‘Facts cannot be forged’

FACTS are what make history and cannot be forged, president Nicos Anastasiades said on Tuesday, responding to accusations from opposition party AKEL’s general secretary Andros Kyprianou.
Kyprianou had accused the government and Anastasiades of a systematic attempt to “forge history and whitewash the US involvement in planning the July 15 coup.”
Kyprianou was referring to Makarios Drousiotis, a journalist and researcher who recently published a book called The Invasion and the Big Powers. Drousiotis’ book challenges a long-held belief among Cypriots that the coup was US backed and that the Soviet Union’s – and later Russia’s – support is no more than a myth.
Once Anastasiades took office, he hired Drousiotis to the presidential palace press office.
“Facts cannot be changed either by leaders or writers. Facts are what made history and facts cannot be changed,” said Anastasiades.
The president was talking to the press following a memorial service for those who died in the July 15, 1974 coup. “The day is dedicated to those that gave their life to protect democracy and freedom,” said Anastasiades, adding that he hopes that events like that don’t take place ever again.

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.