Traduzione di Mauro Gemma
Migliaia di ciprioti greci e ciprioti turchi hanno preso parte alla marcia della pace pan-cipriota organizzata dal Consiglio di pace di Cipro, che ha espresso la richiesta di pace a Cipro e nel mondo.
Un sole splendente e il rumore dei caccia britannici che sorvolavano la manifestazione non hanno infranto la volontà dei manifestanti di percorrere i quasi cinque chilometri della marcia verso la base militare britannica ad Akrotiri vicino a Limassol - base da cui i caccia britannici sono decollati per bombardare la Siria e il suo popolo.
La marcia ha rappresentato un'importante condanna degli interventi e delle guerre imperialiste della NATO, attraverso la denuncia e il rifiuto dell'uso di Cipro, vale a dire delle basi militari britanniche installate in questo paese, come piattaforma per il lancio di operazioni di aggressione contro i popoli del Medio Oriente.
I manifestanti hanno chiesto il ritiro di tutte le forze militari straniere da Cipro, comprese le forze di occupazione turche - che continuano ad occupare illegalmente quasi il 40 per cento del territorio di Cipro -, lo smantellamento delle basi militari britanniche in quel paese, nonché lo scioglimento della NATO.
Davanti ai cancelli della base britannica sono stati distribuiti simbolicamente giubbotti di salvataggio e una barca gonfiabile, come denuncia delle morti di migliaia di persone nel Mar Mediterraneo, mentre fuggono dagli orrori delle guerre provocate dalle aggressioni degli Stati Uniti, della NATO e dei suoi alleati.
Prima dell'inizio della marcia si è svolta una manifestazione politico-culturale alla quale hanno partecipato rappresentanti di Spagna, Francia, Gran Bretagna, Grecia, Palestina, Serbia, Siria, nonché il Consiglio mondiale per la pace e il Consiglio portoghese per la pace e cooperazione.
Contro le guerre dell'imperialismo
Anche Andros Kyprianou, segretario generale del Comitato centrale di AKEL (Partito del Popolo Lavoratore di Cipro), ha preso parte all'iniziativa, sottolineando l'importanza della lotta per la pace e contro le guerre dell'imperialismo, "che sta dividendo e ridisegnando il mondo, ridefinendo ripetutamente confini e spargendo il sangue dei popoli”.
Ricordando che l'orrore della guerra si trova letteralmente dalle parti di Cipro, Andros Kyprianou ha denunciato la grave situazione nella Striscia di Gaza - dove oltre un milione di persone non gode dei diritti fondamentali a seguito dell'assedio e della repressione di Israele.
Il segretario di AKEL ha anche denunciato l'aggressione contro la Siria, dove oltre mezzo milione di persone sono state uccise negli ultimi otto anni, la guerra di aggressione contro lo Yemen, dove l'orrore della guerra e della distruzione affligge milioni di persone e ha ricordato i milioni di sfollati e rifugiati, compresi i bambini.
Kyprianou ha denunciato e criticato l'atteggiamento connivente del governo cipriota per l'aggressione contro la Siria e il suo silenzio in merito all'uso delle basi militari britanniche installate nel paese per attaccare la Siria e il suo popolo.
Il segretario generale di AKEL ha anche ribadito che la via verso la fine dell'occupazione e la riunificazione di Cipro è la soluzione federale bizonale e bicomunitaria.
Sunday 10 June 2018
• The peoples of the wider region are witnesses to the tensions imperialist aggression is provoking daily, which is expressed in the waging of new wars and interventions. The continuous violation of International Law and of the UN Charter can be added to the existing unresolved international problems, as well as the catastrophic consequences which the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya have provoked. We demand an immediate end to the hostilities in the area. The drastic and dangerous militarization has made our region a theatre of geopolitical and energy confrontations of our times. The peoples are paying the price of the competition for the control of the energy reserves, pipelines and commercial routes with their blood and uprooting as refugees.
