"The twin crimes of 1974, the treacherous coup and the Turkish invasion during Black July 1974 did not come out of nowhere. The Athens Junta and EOKA II opened the back door to Attila by carrying out the crime against Cyprus and the Cypriot people. A crime that was the result of a long-lasting process by the darkest circles of the USA and NATO that led to the culmination of the treason of the Junta and EOKA II that handed over half of Cyprus to Turkey.
We honour the memory of those who resisted the treasonous coup, those who fought the battle against the weapons that NATO turned against the Republic of Cyprus, and those who gave everything they had of value in this battle. We honour the communists and the democratic resistance fighters who fought an unequal battle against the underhand plans of the imperialists.
51 years later, the necessity for a common struggle of all Cypriots against imperialism and occupation is as relevant as ever. Against the sirens of fascism and chauvinism, on both sides of the occupation wire, but also against the sirens of submission to imperialist settlements that are far from solving the Cyprus problem for the benefit of our people.
It is the same NATO that, by supporting the occupying power again, has defiantly recorded Cyprus on its maps with coordinates instead of a name, per the suggestion of the US, of course! It is in this wolf alliance that governments and bourgeois parties have been trying to integrate us for years, and in which we would already be members if it were not for the Turkish veto. And the Cypriot governments, both the previous and the current one, are in full alignment with the US-NATO-EU aspirations in the region and, under the pretext of “European security”, support the increase in military spending and the tightening of cooperation, deepening Cyprus’ involvement in imperialist plans.
The working class in Cyprus, regardless of language, must, far from fatalism, illusions, nationalism and submission to the imperialist centres (which created the Cyprus problem), take the cause of the country into their own hands. To give the common struggle against imperialism for a solution in favour of the people’s interests and against the local capitalists.
The foundations of a solution to the Cyprus problem cannot and must not include elements of division, but must include the establishment of principles and institutions that clash with all forms of discrimination and the very logic that has created and perpetuated it, especially ethnic division.
As part of the necessary solution, it should be a prerequisite that the people, Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenians, Maronites, Latins be the sovereign master in an intact, independent, reunited homeland, free from guarantors, foreign troops and divisions.
Our action for a solution must take into account the historical experience, confront the existing power dynamics and be able to link the struggle for a solution to the Cyprus problem with the struggle for the abolition of the root cause, which is the exploitative capitalist system.
CIC has highlighted the need to intensify the struggle for a just solution to the Cyprus problem, the liberation and reunification of all our people, by ending the Turkish occupation and eliminating its consequences. We struggle for the withdrawal of all Turkish occupation troops and all foreign armies and troops, and the removal of bases from the island. We struggle for disengagement of Cyprus from all kinds of imperialist organizations including the EU and NATO. We struggle for a solution that ensures the right of refugees and displaced persons to return to their homes and an end to settler colonization.
For a united and sovereign Cyprus—without foreign guarantors or protectors, and free from solutions dictated by imperialist interests. A solution that is a product of the Cypriot people’s own struggle, which will link the struggle to shake off the occupation with the struggle to overthrow the main culprit, Capitalism. Against the imperialist plans being cooked up based on the two constituent states leading to partition under a “federal” cloak. A homeland with one state entity with one international personality, one nationality and a single sovereignty with one people (including Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenian Maronites, Latins) as a reference point.
Based on the above axes, we will monitor and intervene in developments, supporting the principle of one state, rejecting partition and the two-state solution. We note that the bi-zonal settlement being promoted does not constitute a federal but a confederal settlement. A “two-state solution”. The critical issue we highlight is the non-ethnic separation, which even in the case of the “unitary state”, (as defined in the 1960 colossal independence constitution derived from the 1959 NATO settlement), was based on the principles of separation – (ethnic, linguistic, religious) which proved disastrous for our people. The necessity for one Homeland, one sovereignty, one economy, one people, one electoral system with non-segregated electoral lists based on criteria of national origin, is non-negotiable.
The matrix that gives birth to the Cyprus problem, but also to every other imperialist intervention on earth, is the same. Our action will reveal this true nature of the Cyprus problem. We are fighting to create through popular struggle the ground for the liberation of the enslaved homeland and the reunification of our people. The struggle for the Cyprus problem is inextricably linked to the struggle of the working class and its allies, of the mass popular movement as a whole, to open the way for the abolition of class slavery, capitalist exploitation, which will constantly give birth to new crises, wars, ethnic divisions, divided homelands, injustice."
communistcy.org
