CYPRUS yesterday marked 50 years of the Republic against a backdrop of 36 years of division and ongoing negotiations to try and reunify an island whose 1960 unity lasted only three years.
The occasion was marked by a grand military parade, speeches, pomp and ceremony, from the gun salutes at sunrise and sunset to the main cultural event at the Tassos Papadopoulos stadium last night.
At the presidential palace, the flag was raised in the presence of President Demetris Christofias, whose first order of the day was to lay a wreath at the statue of Archbishop Makarios III, Cyprus’ first president. Around the island military parades were held, with the main one taking place in Nicosia. Hundreds of people lined the streets to watch the National Guard (NG) show its wares.
Soldiers joined members of the police, fire services, civil aviation and the forestry department to salute Christofias and other diplomats and officials – including Greek Defence Minister Evangelos Venizelos. After the parade, Christofias said he was proud of “the achievement called the Republic of Cyprus”, as well as the NG, which he said was under orders to “protect the entity of the Republic of Cyprus”.
Christofias said he hoped his negotiations with Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu would bring a solution as soon as possible “a solution that would “reunify the country, force Turkish forces to leave Cyprus, put an end to settlers and enable Greek and Turkish Cypriots to celebrate achievements that were reached commonly for the Cyprus Republic.
The President repeated his plea to the Turkish leadership to start putting words into action.
“If Turkey continues to exercise the policy of words, we will need even greater efforts to convince the international community and European Union to put pressure on Turkey to see reason and come to its senses so we can have a solution as soon as possible,” said Christofias. For there to be a swift solution to the Cyprus problem, there was no alternative to dialogue, he said.
The Greek Defence Minister said he hoped the Republic’s 51st anniversary would find Cyprus united, in peace and prosperity “The only way to achieve this goal is to respect international justice and accept the resolutions reached by the UN Security Council,” said Venizelos.
His Cypriot counterpart, Defence Minister Costas Papacostas, said that while Turkish occupying forces remained in Cyprus, the NG would continue to be upgraded and supplied with new weaponry “so that it can correspond to the expectations of the Cypriot people”.
The majority of the main party leaders yesterday called for “self reflection” and an evaluation of mistakes made in the past so Cypriots could move forward.
AKEL general secretary Andros Kyprianou said yesterday’s anniversary was not just a day of celebration and pride for everyone, but it should also be a day of deep thought and self reflection to see what went wrong in the past and how mistakes can be avoided so prospects can be created for a better future.
DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades agreed the anniversary should be a day of deep thought: “What were we given 50 years ago, where we are today and where will we be the day after? We need to understand that through self reflection, we can recognise the mistakes that happened in the past and find ways to make corrections for the future.”
DIKO leader and House President Marios Garoyian said yesterday’s anniversary should remind everyone of their responsibility and duty to maintain unity on the internal front. He said 50 years of independence should remind everyone to have faith in the battle.
EDEK’s Yiannakis Omirou said the Cypriot people managed to survive through external conspiracies and internal traps, and managed to repeatedly rescue the Cyprus Republic over the past 50 years. He added that an unfair or unbalanced solution to the Cyprus problem would not be accepted.
At lunchtime, Christofias and his wife Elsi held a celebratory lunch with Greek diplomats and Cypriot ambassadors abroad. This was followed by an event to mark Cyprus’ 50 years of independence at the Eleftheria – Tassos Papadopoulos stadium in Nicosia last night – an event Greek President Karolos Papoulias flew in from Greece early in the afternoon to attend.
Papoulias, who will be leaving Cyprus today, was greeted at Larnaca Airport by Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou at Larnaca Airport, among others.
During his speech at the event, Christofias called for unity on the domestic front – which he said had cost Cyprus dearly in the past – and admitted things weren’t going as well as he would like in his negotiations with Eroglu.
“Despite the progress that has been achieved with inter-communal dialogue, we are not satisfied with the Turkish side’s stance,” said Christofias. “The positions it submits are often distant from basic principles. We will exhaust all possibilities offered by inter-communal dialogue. We will do whatever possible – in the frame of the procedure that was decided.”
He added: “The Cypriot people may be few numerically but we are people that are dignified, militant, and hard workers, and we have the will to create and achieve. If we use these gifts correctly, we can do wonders for our country.”
Meanwhile, Christofias was also forced to comment on the uproar caused by his statements in New York when he referred to “an invasion by the two mainlands” – apparently equating the 1974 Greek-backed coup with the Turkish invasion five days later.
