The speech delivered to the rally by the Federation President
1. Today, we mark 4 decades of military occupation and colonisation in Cyprus.
2. Today we mourn 40 years of suffering for the relatives of the missing –many of them here today;
3. Today we remind the world of the utter injustice of the continuing division of Cyprus, the disgrace of a divided capital in a united Europe.
4. Today we condemn the ethnic cleansing, the cultural genocide, the religious desecration – these consequences are the pernicious legacy of Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
5. Today we show solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Cypriot refugees, for forty years displaced from their lands, unable to return to their occupied towns and villages which are the heart and soul of this island: Famagusta, Kyrenia, Morphou, Lapithos, Karavas, Akanthou, Rizokarpaso and so many others under the sorrowful gaze of the proud but violated mountain of Pentadaktylos.
6. These lands do not belong to you Mr Erdogan, these lands belong to the Cypriot people! Η Κυπρος ανηκει στον λαο της.
7. Today, we remember Cyprus’s honoured dead – those who sacrificed their lives defending democracy and freedom against the treasonous coup and Turkey’s invasion which followed.
8. No words today can live up to their eternal sacrifice. Αιωνια τους η μνημη.
9. The tragedy of Cyprus is made even more profound because the will of the United Nations has been defied, with complete impunity, by successive Turkish governments, for 40 years, which makes today an anniversary of failure too – the failure of the international community to hold Turkey to account.
10. Today we stand by the side of the Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and his government, we stand by the side of the political leadership on the island, we stand by the side of the Cypriot people and we call upon Turkey:
• To support with deeds the reunification of Cyprus in the talks currently under way
• To recognise the Republic of Cyprus and
• To end its military occupation and colonisation of the island.
11. Today, we call upon Britain which has moral as well as treaty obligations to Cyprus and upon the European Union whose values and principles are being arrogantly defied by Turkey and we ask them to:
• To put pressure on Turkey to help deliver a free, united Cyprus for all Cypriots
• To make it unequivocally clear to Turkey that it will never join the EU unless it leaves the island.
12. Today, we ask the world to tell Turkey that enough is enough: to support the reunification of the island based on UN resolutions, the principles of the European Union and international law.
13. Turkey must respect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cyprus!
14. These are our legitimate demands and we make them on behalf of all Cypriots – Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenians, Maronites, Latins and all other Cypriots.
15. Today we thank and express our deep appreciation to all of our friends in the British Parliament for their long standing support and we appeal to their sense of justice and the ideals of liberty and democracy which bring us together in this unequal struggle.
16. This year, we ask them to be even more vocal because the talks currently under way represent a real opportunity for a breakthrough, if only Turkey would seize this opportunity and at long last respond to the good will and positive spirit shown by the Greek Cypriot side.
17. Forty years on, the flame of liberty in our hearts still burns; it will not be extinguished; our hope endures; the dream lives on; the struggle continues and will not stop until the bells of freedom ring from every corner of the island.
ΖΗΤΩ Η ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡIA! ΖΗΤΩ Η ΚΥΠΡΟΣ! ΖΗΤΩ ΜΙΑ ΕΠΑΝΕΝΩΜΕΝΗ ΚΑΙ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΗ ΚΥΠΡΟΣ!
