This year marks the 47th tragic anniversary of the Turkish invasion in Cyprus; 4,000 losses, 1,619 missing persons, 200,000 refugees, 38% of the island under occupation, countless rapes of women. These are the numbers accompanying the catastrophic events of 1974 in Cyprus. However, numbers cannot, under any circumstances, depict the horror of death, the pain of the uprooting, the agony for the missing that Hellenism experienced then and has never stopped feeling to this day. No one forgets; no one ever will.
During the years after the violent Turkish invasion in Cyprus and the preposterous founding of the pseudo-state, a resolution for the issue has never managed to conclude. The impotence to find a fair solution for the Cyprus Conflict is a disgrace for the civilized world and a black spot for the entire Europe.
For the last six years, we, at the Ecumenical Hellenism Foundation, have been giving prominence, in both domestic and international institutions, to the Cyprus Conflict, and we have been trying to call attention to the need for an immediate solution of this tragic situation which has been counting almost half a century of life. The two-volume work “History of Cyprus” has been embraced by the readers for it has calmly and soberly given prominence to the long history of the island and Hellenism. Its translation into English has been recently completed thanks to the touching contribution of the Greek-Cypriots, and as soon as the publication procedures conclude, it will be sent to university and parliament libraries abroad in order to constitute a base of historical truth for those who do not know much about the island, as well as a base of reminding for those who know and are indifferent to it. Our love for our brothers in Cyprus has been extended with the creation of a new edition which will be released soon, this time on the subject of Ammochostos and its history from ancient times until 1974, the year when on this piece of land time suddenly froze. With the publications and the events we have already organized, as well as with those that are to follow, we will channel all our powers to one goal: the resolution of the Cyprus Conflict.
The recent events in Ammochostos, the illegal and provocative declarations of the Turkish president, Erdogan, in reference to the colonization of the area, have caused disgust to Hellenism. Every effort to perform unilateral action in Cyprus or aggressive policy against the Greeks of Cyprus will find us in opposition today and in the future.
We express our categorical opposition to the Turkish politics, our support to the Hellenism of Cyprus, and we honor now and always the memory of the fallen heroes of 1974.