Speech by the General Secretary of AKEL S.Stefanou at the mass event to denounce the 1974 coup and invasion anniversary

Wednesday, 15 July 2026

We have gathered herefor yet another year at the event to denounce the twin crimes committed against our homeland: the treacherous coup by the Athens junta and EOKA B, and Turkey’s barbaric invasion.

We have gathered this year too, to stress that the slogan “I Do Not Forget” takes on a specific content for all of us in AKEL.

For us all, the slogan “I Do Not Forget” means, first and foremost, that our struggle against the Turkish occupation of our homeland will continue unabated until our people—Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians, and Latins – are finally vindicated.

It will continue until our refugees, are vindicated who for fifty-two years—and many for 62 years—have remained far from their ancestral homes, driven out by the force of arms.

Our struggle will not end until the sacrifices of our heroes, our missing persons, the enclaved people in the occupied areas, the wounded, the disabled and captives, the war-stricken people and the women who were abused and raped, who have been carrying the psychological trauma haunting them ever since, have been vindicated.

On behalf of AKEL, I convey our admiration and gratitude to all of them. They are the ones who were the first to pay the heavy price of the betrayal by a handful of people who destroyed Cyprus.

It is our firm belief that our people’s vindication can only be achieved by undoing the consequences of the Turkish invasion and the ongoing occupation. This can only be achieved through a solution that will liberate and reunite our country and people.

Comrades,

Dear friends,

For AKEL, the solution to the Cyprus problem has never been something vague. It has always had a specific basis and parameters, a specific framework and content. Our struggles and efforts for a solution start from the historic compromise, which we agreed upon with the Turkish Cypriot community, namely bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality.

This framework for a solution has been endorsed in dozens of UN and Security Council resolutions. This solution is supported by the EU, from which we seek practical support and a concrete contribution to shaping the content of the solution.

When we call upon the international community to help in solving the Cyprus problem, we ourselves must be convincing in our assertions. This presupposes consistency and steadfastnessto what we have agreed upon. This is a fundamental principle of politics, but it is however undermined when certain forces and circles insist that we must abandon Bi-zonal, Bi-communal, Federationwith the illusion that we can achieve something “better.”

However, abandoning the agreed-upon basis for a solution will not lead to anything better, but will lead to the permanent partition. In other words, this is precisely what Turkey is seeking with its position for a two-state solution.

Contrary to what certain circles and political parties are claiming, within the framework of Bi-zonal, Bi-communal, Federation the goal of ending the Turkish occupationas well as reunificationis indeed feasible. On this basis, the human rights and fundamental freedoms of our people can be guaranteed. We can ensure a single sovereignty, a single citizenship, and a single international legal personality. We can also free ourselves from the colonial dependencies and the anachronistic obligations that were imposed on us by the Zurich–London Agreements and build a modern, functional and viable state governed jointly by Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.

What I have mentioned above are not wishful thinking or illusions. All of this has, to a very large extent, been already agreed upon by both sides. They are found in the convergences that have been recordedin the negotiations that began in 2008 during the Demetris Christofias administration and continued – with breaks and problems its true to say – up to 2017, at the Crans-Montana Conference. That’s where, as UN Secretary-General Mr. Guterres himself has stated many times, we were just one mile away from reaching a solution.

And precisely because we were just one mile away from a solution, that is why the Secretary-General of the United Nations also stated that he wishes to see the negotiations resume from the point where they were suspended, preserving the convergences and building on the Framework he had presented to both sides.

The two sides declare officially that they agree with this position of the UN Secretary General. For this to happen in reality presupposes that the convergencesmust be safeguarded. Otherwise, if convergences are opened or nullified, we will not objectively be able to resume negotiations from where they were suspended, and the distance that we will need to cover until the solution will be a lot longer than one mile.

Once again, we state that the approach being attempted by certain circles—to introduce so-called “new” ideas on issues that have already been agreed upon—is misguided. These include issues such as the powers of the federation, the form of government, the content of political equality, and other issues that lie at the heart of the solution. Introducing “new” ideas into agreed-upon issues will create new sources of disagreement, and the prospect of a solution will recede rather than draw nearer.

Also harmful and dangerous is the notion of continuing—rather than ending—the outdated and anachronistic system of guarantees, especially with the inclusion of NATO in it. I would like to remind you that the UN Secretary-General, in his well-known Framework, supports the termination of the system of guarantees and its replacement with a mechanism for implementing the solution.

Mr. Guterres positionsatisfies a long-standing position of the Greek Cypriot side for the termination of the system of guarantees. European Cyprus neither wants, nor needs any “patrons” or “guarantors”. And instead of certain forces and circles on the Greek Cypriot side supporting this position, they prefer to continue the system of guaranteessolely because—obviously—they are enthralled by the mere mention of NATO. That’s to say in NATO, where Turkey plays a significant role as the Alliance’s recent Summit in Ankara also demonstrated.

In the end, who are the ones guided by ideological obsessions? Is it us, who insist on the termination of the guarantees or is it those who want a continuation of the system of guarantees with Turkey remaining a guarantor power through NATO?

The answer is easy for every well-intentioned and logical person who wants to live in a normal country.

