The Union of Cypriots (Ένωσις Κυπρίων / Kıbrıslılar Birliği) is an anti-imperialist movement dedicated to the complete independence of Cyprus and the liberation of its people. Since 1974, our homeland has been under Turkish occupation and colonization, while NATO forces and foreign military bases use Cyprus to spread imperialist terror throughout the region and shackle our island to their interests.
We reject all separatist, ethnic-based political systems imposed on Cypriots by foreign powers and their local collaborators, which aim to maintain and consolidate the status quo on the island. While the Republic of Cyprus was established in 1960 as an independent state under the flag gifted to all Cypriots by the Turkish-speaking Cypriot İsmet Güney and was one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement, since 1963 imperialist powers have worked to dismantle the unity of the republic, culminating in the NATO-organized Greek junta coup and the Turkish invasion in 1974. Today, the occupation, forced displacement, cultural destruction and colonization of Cyprus by illegal Turkish settlers continues, reinforced by crimes against humanity, and this process demands that we oppose settler colonialism and bloodless genocide aimed at exterminating the indigenous people of Cyprus and erasing their rightful place in their ancestral homeland.
Cyprus is not just an island, it is a front line in the international struggle against imperialism and the fate of our homeland is tied to the wider resistance of oppressed nations against exploitation and foreign domination.
ONE NATION, ONE FLAG, ONE HOMELAND, ONE STATE
Our program, based on resistance to imperialism’s attempts to de-statize and fragment the nation, is the struggle for a pluralist, fully independent, genuinely democratic and unitary Republic of Cyprus, free from foreign military presence and from all forms of ethnic or other segregation and separatism, and the struggle of Cyprus, like the struggle of all oppressed nations, is a testimony to the permanent struggle for justice and sovereignty and reminds us of the inseparability of national liberation and revolution.
At the same time, we reject negotiations for apartheid systems such as bi-communal bi-zonal federation or two-statehood, which only serve to perpetuate imperialist influence over Cyprus and the hegemony of foreign powers and help them to keep Cyprus in their hands. Cyprus is not divided, it is occupied and therefore cannot be reunified, but it can only be liberated.
The Union of Cypriots emphasizes the importance of a unifying civic national identity that transcends institutionalized ethnocentrism for the existence of a unitary independent state and pioneers the ideology of Cypriotism, namely, Cypriot nationalism, against the colonial divide-and-rule ambitions of foreign powers.
LIBERATE CYPRUS, DEFEAT IMPERIALISM
The struggle for the liberation of Cyprus is not only a struggle for Cypriot unity and self-determination, but also a reflection of the wider struggle for sovereignty shared by the island peoples and all other colonized nations of the world, and the fate of the Cypriots cannot be separated from the fate of all other peoples resisting imperialism and struggling for true liberation.
The struggle for the liberation of Cyprus is not only a struggle for Cypriot unity and self-determination, but also a reflection of the wider struggle for sovereignty shared by the island peoples and all other colonized nations of the world, and the fate of the Cypriots cannot be separated from the fate of all other peoples resisting imperialism and struggling for true liberation.
HONORARY AWARDS
Union of Cypriots presents Honorary Awards to recognize the contributions of Cypriot individuals or organizations for our independence struggle. Union of Cypriots Honorary Awards are given in memory of a Cypriot community leader Dr. İhsan Ali, who spent his life for his people and the Cypriot Republic.
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
As a movement, we established links with many organisations all over world and has a long past of international work. Our international relations help us strengthen the independence struggle of Cypriots and fight against imperialism, in coordination with other movements around the world.
Union of Cypriots is a member of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), a formation that supports the struggles of the peoples of the world against imperialism.
Union of Cypriots is a part of the International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations (ICOR), an initiative for uniting the revolutionary movements of the world.
Union of Cypriots is a member of the United Front (International Anti-Imperialist United Front Against Fascism, War, and Environmental Destruction).
Union of Cypriots is a signatory of the Stuttgart Appeal (5 October 2008) and part of the No to war – no to NATO, the network to delegitimize NATO.
Union of Cypriots is affiliated with the Resist US-Led War Movement, a broad global network against US-led imperialist war and militarism.