• We denounce the bloodshed and all the foreign interventions in Syria and demand the respect of the territorial integrity, unity and sovereignty of the country.. We express our solidarity with the suffering people of Syria who is has been subjected for several years to the military intervention of the US-NATO-Turkey and the Gulf Monarchies, aiming at the overthrow of the country's government and the promotion of the geopolitical and energy plans of the West.
• We condemn the new wave of murderous aggression conducted by the State of Israel against the people of Palestine, which is being cultivated by the inflammatory US policy. We demand the termination of the Israeli occupation and colonization in Palestine, the end to the inhuman and illegal blockade of Gaza, the release of the political prisoners and demolition of the Wall of Shame. We stand in solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people for the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as the capital that will coexist peacefully next to the State of Israel. We call on the EU to freeze the Association Agreement and cancel any kind of inter-state military co-operation with Israel.
• We condemn the ongoing 4 year military raid of Saudi Arabia against Yemen, which has caused one of the greatest humanitarian crises in the world and brought enormous destruction in the country’s already rudimentary infrastructures. We condemn the silence shown by international organizations and the global mass media surrounding the developments in this dirty war and we vehemently denounce the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia by a number of Western countries.
• We denounce the aggression waged by the Turkish state both internally, as well as against neighboring states. We are struggling for a solution of the Cyprus problem that will lead to the termination of the Turkish occupation and division of Cyprus; to the liberation and reunification of the island and people of Cyprus; to the peaceful coexistence of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in their common homeland on the basis of the agreed framework of bicommunal, bizonal federation.
• We are fighting for the dissolution of all the foreign military bases in the countries of our region, which operate as launching pads for conducting raids and interventions against our peoples. We denounce the use and involvement of the British bases in Cyprus in imperialist raids and the existence of the spying facilities on the island. We are struggling for the abolition of the British bases in Cyprus and the full demilitarization of the island.
• We demand that our region free itself from nuclear weapons and call for the convening of a UN Conference that will proclaim the Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destruction, including Turkey which has nuclear weapons on its territory. We denounce the US decision to unilaterally withdraw from the Iran nuclear program agreement and condemn the cover-up provided to the State of Israel, which has a nuclear arsenal and refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
• We call for solidarity and the humane treatment for refugees coming from the countries of the region. We demand the replacement of the military operations to suppress the refugee flows with search and rescue operations in order so that the ongoing tragedies in the Mediterranean be reduced. We call demand from the EU the establishment of legal and safe routes for asylum seekers and a permanent mechanism for accommodating refugees in all the EU Member States, depending on their possibilities. We denounce the "externalization of the control of EU borders" by means of agreements with neighboring states so that the refugees are kept outside Europe by any means.
• We denounce the extensive arms trade conducted by EU Member States to countries at war and authoritarian regimes of the Middle East, an element which fuels or/and provokes the tensions, conflicts and bloodshed.
• We affirm that the peoples of our region have nothing to divide between them. Our common enemy is imperialism which generates wars, chauvinism and militarism. The struggle for the respect of International Law, for peace, for the recognition of the right of every people to determine the future of its country is the path of struggle which unites the peace-loving movements and peoples of our neighborhood.
"The liberation and reunification of Cyprus as a stage of struggle against imperialist aggression and for world peace"
The Cyprus Peace Council, political parties, movements and people participating in the Peace March which is taking place today 10 June 2018, considering that the current partitionist status quo continues to crush any prospect for real peace, prosperity and progress for the Cypriot people as a whole, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, and that the effort to reach a solution of the Cyprus problem is a stage of struggle against the generalized imperialist aggression which humanity and our entire region is facing very violently, concludes the following:
1. Points out that the creation and perpetuation of the Cyprus problem is the result of illegal foreign interventions and plans seeking the control of the Eastern Mediterranean region and the wider region of the Middle East. Denounces that 44 years after the twin crime committed in July 1974 - namely the treacherous coup d’état and the illegal Turkish invasion engineered by the NATO powers in full co-operation with undemocratic forces in Cyprus - the Cyprus problem remains unresolved. At the same time, it also denounces the support towards the consolidation of the status quo by anyone from whatever quarter, since this is how the final partition of Cyprus is promoted that serves first and foremost Turkey, which continues to occupy 37% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus.