AKEL supports the position of the UN Secretary-General for a continuation of the negotiations from the point at which they were suspended. To implement this forward-looking position, This Roadmap must include the procedure for the agreement on the convergences that have been achieved and, by extension, the point at which negotiations were suspended. It should also include the means and timelines for addressing issues that can create the momentum needed to break the deadlock and resume the negotiations.

AKEL, regardless of whether it is in the opposition, is always ready to contribute constructively and creatively to the efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem. This is what it did in the past, and it will continue to do so right now. Because for us, the good of Cyprus and our people comes above all else.

Dear friends,

At AKEL, we constantly put the slogan “I do not forget” into practice. We do so by defending the historical truth. Especially today, when the Right and the Far Right have intensified their efforts to distort it. At first, the Right tried to erase the coup d’état from the twin crimes of the summer of 1974. We heard speeches and statements from Right-wing leaders about the tragedy of 1974 that began on 20 July. For them, nothing happened before the 20 July. There was no EOKA B, nor the coup, and certainly not any NATO conspiracies or plans.

Whenever the coup was mentioned, the claim was made that it was carried out by Greeks, and that Cypriots did not participate. Everyone knows, however, that the coup in the villages and city neighbourhoods was essentially imposed not by the National Guard but by Cypriot members of EOKA B, who took up arms and played the role of super-patriots. But when the invasion broke out, many of them vanished to the rear, leaving others to defend our Cyprus on the shores of Kyrenia and the slopes of the Pentadaktylos mountain range, unarmed and betrayed.

As time passed from 1974, the Right began to become more aggressive in its distortion of history. The undermining of the legitimate state and the murderous activities of EOKA B were rebranded as “violence and counter-violence.”

Subsequently, the attack on historical truth became even more detestable. The Right and the far right went so far as to claim that it was Makarios who brought Turkey to Cyprus with his speech before the UN Security Council on July 19, 1974. The truth, however, is that the order to invade Cyprus was given to the commander of the Second Turkish Army on July 16—just one day after the coup took place in Cyprus—as the Turkish generals themselves admit in their testimonies.The Turkish fleet had already set sail for the coast of Kyrenia even before Makarios appeared before the UN Security Council.

After all, it had been known for years that a coup in Cyprus would give Turkey the pretext to invade. There are relevant statements in Cyprus, Greece, but also in the international press. Turkey threatened to invade both in 1964 during the bicommunal clashes and in 1967. Therefore, none of the key players can claim ignorance of the consequences of their actions.

In fact, numerous historical events and pieces of evidence substantiate that the coup was not simply carried out to provoke the “Attila” invasion, but also to facilitate it during its landing. Key units of the National Guard, which were tasked with confronting the first wave of a potential invasion, were absent from their areas of responsibility, while the machine-gun emplacements at the Pentadaktylos mountain range were empty..

As the Greek army dictator Ioannides said at the War Council—which he convened far too late on the first day of the invasion—“We will let them enter Kyrenia and then we’ll intervene…. We’ll stop them after they take the port, Kyrenia, and link up with Nicosia; that’s when they’ll stop—we’re certain of that.”

Turkey, however, did not stop, but occupied nearly 37% of Cyprus’s territory.

That is why we, giving a practical meaning to the slogan “I Do Not Forget”, continue to declare that “The people do not forget the fascists and the tanks.”

Because it is the fascists and the far-right who destroyed our Cyprus with their abhorrent and murderous acts.

Because it is the fascists of EOKA B’ who, together with the Athens junta and the militarists in Ankara, implemented NATO’s plans to partition Cyprus and turn it into an unsinkable aircraft carrier for waging its imperialist interventions in the region and beyond.

Today, as fascism rears its head with the rise of the far right, the slogan “Never again fascism!” is more relevant than ever before. The older generations must remember the tragedies that fascism brought upon our Cyprus, and the younger generations must learn about its role in our country’s modern history.

This must serve as a wake-up call for our consciences against the far right, but also against policies that seek to normalize its agenda.

This is why we insist on defending the historical truth.

This is why we turn back at history to recall its lessons.

Defending historical truth is a duty we owe to the younger generation; it is a duty we owe to the future of our country and people.

It is a duty we owe to all those who stood up and fought those who attempted to destroy and subjugate our country.

It is a duty we owe to fulfil to the heroes of our Cyprus and, in particular, to the heroes of our People’s Movement[Note: AKEL and all the mass organisations of the Left].

It is a duty we owe, amongst so many others, to the Papalazarou brothers, to Christofis, to Kesta, Evagoras, Karasamanis, Ioannidis, Flourentzou, Kourtellis, Theodosius, the Misiaoulis brothers, Dervis Ali Kavazoglou, and so many others.

 Our heroes are the testament to our heroic history, which this year marks 100 years of struggles and sacrifices for our homeland and our people.

We therefore continue our struggles for our homeland and people.

We continue until we achieve the final vindication.

Until we put an end to the Turkish occupation.

Until the divisive barbed-wire fences are torn down.

Until we achieve the future we dream of—a free, peaceful Cyprus for all its children: Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians, and Latins.

Long live our Cyprus!