On Thursday Cyprus marked the events which lead to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 with a program of commemorative events which reminded all Cypriots that they wlll never forget.
The wailing of the sirens at 8.20 am yesterday came as a chilling reminder of the hot summer day 36 years ago when tanks and troops launched an assault against the presidential palace in Nicosia, prompting Turkey’s invasion of the island five days later.
“These days bring back painful memories,” President Demetris Christofias said after a memorial service for the resistance fighters who died during the coup. “Days where the (Greece’s) Junta and EOKA B raided the presidential palace, sowing destruction, targeting President Makarios and democracy and achieving to bring the Turkish invader to Cyprus.”
Christofias took the opportunity to issue a call for unity on the domestic front.
“Unity is an inevitable need. I am calling for unity, at least the minimum unity at a time when Turkish propaganda is striving for Turkey to come up on top,” the President said.
Christofias said any petty political ambitions should be set aside and efforts for a solution should be supported that would rid the island of the occupation and secure the unity of the state, the people and the institutions.
“This is the message of these days… the anniversaries of the fascist coup and the Turkish invasion,” Christofias said.
Parliament observed a minute’s silence to the memory of those killed in the coup and the subsequent invasion.
Parliamentary speaker Marios Garoyian said parliament once more condemns the “double crime of 1974” and declares the Cypriot people’s irremovable decision to continue the struggle until the end of the occupation – until finding a fair, functional and viable solution of the Cyprus problem.
“The wounds caused by the double crime of July 1974 remain open and the sacrifice of our heroes and martyrs remains unvindicated,” Garoyian said.
The memorial service at the Constantinou and Elenis cemetery in Nicosia was followed by a second one at the graves of 22 young conscripts, members of a commando unit, who took part in the coup.
