilities for the invasion” and other such unhistorical positions.

There is no treason and treachery without traitors.

There is no crime without criminals.

The coup d’état was deliberately planned and methodically prepared by the staff of NATO. Grivas and EOKA B had been continuously elaborating one plan after the other for the execution of a coup d’état. These plans were promoted by ideologically preparing the ground for the coup in society. Criminal actions against Makarios, political assassinations, the blowing up of police stations and other government buildings, anti-communist hysteria and terrorism were on the daily agenda. The order of the Greek Junta to EOKA B was clear: “attack mercilessly”. And that’s precisely what happened.

The coup d’état of 15 July 1975 gave Turkey the pretext to invade Cyprus in violation of every principle of International Law. Turkey continues to occupy almost 40% of our country’s territory. The Turkish invasion separated the Cypriot people by the force of arms; it filled Cyprus with graves, missing persons and refugees. Turkey continues to commit crimes by colonizing our homeland, by illegally usurping and exploiting the land of Greek Cypriots and maintaining thousands of troops in our country. It continues to commit crimes by depriving the people of Cyprus of its basic human rights and freedoms.

“The policy of the Greek governments so far did not permit the removal of Makarios from power. But now that our country’s long-term policy has been elaborated, there is an alternative solution and a variety of possibilities. This is because these solutions also enjoy the support of our allies.”

This is the most important excerpt from the minutes of Greek Ambassador to Cyprus Panagiotakos’ meeting with Turkmen because it is revealing about the plans that had been prepared.

Cyprus was targeted by American-NATO imperialism and Turkish expansionism. Partition was their goal at least a decade before 1974. Grivas and EOKA B served these goals and plans very well. The “national-mindedness” of the so-called patriots, the big empty words, slogans and talk about an “uncompromising struggle” coincided with Turkey’s aspirations at the critical moment, at the right time and indeed consciously.

The biggest crime against our homeland was committed because the Right “national-minded” forces due to their intolerance, fanaticism and dogmatism did not want our people to live in friendship and unity on the land that gave birth to it.; because they wanted to sacrifice the feasible solution for the sake of the “desirable” solution; because at the same time as they were filling the people’s minds with false rhetoric, they were acting as the Fifth Column to carry out the plans of imperialism against Cyprus. Eventually the invasion took place, and Grivas’ thugs, who during the coup were firing Kalashnikov machine guns in the air celebrating because “Makarios is dead” ran to hide far from the frontline of the battle by sending the unarmed and betrayed Cypriot patriots to the front line.

Today, forty-four years later, Turkey is asserting its goal with consistency: the partition of Cyprus. The tragic irony of history is that it finds – yet again – valuable allies in the Greek Cypriot side. It finds allies in those who, using the same or similar rhetoric as before the 1974 era, are trying to convince the people that it is better to keep things as they are. The approaches arguing for a unitary state, abandoning the bi-zonal bi-communal federation are equally unrealistic and demagogic.

Real patriotism is not judged by rhetoric. It is judged by acts and deeds.

Real patriots were the ones who rushed to fight at the front line of battle when the democracy and freedom of the country were being threatened, and they gave the last drop of their blood tin this battle.

The real patriots are the ones who are insisting today on continuing the struggle to reunify our homeland and not those who are deceiving the people with false slogans and rhetoric, while at the same time they are compromising with the occupation.

The real patriots are the ones who are insisting on holding high the wounded flag of Cyprus and who envision a peaceful future and a Cyprus fully free and belonging to its people.

President Anastasiades must even now realize the burden of his responsibility. He must do what is needed, so that he does not go down in history as the President of partition. We do not propose that the Greek Cypriot side should retreat from its long-standing positions as certain circles and forces are hinting.

We propose that he shows determination; that he takes initiatives, highlights with consistency our positions and arguments; that he works diligently for a solution to the Cyprus problem.

A solution that will terminate the occupation and the colonization.

A solution based on the UN Resolutions, High-Level Agreements, International and European Law.

A solution that will demilitarize Cyprus and exclude any interventions and guarantees from foreign powers.

A solution that will reunite the land, the people, the institutions and the economy.

A bi-communal, bizonal federatl solution with political equality as described in United Nations texts.

A solution that will lead to a united state, a continuation of the Republic of Cyprus with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship.

Cyprus will not be saved by the trade in the selling of passports, by the business from which the Government’s associates are getting richer, nor from the casinos.

Cyprus will only be saved if it is reunited.

For decades, Turkey has been promoting policies that deepen the dependence of the Turkish Cypriot community on Ankara and weaken it. A section of the Turkish Cypriot community is resisting the assimilation. But a small community will not always manage to withstand powerful Turkey. If the Right-wing in the Greek Cypriot community does not understand this promptly, it will this time irreparably damage Cyprus.

Today we honor the rivers of blood shed on the land of Cyprus for the freedom, democracy and dignity of our country and people.

Today we honor the real heroes; those who did not yield and ran away.

Those who disobeyed orders and refused to execute the orders of fascism and subsequently paid the price by sacrificing their lives.

Those who resisted the Kalashnikovs of the coupists and who shed their own blood in police stations, in the Central Prison, in their own house, out on the street, in the cemeteries over the open tombs of our Heroes.

Today we honor the thousands of patriots who were sent unarmed and betrayed to fight at the front line of the war; those who rushed without any second thoughts, without asking why the thugs of the junta and EOKA B stayed behind the front line to save themselves.

Today we honor the thousands of our compatriots who have been battered by the war, their uprooting as refugees, the photographs of our missing people.

The best honor for them is the memory that is conscious.

It is the relentless struggle until the vindication of our Cyprus; until the reunification of our country and people; until the day of Peace dawns for our Homeland.