Parliament passes anti-Nazi bill

Parliament on Friday passed a resolution expressing concern over the rise of the far-right, neofascism, and racism, noting that Cyprus has painful experience from fascist activity in the country.
The resolution was adopted with 37 votes in favour and two against – both MPs from the far-right party Elam.
It highlights the rise of the far-right in the EU and urges Cypriot authorities to monitor a trial involving the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn in Greece to determine whether any criminal offences had been committed in on the island.
Ιn September 2013, immediately after the murder of rapper Pavlos Fyssas, Greek authorities arrested the leadership of Golden Dawn, as well as dozens of officials and members, implicated in criminal activities listed in a huge case file.
After a nine-month long inquest, the Court of Appeal decided that 69 individuals, including the party’s entire parliamentary group, would stand trial charged with participation in a criminal organisation.
Golden Dawn and Elam have links, with Elam’s chairman and MP, Christos Christou, who served as a bodyguard for the Greek party’s leader Nikolas Michaloliakos in the past.
The resolution, submitted by main opposition Akel, said the financial crisis and the widening of inequality paved the way for the forces of far-right populism and neo-fascism.
Parliament ‘strongly condemns the existence and activity of neo-fascist and neo-Nazi movements in Europe’ as ‘an insult to the history of the continent and the millions of victims of the Second World War’.
“We do not wish to engage in a perpetual theoretical discussion about the political present, nor do we claim the monopoly on interpreting the past,” said ruling Disy MP Nicos Tornaritis.
The Democratic Rally, he said, has fought battles from the first day of its existence to establish a modern and fundamental democracy in political life and its objective is to defend fundamental individual rights and freedoms.
Akel MP Giorgos Loukaides said the resolution was necessary at a time when Nazi and fascist parties were entered parliament and promulgating hate, racism, fear and bigotry.
“If Europe and the entire humankind continue to exist today is because in the historic confrontation of World War II, the peoples of the world crushed Nazism and Hitlero-fascism,” he said.
“It is necessary to take a stance as a parliament because we live in a country that sees the results of fascism illuminated on Pentadaktylos (mountain) every day,” he added, referring to the painted Turkish flag, a result of the 1974 invasion that followed a coup to overthrow president Makarios.
Diko said the party had never shared such ‘shameful convictions’ while Edek praised the party co-operation in drafting the resolution.
“Unfortunately, the Greek junta destroyed our country in the name of Christian faith, family, and the nation, under the cover of the honoured Greek flag,” Edek MP Costis Efstathiou said.
The leader of Elam said there was a deliberate attempt to equate Nazism, fascism, and racism with patriotism and nationalism.
“In the days when one revelation follows another, the days when one scandal follows another, Akel opts to occupy the plenum with the so-called rise of the far-right in Europe,” he said.
Christou condemned Nazi and fascist crimes and stressed that despite what they were charged with, Elam was not nostalgic for Hitler.
He said Europe was not at risk from the rise of the far-right but from austerity, adding that a lot of crimes had been committed in Cyprus but not by the Golden Dawn.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.