2. Stresses that the unwavering goal remains the liberation and reunification of Cyprus and its people.
3. Demands the immediate withdrawal of the occupying Turkish troops from Cyprus, the termination of the anachronistic and imposed Treaty of Guarantee and any intervention rights, as well as the demilitarization of the Republic of Cyprus on the basis of the unanimous decisions of the National Council of 1989 and 2009, and numerous resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council.
4. Considers that the dismantling of the British bases is an integral part of the struggle our people is waging to regain their territorial integrity and the unimpeded exercise of its state sovereignty. At the same time, it underlines that the characterization of the bases as "sovereign" reflects unacceptable remnants of a colonial regime, illegal according to international law. Considers that the two communities, with the Cyprus problem solved, can together more effectively continue the struggle for the withdrawal of the Bases.
5. Stresses its support for a bicommunal, bizonal federal solution based on International Law, the UN Security Council resolutions on Cyprus, the High-Level Agreements and EU principles; Reaffirms that the solution of the Cyprus problem, as provided by the joint communiqués of the leaders of the two communities and the agreed convergences, will safeguard that there is a one state in Cyprus with a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship, an independent and territorially integral state, consisting of two politically equal communities as provided for in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. The solution must exclude the union of all or part of the island with any other state, as well as any form of partition, secession or annexation by another state.
6. Underlines that the solution of the Cyprus problem must safeguard the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Cypriots, while expressing concern about the existing treatment of the enclaved persons. At the same time, denounces the Turkish side's long-standing reluctance to cooperate to the greatest possible degree for the completion of the effort to verify the fate of the missing persons, and calls on all to contribute to this procedure.
7. Supports that the appropriate way of achieving a peaceful, just, mutually acceptable and viable solution to the Cyprus problem continues to be through substantive intercommunal talks under the auspices of the UN. It points out that the unsuccessful ending of the talks in Crans Montana last July has led the Cyprus problem to a dangerous stalemate, while at the same time underlining that the way to avoid the final deadlock and for the negotiations to resume is the one proposed by the UN Secretary-General in the Report he submitted last September.
8. Warns that the continuation of the deadlock in the talks consolidates dangerously the fait accompli of the occupation and leads us step by step towards the final partition. It therefore calls for the immediate resumption of the negotiations as a necessity and calls on the leaders of the two communities to work together and substantially in this direction.
9. Demands from Turkey that it ceases to engage in divisive policies against the Republic of Cyprus and the Cypriot people, as well as to put an end to any action that inflames the climate and limits the chances of resuming the dialogue.
10. Calls on the international community to show solidarity with the struggles of the Cypriot people, support the effort for the resumption of the dialogue and finding a solution on the agreed basis and to exert all possible influence within this framework on Ankara.
11. In conclusion, it once more reiterates that the solution of the Cyprus problem is the only real guarantee for the consolidation of peace in Cyprus and creation of prospects for sustainable prosperity and progress to the benefit of the Cypriot people as a whole, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. At the same time, peace in Cyprus can become a beacon of hope for curbing the imperialist aggression in our region.
Belgrade, June 3rd, 2018.
Nicosia, Cyprus
Dear Friends of Peace,
The Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals, as well as all friends of brotherly people of Cypruce, from Serbia, expresses their utmost solidarity with organizers and participants of Pancyprian Peace March 2018.
In this turbulent era of growing tensions, global mistrust and daily violations of international law we demand to end all ongoing wars, to stop bloodshed being committed against peoples of the region such as the peoples of Syria, Palestine, Yemen and others. We demand that all disputes be resolved by peaceful means only, through negotiations under the auspices of United Nations. Use of force or threat of use of force is contrary to UN Charter and never leads to just and sustainable solutions and therefore are absolutely unacceptable..
