Thursday, November 10, 2022

Cyprus: Far-right military leader Georgios Grivas to be honored with a museum

"Not a single euro for Grivas Museum", reads AKEL banner.
General Georgios Grivas (1897-1974), the notorious ultra-nationalist, fiercely anti-communist military leader whose name became synonymous with terrorism and treason, will be once again honored by the Cypriot government. Recently, with the votes of the governmental centre-right Democratic Rally (DISY), the Democratic Party DIKO and the social democratic EDEK, the Parliamentary Finance Committee agreed to release the fund for the so-called “Grivas Museum”.

In a statement issued on November 1st, the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) points out among others: 

“With the votes of DIKO and EDEK, yesterday in the Parliamentary Finance Committee, the funds for the Grivas Museum that the Anastasiades government desperately wants to create were released. This is the same budget that the government twice attempted to pass in previous years with the votes of the ruling DISY party and far-right ELAM, but was blocked by the votes of the parties AKEL, DIKO, EDEK, Ecologists and DIPA. There is nothing at all surprising about the stand of the government, DISY and far-right ELAM, who still honor the arch-traitor of our country, but who also insist in times characterised by the economic suffocation of the people on allocating thousands of euros to unhistorical extreme-right propaganda”.

AKEL adds in its statement: “One thing is for certain, namely that the whole democratic people of the country is outraged and express their indignation at the fact that, with the votes of the MPs at the centre political spectrum, the plans of the DISY government for the Museum of Shame are going ahead.”

In an editorial published in "Haravgi" newspaper, AKEL Politburo member Eleni Mavrou stresses out:

Arch-traitor Grivas
"Some people may remember the slogan “I will not forget” only when it suits them. For us, we are not content with memorial services and the laying of expensive wreaths. How can we erase our dead during the anti-colonial struggle the period of Grivas’ masked men from our people’s memory? [...] How can we erase our dead during the period of EOKA B and the coup d’état? Can we forget the sickening nationalism, the murders committed, the kidnappings, the bombings and the attempted junta coup in the church hierarchy against President Makarios? How can we erase our dead, the missing persons, the refugees and the unspeakable destruction of the barbaric Turkish army invasion that the fascist coup brought to Cyprus? The “national-mindedness” of the so-called patriots, the big empty talk words, the supposedly unyielding struggle met Turkey’s expectations at the right time and even deliberately. So certain forces and people may make grandiose plans for museums and monuments. History is not “an empty shirt”. In the minds of the vast majority of the Cypriot people, Grivas is nothing more than a criminal who killed innocent people and betrayed his country."

 IN DEFENSE OF COMMUNISM ©