Parties condemn activists who removed Greek flags

Political parties Edek and Solidarity on Tuesday condemned members of the Left Movement-We Want Federation for taking down Greek flags from various locations in Nicosia.

“The people involved in the incident should be brought to justice and punished. We hope this leads to measures to avoid such incidents in the future,” a Solidarity announcement said.

Edek’s announcement said the act of hooded people who had the audacity to take down Greek flags from historical and religious monuments but were not brave enough to show their faces was a shame.

Four Greek flags were taken down over the weekend from the Pancyprian Gymnasium, a National Guard post, the Church of Agios Lazaros, and Eleftheria Square and were replaced by a flag symbolising an independent and reunified Cyprus.

As shown in a video posted on social media by members of the movement, the Greek flags were sent to the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicos Kotzias.

This was a symbolic act aimed to send a loud message that Cyprus should be rid off the so-called respective “motherlands”.

The Left Movement-We Want Federation stated on its Facebook page that peace in Cyprus means reunifying the country and its people.

“This presupposes the overthrow of the sovereignty of Greek and Turkish nationalism at a political, ideological and symbolic level. It does not bother us that some of our compatriots identify them-selves as Greeks or Turks. What we do not tolerate, however, is the imposition of Greek and Turkish sovereignty and the undermining of the independence of Cyprus,” the group said.

The movement previously replaced various street signs in Nicosia with stickers on April in an at-tempt to restore the memory of the victims from both communities.