29.04.2021 – The united fronts of democratic, anti-imperialist, socialist, progressive, and revolutionary peoples’ movements of the world, published statements regarding the Cyprus talks which are taking place in Geneva between 27-29 April 2021.
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) and the International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations (ICOR) expressed their support for Cypriots’ fight for a fully independent Cyprus and saluted our national liberation struggle against imperialism.
ILPS Europe: “ILPS Europe maintains that the future of Cyprus, … should lie with the legislative bodies of the Republic of Cyprus, by restoring the constitutional order that was destroyed in 1963-64 by foreign powers”
The ILPS Europe Organizing Committee expresses its solidarity with Cypriots in asserting Cyprus’s sovereignty as a unitary state, ahead of informal talks called by the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on 27-29 April 2021 in Geneva. ILPS Europe maintains that the future of Cyprus, which has long been a battleground of foreign geopolitical and economic interests in the Eastern Mediterranean, should lie with the legislative bodies of the Republic of Cyprus, by restoring the constitutional order that was destroyed in 1963-64 by foreign powers.
The UN-brokered meeting will gather the ‘guarantor countries’ Great Britain, Greece and Turkey along with representatives of the Greek-speaking Cypriots and Turkish-speaking Cypriots to “determine whether common ground exists for the parties to negotiate a lasting solution to the Cyprus problem within a foreseeable horizon”. For freedom-long Cypriots, there will be no meaningful solution coming from a table where colonialists and imperialists sit.
Cyprus’s independence from British colonization was declared in 1960. The Cypriot Republic was born as a unitary and consociational state of Greek-speaking and Turkish-speaking Cypriots. After the declaration of independence and during the Cold War, Cyprus was part of the Non-Aligned Movement. When unitary Cyprus became a threat to the future of British military bases in the island, Greece and Turkey sponsored a civil unrest between Greek-speaking and Turkish-speaking Cypriots. Progressive Cypriots like Ayhan Hikmet, Ahmet Muzaffer Gürkan and Derviş Ali Kavazoğlu were murdered by paramilitary groups that were supported by these powers. In 1974, when the US-backed junta of Greece orchestrated a coup in Cyprus, Turkey had the chance to occupy the northern parts of the island. After this, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) introduced the segregationist ‘bizonal bicomunal federal Cyprus’ as a solution to the crisis.
Since Turkey occupied the northern part of Cyprus, it has committed war crimes reminiscent of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Since 1974, Turkey has relocated hundreds of thousands of illegal Turkish settlers from Anatolia to Cyprus. These settlements are also being used by the Turkish government for cultural, social, and economic oppression towards Turkish-speaking Cypriots who are opposing the imperialist activities of the Turkish State both in Cyprus and the rest of the eastern Mediterranean region.
More recently, on 22 January 2018, Turkish President Erdogan instigated a lynch campaign against the Turkish-speaking Cypriot newspaper Afrika (now Avrupa) in what is now one of the darkest events that happened in the island since 1974. Avrupa newspaper is the biggest Turkish-language daily published by Cypriots in the occupied areas of Cyprus and it has also been critical of Erdogan’s militarist policies in the region including those against the Kurdish people. After publishing a critique on Turkey’s occupation of northern Syria and northern Cyprus, Erdogan called on his followers to attack the headquarters of the newspaper. The next day, flag-waving protesters hurled bottles and stones to destroy the newspaper’s premises.
Currently, five NATO powers (United Kingdom, Turkey, Greece, France and United States) are entrenched in this small island, which they utilize like an unsinkable aircraft carrier in the most geopolitically strategic part of West Asia and North Africa. The waters around Cyprus, known to be rich in oil and gas deposits, have been subjected to drilling expeditions by the Turkish government and big energy corporations. With the upcoming UN meeting, the NATO federal proposal, which will maintain the presence of foreign powers in Cyprus, is on the table again, despite the rejection of Cypriots of a similar proposal (known as the UN Annan Plan) when it was put under referendum in 2004.
As foreign powers prepare to sit together in April to discuss how to carve out Cyprus, we support the Cypriots’ struggle to end the foreign occupation of their country, to reject the divisive solutions being espoused by NATO and to fight for their independence. We salute the Greek-speaking and Turkish-speaking Cypriots for their struggle against foreign domination and for their contribution to the liberation struggles not only in West Asia and North Africa but also in other regions of the world!
End foreign domination of Cyprus!
Uphold and support the Cypriot people’s right to liberation!
Expose and oppose NATO schemes and forces in Eastern Mediterranean and the world over!
Stop all imperialist incursions in Eastern Mediterranean!
Long live international solidarity!
ICOR Europe: “From the peasant liberation movements of Gavur İmam Revolt to the workers’ movements against the United States’ Cyprus Mines Corporation, the common independence struggle of Cypriots continues to exist today”
On 27th-29th April 2021, imperialists and colonialists will gather together again to discuss the “Cyprus issue” in an event hosted by the United Nations. Along with the representatives of Turkey, Greece and United Kingdom, there will be representatives of the Greek-speaking Cypriot and Turkish-speaking Cypriot political elites who are currently acting as puppet regimes of Greece and Turkey.
Historically, Cyprus was the centre of Mediterranean rivalries during the Cold War. Cyprus was (and is) the object of desire of NATO member states – both Greece and Turkey, but also England (which colonised it between 1878 and 1960).
The Northern part of Cyprus is under the occupation of Turkey since 1974, after a coup attempt organized by the US-backed junta of Greece with the aim of annexing the island. Since then, the consociational and unitary Cypriot Republic, which was a threat to the foreign military existence, does not exist.
For more than 50 years, the NATO-supported “bizonal bicommunal federal Cyprus” idea is on the table and talked by all the sides. And for 50 years the people of Cyprus are fighting for a fully independent island.
In the 5+1 meeting, parties will talk again about the separatist and segregationist federation plan that the majority of the Cypriots rejected in 2004. Freedom and self-determination are the deep desires of the people of Cyprus and the various nationalities.
From the peasant liberation movements of Gavur İmam Revolt to the workers’ movements against the United States’ Cyprus Mines Corporation, the common independence struggle of Cypriots continues to exist today.
The solution for the so-called “Cyprus issue” is only possible if the people of Cyprus themselves determine their future. For this to happen, first all foreign troops have to leave the island! The right of self-determination of the peoples can finally be realised only under socialism – when imperialism is overcome and the peoples of the world work together for their mutual benefit.
The event that takes place in the end of this month is just another attempt by the imperialists to convince the world that there are only two options for Cyprus, the legitimization of the occupation of the island or the continuation of the status quo.
Therefore as ICOR, we would like to express our support for the people of Cyprus and their struggle against imperialism. We acknowledge that the current events in the Eastern Mediterranean and also the UN meeting are an expression of the intensified inter-imperialist competition and rivalry, which includes NATO and means neo-colonialism for Cyprus. Cyprus will not be the unsinkable aircraft carrier of NATO in West Asia and North Africa or a hub for fossil imperialism.
Imperialists and all occupant forces, get out of the island!
Cyprus belongs to the people of Cyprus!
Strengthen the international anti-imperialist and anti-fascist united front!
