[PIO] Address by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and President of the Democratic Rally Mrs. Anita Demetriou at an event of the Pancyprian

23 January 2024

Dear Mr. Minister

Dear Colleagues

Dear President, former officials

and members of the Pancyprian Refugee Association

Ladies and Gentlemen

First of all, I deeply feel the need to express from the bottom of my heart the respect and immense admiration I have for you: For the courage, strength and fortitude of soul of people who are confronted with oblivion day by day and tested with pain for nearly half a century.

And if there is one thing we know very well - we here in Cyprus - it is that this pain knows no borders, understands no languages or nationalities. It is the human struggle for survival in its most naked form. And we have experienced it in our "being" as a people. Refugees have left an indelible traumatic imprint on our land.

Whole lives crammed into a suitcase! Every piece of clothing... Every photograph... A story... A piece of soul that cannot be left behind. Keys that have become symbols of return and are kept as talismans of hope and memory.

We struggled to put down roots in new soil, to build new lives, but the scars on the body of the Cypriot people remain wide open. Along with all the effects of the brutal Turkish invasion and occupation.

After the violent uprooting of '74, a small group of refugees took the initiative to meet to assess facts and try to seek solutions in order to support the thousands of people who were driven from their homes and land. This spontaneous meeting was the yeast for the creation of the Pancyprian Refugee Association.

Friends

Your struggle for support, relief, rehabilitation and reactivation of the refugee world is unceasing. Your action and work is multifaceted, covering every aspect of the Cyprus issue from enlightenment and promotion in its proper dimension to efforts to resolve it. Your role and interventions are vital in asserting the rights of the refugee world through your participation and representation in relevant committees and bodies, as well as in the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees.

We are therefore rightly here tonight to congratulate the President and members of the PEP, but also to honour former officials of the Association who have worked with zeal and selflessness to resolve the key issues facing the refugee world.

As a state we have a huge debt and responsibility towards our refugees.

As a state we have a huge debt and responsibility towards our refugees. And we can never forget that behind every political debate, behind statistics and numbers, there are people with tragic stories. And the least we owe, if we respect ourselves, is to ensure that their voices are heard and their problems find immediate solutions.

Both as Speaker of the House of Representatives and as Chairman of the Democratic Rally, I closely follow all the issues on the agenda of the Parliamentary Committee on Refugees. And I want to assure you that for us the obvious is also non-negotiable:

1. We will never allow the exploitation of the 0.4% special levy - which the House of Representatives passed of its own accord - for any other reason than that which was our political will, namely to be the yeast for loss of use.

1. We have already managed to make corrections to the government's totally unjustifiable truncation of the Equal Burden Sharing Agency's budget.

1. We won the battle in the Supreme Court - after the President of the Republic's impeachment - for mandatory structural studies in Turkish Cypriot houses, in order to ensure the quality of living for our refugees and their safety.

1. We are ready to vote for another very important piece of legislation concerning the prohibition of registration of encumbrances (memos) on properties in the occupied territories, so that the refugee population can freely transfer their properties and make use of the projects of the Equal Burden Sharing Entity.

At this point I really want to emphasise the excellent work that is being achieved through the consensus, cooperation and unanimity that exists in the relevant Parliamentary Committee. In the face of the benefit and relief of our refugee population, there are no partisan nuances; expediency and petty political interests are put aside, and this is indicative of what can be achieved through prudence and collegiality.

Friends

50 years of uprooting... Half a century of refugees... It is a very long time! And every year that passes brings with it new achievements on the part of Ankara, deepening the wounds against our Cyprus. The illegal interventions in the enclosed city of Famagusta, the capture of the buffer zone, the "deployments" in Trikomo, the scourge of the usurpation of the occupied Greek Cypriot properties by circuits, the illegal sale of our land to foreign nationals, must be stopped, not now... but yesterday! And the most effective response is through a viable and workable solution to the Cyprus problem, ensuring peace, prosperity and stability for all our people. With ethics and sincerity, we must proclaim our will and readiness, especially now with the descent of the SG envoy, to help find common ground, creating the conditions for the resumption of meaningful dialogue, on the basis of the agreed framework, for an IHL with political equality, in accordance with UN resolutions. With a vision, a plan and a strategy, with collectivity, solidarity and coordination of actions, in order to reverse the policy of equal distances on the part of the international actor.

Together we will use every bit of our strength until we "embrace" again our Kyrenia, Famagusta, Morphou, Karpasia, Lapitho... Every inch of our occupied land.

Until we succeed in returning the guarded keys to their place... Breaking the chains of occupation... Opening new perspectives for our entire land, our people, our children!

Thank you.

(Text as sent by the House of Representatives)
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