Our View: Recycled rhetoric dominates 50th anniversary of coup and invasion
In a special session of the House of Representatives on Monday to mark the 50th anniversary of ‘twin crime’ of the coup and occupation attended by the president, the party leaders made the same speeches that they or their predecessors have been making for the last 50 years. It was the hackneyed rhetoric about the treacherous coup that led to the Turkish invasion, the forgiveness granted to the perpetrators and the usual platitudes about new strategies, new alliances and the need for a fair and just settlement.
The sirens were heard on Monday morning at the time when the coup commenced, as happens every year on this day, so we would be reminded of what had happened on July 15, 1974, while the president attended a memorial service for all those who fell fighting against the coup, ordered by the military Junta in Greece and executed by the national guard, assisted by Eoka B irregulars. It was an act of stupidity as much as it was an act of treachery, as it gave Turkey a legal pretext to invade.
Akel leader, Stefanos Stefanou, as party tradition dictates, had to take a swipe at Nato and the West, before giving the usual lessons about historical truth. “It is a moral commitment to the fighters of democratic resistance against the coup to remember the events and defend historical truth,” he told the House. All that was achieved by all those who try to downplay the treachery of the coup, claiming it was ‘civil strife’ and “all those who try to cover up the murderous action of Eoka B was to acquit the perpetrators of the crime against our people.”
It is a rather simplistic version of historical truth, which deals exclusively with the perpetrators while ignoring the prevailing conditions of the time but has become the official narrative. Nobody has distorted Akel’s historical truth and nobody has tried to cover up the murderous actions of Eoka B. Admittedly, the Eoka B members were not charged and put in prison, because Archbishop Makarios granted everyone a pardon on his return to Cyprus, wanting unity after the invasion. Only the coup president, Nicos Sampson, was tried and sentenced, even though he spent very little of his sentence in prison.
This lack of punishment of the perpetrators was also mentioned by President Christodoulides after Monday’s memorial service. “Of course there were responsibilities (for the coup), and I repeat I am not here to issue pardon papers to anyone,” he said. “The real perpetrators of the coup, those working for the Junta in Cyprus were not punished… we all know who the real perpetrators were and the olive branch (offered by Makarios) was used to protect them,” he said.
This is what our politicians talk about on the anniversary of the coup – why the perpetrators of the coup were not punished 50 years ago? They were not by decision of Makarios. That is the historical truth and people should learn to live with it instead of bringing it up every year on July 15, as if something could be done about it.