The president of SYRIZA-PS, Stefanos Kasselakis, who is visiting Cyprus on the occasion of the black anniversary of the coup and the Turkish invasion of the martyr island, had a meeting with the general secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou at noon on Friday (19/7).
Mr. Stefanou symbolically donated to Stefanos Kasselakis the statuette of the mother – Cypriot and any other – as well as the reprint of a book with testimonies of members, executives and friends of AKEL that was first published in 1975, a year after the tragic events.
According to Koumoundourou’s information, Mr. Stefanou, welcoming the president of SYRIZA, emphasized that “the time that passes works against the solution, but also in favor of oblivion”, and that is why “we must keep the memories alive, because the past must to guide us properly on the actions to be taken now.
It is also a moral commitment to all those who fought to defend democracy against the coup d’état of the Athens junta and EOKA II, but also to those who fought to save Cyprus from the tyranny of Attila.”
In his opposition, and after symbolically offering the general secretary of AKEL the copy of the medal instituted by I. Kapodistrias, Stefanos Kasselakis underlined: “Hellenism is one and indivisible. It is not only the black anniversary of the invasion, it is also the black anniversary of the coup.
Our moral obligation as a patriotic left is not to forget, and in a productive way to contribute to peace and justice, without crowns of patriotism. I really appreciate the quality of attitude that AKEL has maintained historically, the productivity of your executives and yours personally, and know that we will be by your side in this path that we are following. And of course we are with you in the European Parliament, in the European Left, where we support the Cypriot people and our national positions in a way that is non-negotiable”.
Mr. Kasselakis thanked for the hospitality and added that “we will come back in the autumn again for life to continue this process and the productive attitude of the neighboring party in Greece”.
According to the same update from SYRIZA, Mr. Stefanou also said: “Through the meeting we found again that on very important issues concerning Cyprus, Greece, Europe, the whole world, we have identical, converging positions, and especially in the Cyprus issue we have an identification of positions.
A key task today is how we can take significant initiatives to break the longest-ever deadlock on the Cyprus issue, resume negotiations from where they were left at Crans Montana in 2017, preserve the very important negotiating acquis and negotiate on the basis of Guterres framework to continue the effort to find a solution to the Cyprus problem, to end the Turkish occupation, to reunite our people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, and the place, and together with the Turkish Cypriots to co-manage and co-decide on our future”.
Referring specifically to Europe, the president of SYRIZA-PS emphasized that “we, for our part, will put Europe to its responsibilities as far as we can, so that it does not have two standards for Ukraine and Cyprus”.
Mr. Stefanou added: “Even for Israel and Gaza. You must be consistent with all international law. When you put forward the UN resolutions, you must respect all the UN resolutions, if Europe wants to finally become a reliable international power that, on the basis of international law, promotes peace and the just resolution of various international regional problems.”
Generalizing, the president of SYRIZA argued: “Europe should not be a director of interests. He must recapture practical solidarity and we politicians must convince our countries that we can listen to the people. It is not by chance that this abstinence, this distaste that we see from societies towards the political system, the rise of the extreme right. We must convince the world that the progressive solution will bring development, inclusion and peace to all.”
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