The Chairman of the Parliament's Refugee Committee and AKEL MP, Nikos Kettiros, expressed his awe after visiting the "Pancyprian Refugee Gathering" exhibition that takes place every year in Dasaki Achna, asking government agencies to support the proposal of his colleague DISY MP Giorgos Karoulas to make this exhibition permanent.
In statements after a visit to the exhibition, Mr. Kettiros said that "this is the first time that we have come as a Committee to see the entire situation that has been set up by the Community Council previously and now by the Municipal District of Achna."
"It is something truly shocking that is awe-inspiring for all of us who come from occupied communities or cities in Cyprus," he said.
He added that the members of the Refugee Committee "in their vast majority, except for MP Zacharias Koulias, were born after 1974" and expressed his gratitude to Mr. Koulias "who tells us about various experiences that people experienced at that time."
However, he noted, "the reality is that we may know that our grandparents lived here immediately after the invasion, but even now in the reenactment, the human mind cannot conceive how the elderly, the children, the women who lost their husbands and children could live in this situation and support each other."
Perhaps, he continued, "the lesson we need to learn 51 years later is that we need to support each other and move forward."
"The most beautiful thing we have seen here in the Achna Forest, which hosted around 60 thousand refugees, is this initiative undertaken by the deputy mayor and the Municipal Department, namely to bring schools, so that the children can see how their grandparents experienced this situation," he said, adding that "the children express their shock and follow the tour with military attention."
Mr. Kettiros also said that "during today's visit we have invited the government services that deal with refugee issues to attend the tour, since they are people who know the problems of the refugee world."
However, he noted, "because we wanted to look at the refugee issues concerning the Famagusta district, we considered it an opportunity, since the specific action of the Achna Forest Municipal District is underway, to meet and put the various issues down."
Asked to comment on the proposal by Committee member George Karoulas to make the exhibition hosted in the Achna forest permanent, Mr. Kettiros described it as a "very good idea" and added that "it is a very good suggestion which should also be supported by government services because there are also maintenance costs and the space needs to be staffed."
I think, noted the President of the Refugee Committee, that "this is something that will add value and not take away."
For his part, the Deputy Mayor of Dasous Achna, Nikos Vasilas, described "the suggestion of Giorgos Karoulas as a very good proposal, which we have already discussed with the Minister of Education, who is the only one who embraced this event."
But first, he continued, "there needs to be a large hall, something we unfortunately lack here in Dasaki, since there are no old houses to buy and create a hall. That is why a large hall needs to be built urgently and then we can move forward to make the exhibition permanent, since due to the winter it cannot be hosted outdoors."
Referring to the camp that was set up, Mr. Vasilas said that "there is everything that existed in 1974 and was made up by the refugees and the state so that people could survive. There is even a school, while rice pudding is being made that volunteers made to offer to the children to eat when they went to school."
He also noted that "the camp is visited by elementary school children and they are given a tour, while we try to teach them what happened in 1974, how tragic things were and how to survive. We also want them to learn to say, when asked where they are from, that they are from their occupied village or city of origin, so that they are not forgotten because if our occupied land is forgotten, it means that we are giving it to the Turks."
At the same time, he addressed "another appeal to the state to try to make this space permanent. Here we have permanent spaces for the environment, why shouldn't we have one here in Dasaki, which is the future of our homeland," he wondered and added that "this is the first thing we should have."
It is noted that the 5th "Pancyprian Refugee Gathering", which began on October 6 and ends on the 19th of the month, hosts tents in which thousands of refugees who fled their villages and towns lived in 1974 after the Turkish invasion.
The site also hosts a tent-school where the children studied, while under a tree there is a table with a Cross, icons and other ecclesiastical objects, which constituted the Holy Altar, performing church duties.
Source: KYPE