We join you in marching on the path of Peace in order to express our opposition to Cyprus being used through the British Bases as an aggressive launching pad. Foreign military bases are relics of the Cold War era and in the interest of peace and freedom should be dismantled.
We fully support just demands for the resumption of talks on the Cyprus problem and peaceful reunification of Cyprus, so that Cyprus becomes a bridge of peace, development and cooperation for the peoples of the region.
We are eternally grateful for solidarity and great humanitarian assistance of the brotherly people of Cyprus to Serbian people in the years of Yugoslav Crises and 1999. NATO aggression.
Long live peace.
Long live eternal friendship and solidarity between Serbia and Cyprus.
Zivadin Jovanovic
President of the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals
B e l g r a d e
Serbia
Il ballottaggio presidenziale a Cipro del 4 febbraio ha confermato Nicos Anastasiades col 55,99% dei voti. I democristiano dell’Alleanza Democratica (DISY) vincono così il secondo mandato consecutivo.
Lo sfidante era Stavros Malas, del Partito Progressista dei Lavoratori di Cipro (AKEL), la storica formazione comunista dell’isola. Malas è arrivato al secondo turno contro tutte le indicazioni dei sondaggi. Tra il primo e il secondo turno Malas è passato dal 30,24 al 44,01%. Questo recupero non è bastato a colmare lo svantaggio, anche per il sostegno dato dal terzo candidato, il liberaldemocratico Papadopoulos, al presidente uscente.
AKEL ha governato Cipro dal 2006 al 2013, evitando che durante la fase più pesante della crisi il paese finisse sotto il commissariamento della Troika, senza riuscire però a imporre una “uscita a sinistra dalla crisi”
Il presidente Anastasiades ha ottenuto dai creditori internazionali dei notevoli aiuti e l’economia cipriota è tornata a crescere a ritmi sostenuti, oltre il 4%. Una crescita che però corrisponde a un calo solo parziale della disoccupazione. Dai massimi del 16%, la disoccupazione è scesa tra il 10 e l’11%, con molte variazioni stagionali dovute al turismo. La disoccupazione giovanile resta oltre il 20%.
Il processo di pace
L’altro grande tema è ovviamente il processo di pace con la parte Nord dell’isola, tutt’ora occupata dalla Turchia. Nello stato fantoccio del Nord si sono svolte elezioni parlamentari a Gennaio, vinte dai partiti nazionalisti turchi, che hanno ora una maggioranza di 26 seggi su 50. I partiti socialdemocratici e della sinistra radicale favorevoli al processo di pace sono invece arretrati. La sinistra radicale non ha ottenuto nessun seggio.
Per il presidente Anastasiades è quindi ora più difficile resuscitare i colloqui di pace, di fatto bloccati negli ultimi anni dall’intransigenza di Ankara. D’altra parte, AKEL accusa il presidente di lasciare gioco facile ad Erdogan. I comunisti ciprioti hanno recentemente attuato una svolta, sostenendo la soluzione federale a due zone proposta dalle Nazioni Unite, che include il ritiro delle truppe turche e la gestione totalmente cipriota dell’ordine, senza presenze straniere. L’AKEL considera questa l’unica soluzione praticabile per arrivare all’unificazione del paese e accusa i democristiani di DISY e i liberali di Papadopoulos di immobilismo, di far scivolare il paese verso una divisione definitiva tra Nord e Sud. Secondo i comunisti ciprioti, i partiti di governo parlano di una soluzione con uno stato unico non federale solo per non dover affrontare negoziati reali. Nel frattempo, Erdogan ha completato il suo tour diplomatico in Europa e porta avanti il suo intervento nel conflitto siriano invadendo il cantone curdo di Afrin e bombardando le posizioni del governo di Damasco.