AKEL on Tuesday again drew the ire of ELAM for mentioning the ultra-nationalist outfit in a statement issued on the anniversary of the April 21, 1967 coup d’état in Greece on Monday.
In its statement, denouncing the coup that led to the installation of the junta, AKEL said: “The fascistic, nationalist, racist and bigoted ideologies of Golden Dawn and ELAM are no different to those ideologies that bolstered the coup and kept the junta in power for seven years.”
In an indignant but also mocking rejoinder, ELAM took a jab at AKEL, suggesting the communist party had a fixation:
“It seems the climate of the days, with all the eating and partying, has gone to their heads. So they decided to come up with their own recipe for Easter soup. Ingredients: a little coup, a touch of EOKA B, a pinch of Turkish invasion, some diced-up NATO, five to six teaspoons of fascism, throw in a cup of junta coffee, a cup of Polytechnic and, topping it off, some ELAM and Golden Dawn. Heat at 1.5 million euros, sorry, degrees. That’s how you cook up a tasty press release which you serve the media… bon appetit.”
ELAM had some advice for AKEL: “Before you accuse us, you might think of studying us to figure out what we stand for.”
The group went on to suggest that it was a case of the pot calling the kettle black: “This is coming from a party which believes in communism, the most anti-democratic, most sinister and most bloody form of government.”
According to ELAM, their critics should take a hard look in the mirror when talking about the Greek junta. It claimed that the late Ezekias Papaioannou, former boss of AKEL, was cosy with colonel George Papadopoulos, one of the leaders of the Greek junta.
In its statement, ELAM did not however elaborate on its thoughts about the Greek military dictatorship nor did it seek to distance itself from the junta, which held power until July 1974.
It is hardly the first time that AKEL and ELAM have traded barbs. The communist party wants authorities to investigate ELAM on suspicion of conducting illegal military drills.
Last month around 100 members of ELAM disrupted a Cyprus problem talk in Limassol attended by former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat. They reportedly assaulted a Turkish Cypriot journalist and hurled a flare inside the venue.
