The circular from the Ministry of Education regarding the fifty years since the Turkish invasion and the organization of various events, which makes no reference to the coup and its role in the unfolding of the historical events, has been denounced by AKEL.
Government Spokesman, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, stated on “Astra” radio last week that it’s a circular sent to school administrations and added that the events being held include references to the coup, which resulted in the Turkish invasion.
The title of the events, he said, is “50 years since the Turkish invasion” and certainly, he added, this includes the coup.
Nevertheless, the explanation did not convince, with AKEL circles insisting that there has been no correction of the circular so far, while noting that a similar rhetoric is followed in official speeches at events held in schools in recent days, where the reference to the coup is made with the term “painful division” that preceded the Turkish invasion.
The interpretation being made, based on information cited by party circles, is that there is intentionality in the whole issue related to the balances that the Presidency wants to maintain with circles of the far-right, including the far-right ELAM party.
Stefanos Stefanou yesterday went further with a letter to President Christodoulides, expanding the issue of the Ministry of Education circular with the events planned to be held more broadly by the state on the occasion of the 50 years since the Turkish invasion of 1974.
Essentially, indirectly but clearly, the General Secretary of AKEL warns the government that if this line continues without reference to the coup, there will be strong reaction from the Leftist party.
Stefanos Stefanou in his letter calls on the President of the Republic to address the issue, while noting that from such events that the government may organize, there should not be an absence or worse, deletion of the role of the coup in the tragedy of 1974.
“In view of the circular of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Youth, entitled ‘Actions for the sad anniversary of 50 years since the Turkish invasion,’ in which the role of the coup in the 1974 disaster is absent, which is completely unacceptable, please inform me whether you adopt the content of the said circular,” Stefanou says, and continues asking for general information about the events that the Government plans to organize on the occasion of the 50 years since the Turkish invasion.
“On this occasion, I also ask you to inform me about the plans – if any – of the government to organize and promote events and initiatives on the occasion of the fifty years from the twin crime of the treacherous coup and the barbaric Turkish invasion.
AKEL firmly believes that the government should clearly set the political framework of the events and initiatives it may intend to organize, a framework from which the role of the coup in the tragedy of 1974 should not be absent or even worse, be deleted, which would constitute a distortion of historical truth and an offense to democracy itself and the struggles of our people to defend it,” Stefanou concludes in his letter.