He said he wasn’t looking for more rifts but for ways to put an end to them.
“Anyone can take one word and exploit it and distort it,” said Christofias. “There was a prologue, a main part and epilogue, and the entire text should be taken into consideration as a whole,” he added. “Unfortunately certain people – or a journalist – decided to isolate one word and create all this uproar on the domestic front. I sincerely can only express my sadness.”
Christofias wondered where all of the harsh criticism had come from when all he had done was condemn the Greek junta – “which oppressed the Greek people and which unfortunately opened the door to the Turkish invasion”.
He added: “Will we stop condemning the Greek junta, or telling the historical truth? Will we rewrite the state’s history?”
Greek Minister Venizelos said he had engaged in a long discussion with Christofias earlier yesterday, which left him with the clear impression that “the junta coup against the legal state of Cyprus and its legal president, Archbishop Makarios, was the excuse used by Turkey for its invasion and continuing occupation of a large section of the Cyprus Republic”. He said this was self explanatory and self evident.
His Cypriot counterpart, Defence Minister Costas Papacostas, said that while Turkish occupying forces remained in Cyprus, the NG would continue to be upgraded and supplied with new weaponry.
The majority of the main party leaders yesterday called for “self reflection” and an evaluation of mistakes made in the past so Cypriots could move forward.
AKEL general secretary Andros Kyprianou said yesterday’s anniversary was not just a day of celebration and pride for everyone, but it should also be a day of deep thought and self-reflection to see what went wrong in the past and how mistakes can be avoided so prospects can be created for a better future.
DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades agreed. “What were we given 50 years ago, where we are today and where will we be the day after? We need to understand that through self-reflection, we can recognise the mistakes that happened in the past and find ways to make corrections for the future.”
DIKO leader and House President Marios Garoyian said the anniversary should remind everyone of their responsibility and duty to maintain unity on the domestic front and to remind people to have faith in the struggle.
EDEK’s Yiannakis Omirou said the Cypriot people managed to survive external conspiracies and internal traps, and managed to repeatedly rescue the Cyprus Republic over the past 50 years. He added that an unfair or unbalanced solution to the Cyprus problem would not be accepted.
At lunchtime, Christofias and his wife Elsi held a celebratory lunch with Greek diplomats and Cypriot ambassadors abroad. This was followed by an event to mark Cyprus’ 50 years of independence at the Eleftheria–Tassos Papadopoulos stadium in Nicosia last night. Greek President Karolos Papoulias flew in from Greece early in the afternoon to attend.
Papoulias, who will be leaving Cyprus today, was greeted at Larnaca Airport by Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou.
During his speech at last night’s event, Christofias also called for unity on the domestic front – the lack of which had cost Cyprus dearly in the past, he said. Referring to the negotiations, he said things weren’t going as well as he would like.
“Despite the progress that has been achieved with inter-communal dialogue, we are not satisfied with the Turkish side’s stance,” said Christofias. “The positions it submits are often far from the basic principles but we will do whatever possible within the framework of the agreed procedure.”
He added: “The Cypriot people may be few numerically but we are people that are dignified, militant, and hard workers, and we have the will to create and achieve. If we use these gifts correctly, we can do wonders for our country.”
Christofias was also forced to comment on the uproar caused by statements he made in New York when he referred to “an invasion by the two mainlands” – apparently equating the 1974 Greek-backed coup with the Turkish invasion five days later.
He said yesterday he wasn’t looking for more rifts but for ways to put an end to them.
“Anyone can take one word and exploit it and distort it,” said Christofias. “There was a prologue, a main part and epilogue, and the entire text should be taken into consideration as a whole,” he added. “Unfortunately certain people – or a journalist – decided to isolate one word and create all this uproar on the domestic front. I sincerely can only express my sadness.”
Christofias wondered where all of the harsh criticism had come from when all he had done was condemn the Greek junta – “which oppressed the Greek people and which unfortunately opened the door to the Turkish invasion”.
He added: “Will we stop condemning the Greek junta, or telling the historical truth? Will we rewrite the state’s history?”
Greek Minister Venizelos said he had engaged in a long discussion with Christofias earlier yesterday, which left him with the clear impression that “the junta’s coup against the legal state of Cyprus and its legal president, Archbishop Makarios, was the excuse used by Turkey for its invasion and continuing occupation of a large section of the Cyprus Republic”. He said this was self explanatory and self evident.
