The General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, sent a letter yesterday to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Anita Demetriou, regarding the complaints of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yiannakis Omirou, concerning the publication of the “Cyprus File” (Note: findings of an inquiry commissioned by Parliament that looked into the 1974 coup to overthrow President Makarios and the ensuing Turkish invasion). The General Secretary of AKEL also calls on the President of the Parliament to provide full information on the handling of the case and on the change in the methodology of publishing the File.
The letter is reproduced in full:
“On the days of the anniversaries of the Cyprus tragedy, I read with regret publications with allegations made by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives Yiannakis Omirou regarding the publication of the Cyprus File, a project of great historical value for the Cypriot people, which is being implemented according to the Protocol of Cooperation between the House of Representatives and the Greek Parliament, signed in January 2016 by the then Speakers of the two Parliaments Y. Omirou and N. Voutsis.
These denunciations, not only about the delay in the continuation of the project, but especially about the redrafting of the minutes of the Committee of Inquiry of the Hellenic Parliament, “in violation”, as stated, “of the first paragraph of the agreed protocol of cooperation for the unaltered presentation of the testimonial material”, are, I believe, extremely serious, as they point out the danger of falsification, intentionally or unintentionally, of the historical truth, which the whole great effort serves.
Expressing my concern and dissatisfaction with these developments that have seen the light of day, but also with the non-transparency that seems to characterise the way in which the change in the methodology of the publication, to which you referred and which is noted in an article in the newspaper “Phileleftheros”, has been handled, I request to be fully informed on the matter.
I would like to stress that the case of the ‘Cyprus File’ is a national case and any effort to shed light on the darkest page of Cyprus’ modern history, whose wound is still open, must be a collective effort. In this effort, which fulfils a heavy debt to the betrayed Cypriot people, AKEL, a party that resisted the coup and the invasion and had the most dead, wishes to be fully involved and substantially present.”