June is a critical month, taking into account the preparation, by the personal envoy of the UN Secretary General, of the relevant report, President Christodoulidis said on Friday, in a greeting to the "50 years of Turkish invasion and occupation" Photographic Exhibition organized by the Office of Press and Information at the Old Municipal Hall of Nicosia.
The President said that "we hope for positive developments, we are informed about several things that are being done especially by some countries that show a special interest in the direction of resuming the talks and I hope that June will be a month that will have positive developments in this direction".
He said that although half a century has passed since the invasion, the pain is profound and the agony indescribable every time the memory returns to the events of 1974 in the invasion and the destruction "which is the unshakable point of reference for every citizen of this place, which 50 years later is still, no matter how much some try to downplay it, suffering from the traumas caused by the unspeakable tragedy of the Turkish invasion and the ongoing occupation".
"From this historical place, very close to the barbed wire of division, I want to repeat that, despite the challenges, difficulties and problems we face, we do not compromise with the occupation, the present state of affairs cannot be the future of our homeland ", he said.
The PtD emphasized that we have no other choice but to continue the effort to overturn the status quo for the liberation and reunification of our country and we are working in this direction with actions and not words, to create the prospects for the resumption of meaningful negotiations with the aim of seeking solution of the Cyprus issue, always on the basis of the agreed framework and based on European principles and values.
"We encourage the efforts of the General Secretary and the efforts of his personal envoy. It is, moreover, after our own efforts that this new effort began", he repeated.
Regarding the exhibition organized by the GTP, he said that the photographs exhibited in this space, as well as the anniversary short film "Operation Museum" are nothing more than mosaics in the mosaic of our collective memory, for a period that remains 50 years then, deeply engraved in us.
He mentioned that these are authentic documents of the time, which record in the most graphic way the pain on the faces of tens, hundreds, thousands of people, our compatriots.
He added that these people are not unknown, some of them are still with us today, they are our parents, our grandparents, our relatives, our neighbors.
"They are all those who had the incomparable fortitude, will and faith to rise from the ruins of the disaster and walk again. With a thousand and two deprivations, they rebuilt their lives from scratch, thanks to their hard work and patriotism, never, ever, forgetting where they started, without forgetting their roots. And on behalf of the state, allow me on the occasion of today's event to express my boundless gratitude to everyone", he said.
For the film "Operation Museum", he said that it is a shocking account of the gigantic effort to save the exhibits of the Cyprus Museum during the Turkish invasion of 1974 and a tribute to the then Director of the Department of Antiquities and the Cyprus Museum, the late Vasos Karagiorgis, as well as to the staff of the Museum for their effort to save the cultural wealth of our country.
"Among the goals of the film is to raise awareness not only of the Cypriot people, but also of everyone, especially the new generation that did not live the events, bringing to light unseen sides of the history of our homeland that 50 years later are not known", he said.
The President congratulated the Director of the Press and Information Office and the staff for organizing today's event as well as, as he said, for the very methodical work they are doing, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of our accession and on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Turkish Invasion.
At the same time, he thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Deputy Ministry of Culture, political leaders and staff for the help they offered in this effort and everyone who worked on the event.
"There is a wealth in the GTP that we must take advantage of and we support this effort," he said.
Director of the GTP Aliki Stylianou said that fifty days before the 50th anniversary of the invasion, the GTP is bringing to light unseen sides of the events through its archive, through a total of 69 photographs from an exhibition of the Office that traveled in 1975 for the purpose of enlightenment.
It also includes the film "Operation Museum", produced by GTP in collaboration with the Deputy Ministry of Culture. It is, he said, a shocking account of the effort to save the exhibits of the Cyprus Museum during the invasion, with the then Director of the Cyprus Museum, Vasos Karagiorgis, as the protagonist.
Cypriot artists' accounts of how they experienced the invasion and how it affected their subsequent artistic career are also presented. These references, said Ms. Stylianou, were recorded through the productions of films by the GTP entitled "Art in the city". The exhibition also includes a collector's edition for the anniversary of the invasion and occupation with 110 photographs from the archive of the General Directorate of Public Security.
Source: KYPE
