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It is with feelings of respect and deep emotion that I address, on behalf of the President of the Republic, this evening's university-wide event of Remembrance and Honour for the day of the occupation of Kyrenia and for the condemnation of the barbaric Turkish invasion and the ongoing occupation.
This past Saturday marked 50 years of invasion and occupation. Half a century after the most tragic chapter in modern Cypriot history and unfortunately our people are still suffering from the wounds left by the traitorous coup and then the invasion and occupation of 37% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus. The suffering of the families of our missing persons continues to this day, the thousands of our refugees are still forced to live far from their ancestral homes and the Turkification of our occupied territories continues openly with crimes such as colonisation, the usurpation of Greek Cypriot property and the destruction of our religious and cultural heritage.
As Greek Cypriots we have the highest duty and obligation to always keep our historical memory alive and with mass events like today's, which brings together all Cypriots, to honour our heroic ancestors who sacrificed for the homeland, to assert our unquenchable desire to return to our occupied land and to condemn unequivocally the black anniversaries of the coup and the Turkish invasion.
It is for this reason that I would like, before I continue, to thank from the bottom of my heart the Municipalities of Kyrenia, Lapithos and Karavas, the Union of Kyrenia District Communities, the Kyrenia District Women's Club and the Refugee Associations "Lapithos" and "Karavas" for the whole organization. Allow me also to convey to all present the warm greetings of President Christodoulides and the entire Government.
Our Kyrenia, with its rich history and unparalleled natural beauty, was the first target of the Turks at dawn on that fateful day, July 20, 1974. Initially with aerial bombardment and cannon fire from the sea, followed by the landing of military units at Pente Mili, the Turks, with their superior weaponry, overwhelmed the heroic resistance of the few forces of the National Guard.
As a result, the invasion forces occupied a small area in the province of Kyrenia, which they extended during the ceasefire reached on Monday, 22 July 1974, with the second wave of landings.
Attila's barbaric plans for our Cyprus were completed in August of the black summer of 1974 with the second phase of the invasion and the occupation of more than a third of our island.
Since then, our beloved villages and towns, our Kyrenia, Lapithos, Karavas, remain under occupation and the Cypriot Hellenism is fighting a difficult struggle for the reunification of our homeland against a Turkey that has been intransigent and defiant for all these 50 years.
Under no circumstances, I assure you, do we forget and do not compromise with the consequences and achievements of the invasion and occupation, with President Christodoulides, since the beginning of his administration, having as his main concern and priority the creation of prospects for the resumption of meaningful negotiations for the resolution of the Cyprus problem. Proof of this is the fact that it was the President's initiative and insistence that made possible the appointment of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General.
Despite the intransigent attitude of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot side, which insist on imposing conditions for the resumption of negotiations, the President has repeatedly declared his readiness to return to the negotiating table from the point where they left off in Crans-Montana with a view to achieving a solution of a bizonal bicommunal federation with political equality, as outlined in the United Nations resolutions.
The main concern of all of us must surely be the future and well-being of our children and of the generations to come, who must ensure that they live in a free and prosperous homeland. A reunited Cyprus should be a modern and European state in which all its legitimate inhabitants - Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins - will coexist in security, without occupying troops, anachronistic guarantees and invasive rights.
Thank you.
(GA/GC/EATH)
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