AKEL honours the memory of the first President of the Republic of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios, who passed away 44 years ago today.
Makarios remains to this day an emblematic figure in the contemporary history of Cyprus. He was at the forefront of the anti-colonial struggle of Cyprus and had the courage and insight to disassociate himself from the extreme right-wing murderous campaign of terror that was launched against the Left. He became the voice and face of independent Cyprus all over the world. He rejected Cyprus’ attachment to NATO and linked our country to the struggling peoples and national liberation movements through our participation in the Non-Aligned Movement. He united almost an entire people, from the left to the democratic right, on the line of a united and independent Cyprus. He himself became a symbol of democratic resistance to the Greek junta and EOKA B fascism. With his political stature, after the 1974 tragedy, he undertook the responsibility of the historic decision to accept the solution of a bizonal, bicommunal federation to the Cyprus problem.
AKEL does not ignore that Makarios also committed mistakes and made misjudgments along the way. Besides, his underestimation of the possibility of a coup d’état was characteristic. However, the attempt to equate Makarios with Grivas and to blame our country’s non-aligned policy for the NATO crime against Cyprus is an unhistorical insult to our people. After all, it is undeniable that Makarios was almost universally embraced by the people and can never be equated with pawns of foreign centres.
The memory and honor of Makarios demands the defence of democracy and the truth about our country’s modern history, the rejection of historical revisionism and ultra-right falsification. It demands the defence of the policy of an honorable compromise between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, against the manipulation and monopolization of patriotic sentiments and unfeasible maximalism that lead to our country’s final division. It demands the continuation of the struggle so that the crime committed in 1974 will not prevail with the finalization of our homeland’s division. For the vindication of our people. For independence, freedom and democracy.
…i remember.
How proud i was, as a young boy, to know the difference between “Greeks” and those Greek, those “Turkish”, and Turkish. Indeed “We” (as Cypriots) were beyond them as a socialised people, as Citizens of the World, a People in that regard because we (had) still have the same values; it was a comfort that as a Cypriot our lives would be anchored on the Universal Principals the world respects, (not “theirs”,) and in a few short years there was water from pipes, roads in asphalt, and electricity. From its advent the Republic of Cyprus offered something which bettered our lives in very real and practical terms. Yet, politically with great resistance, one may say that those who are (and were) against the notion of a Cypriots’ existence, now divided as they are, have not demonstrated any real success, and failure.
We do not have a Leader like Makarios. As Cypriots, mired in “Greekness” and “Turkishness” we do not have real representation at all. And it is likely that no such Leadership will rise from our political elite either.
Enosis is a word the People should take back for themselves. It is what divided us, and it means to join. It would not be hard for Greek and Turkish Cypriots to assemble and to demonstrate, under the Flag that “they” have treated as a rag, as a People and as people exposing those who will not stand with them under the one Flag that is rightfully theirs, peacefully; making souvla perhaps, on their beaches, having “picnics” too.