Βαρυσήμαντη ομιλία Φίλιπ Κρίστοφερ στο Συνέδριο Αποδήμων
ΑΠΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΩΣΗ – ΕΠΙΣΤΡΟΦΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΚΕΡΥΝΕΙΑ
ΟΧΙ ΣΤΗ ΔΙ-ΚΟΙΝΟΤΙΚΗ, ΔΙ-ΖΩΝΙΚΗ ΟΜΟΣΠΟΝΔΙΑ – ΠΙΣΤΗ ΣΤΟ ΕΝΙΑΙΟ ΚΡΑΤΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΚΥΠΡΙΑΚΗΣ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΙΑΣ
Η βαρυσήμαντη ομιλία του Προέδρου της ΠΣΕΚΑ Κερυνειώτη κ. Φίλιπ Κρίστοφερ στο Συνέδριο των Αποδήμων , Φιλοξένεια, Λευκωσία 21.8.2017.
Μια ομιλία, ένας χαιρετισμός ΑΝΑΤΡΟΠΗΣ – για ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΙΚΗ ΑΛΛΑΓΗ ΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΙΚΗΣ ΓΙΑ ΑΠΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΩΣΗ ΤΩΝ ΚΑΤΕΧΟΜΕΝΩΝ από ΤΗΝ ΤΟΥΡΚΙΚΗ ΕΙΣΒΟΛΗ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΤΟΧΗ.
Το θέμα δεν είναι δι-κοινοτικό όπως το κατάντησαν οι διαπραγματεύσεις από το 1977 αλλά θέμα παράνομης εισβολής και κατοχής, παραβίασης ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων, παράνομου εποικισμού, παράνομων τουρκικών κατοχικών στρατευμάτων, εθνοκάθαρσης, καταστροφής πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς. Μια ομιλία που ενόχλησε τα διζωνική κατεστημένα εντός και εκτός Κύπρου.
Απομαγνητοφώνηση (ολόκληρης της ομιλίας/χαιρετισμού του κ. Φ. Κρίστοφερ στα αγγλικά όπως τα είπε) της Φανούλας Αργυρού – Λονδίνο 24.8.2017
«Μακαριώτατε, εξοχότατε κύριε Πρόεδρε, χαίρομαι που σας βλέπω ξανά, κύριε πρώην Πρόεδρε Δημήτρη Χριστόφια, εξοχότατοι υπουργοί, εξοχότατοι μέλη της Βουλής, αγαπητέ υπουργέ από την Ελλάδα κύριε Κουίκ, κύριε Τριανταφυλλίδη, ευχαριστώ που είσαστε μαζί μας, θα ήθελα να καλωσορίσω επίσημα την Ambassador of the United States here to Cyprus Kathleen Doherty, along with the other ambassadors but especially Kathleen Doherty, because she is doing such a great job in terms of pushing bilateral agreements and also the commercial aspect of Cyprus. I do not know about the political aspect but I know for the commercial aspect she is doing a great job. Give her a round of applause.
I also wanted to thank Andy Manatos our boys in Washington DC who is here, I also wanted to thank the HALC organisation as well as so many people with their chairman Nikos Mouyiaris who is here today, I wanted to thank him for all the work that he does, all the Federations especially the Federation of Cypriot Organisations of the United States, someone new, Kyriakos Papastylianou, the President, along with Tasos Zambas, Andreas Komodromos, Savvas Tsirikos and everyone else. I want to thank all the organisations that are working so hard over the years.
“Ladies and Gentlemen all of you are aware that I was born in Kyrenia and I left Kyrenia when I was 10 years old. When I went to the United States of America the first thing I learnt in English was the pledge of allegiance. And the Ambassador will tell you that in every school the pledge of allegiance, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
After 43 years of watching and monitoring and reviewing all of the negotiations that have taken place regarding the Cyprus problem it is without hesitation that I can tell you that the time has come for all Cypriots to pledge allegiance to this Republic, the Republic of Cyprus under God, indivisible, with justice and human rights for liberty for all.
For 43 plus years, the negotiations whether beginning going back for many years and we got enthusiastic about all the negotiations, whether is Mr. Mustafa Akkinci, or Mr. Talat, or Mr. Denktash, and all the relationships that were there, we all knew that at the end of the day Turkey will stop the negotiations and no progress will be made.
The time has come to recognise this Republic and for what it stands. I am an American citizen and I live in a country where there are 200 ethnic groups. There is people from every race, there is people from every religion, people from every ethnicity, if you go to Miami you will think you are in Cuba, if you go to Brighton beach in Brooklyn you will think you are in Russia and if you go to Astoria Queens you think you are in Greece. And there is China Town and little Italy and Korean Town, every ethnic group whether is in Chicago and for the Ambassador there is the American-Irish. There is no question that whether we are Irish Americans, whether we are German-Americans, Turkish-Americans, Armenian-Americans, we pledge allegiance to one Republic, that is the Republic that is indivisible, for justice and freedom for all.
The reason why I say that is because I met with some Turkish Cypriots today, from teachers that came from the north. And I told them the time has come for the Turkish Cypriots to be fighting for freedom and justice. The time has come for the Turkish Cypriots to pledge allegiance to this Republic. To pledge allegiance to the Republic that gives them the European Passport and they are able to travel. To pledge allegiance to the Republic that offers them health benefits and offers them social security and all the other benefits. The time has come my friends, for Turkish Cypriots, Armenian Cypriots, Maronites, Russians, Chinese to pledge allegiance to this Republic. An undivided Republic.
We salute the efforts of President Anastasiades and we congratulate him for all his efforts, it took courage to basically try every way to find a solution. And we salute the efforts of Mr. Christofias before, and Mr. Papadopoulos and all the other Presidents that passed by.
We as overseas Cypriots our party is one, our party Is Cyprus and we are fighting for freedom and the reunification of Cyprus. Therefore this particular conference of Overseas Cypriots, because we as overseas Cypriots see things differently. We see it from our point of view. We live in countries of diversity and we cannot understand that in today’s world we are looking to solve the problem by making it by-zonal, by-communal federation. This is one Republic, a Republic that offers under God, indivisible justice for all.
It is time that the Turkish leader Mustafa Akinci should have the courage, he should have the courage to stand up and say, Mr. Erdogan take your 43,000 troops back to Turkey. It is time for him as a Turkish Cypriot leader regardless of the fact that there is 200,000 settlers. In talking to the Turkish Cypriots today they say we are only 100,000, a 100,000 with passports of the Republic. It is time for the Turkish Cypriot leadership to stand up and say, Mr. Erdogan remove the illegal settlers from this island.
Mr. Ertogan allow the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots to go back to their homes. Mr. Ertogan we all know that you have your problems with every country in the world and this is the time that we have to absolutely demand that Mr. Erdogan takes his troops back home and his illegal settlers.
Ladies and gentlemen there is a time when negotiations are over. And after 43 years and after consideration from 1977 until today we need a new strategy. There is no question that the negotiations basically downgraded the problem. A problem of illegal invasion and occupation it is today a bi-communal dispute. This is how the world looks at the Cyprus problem. It is not a bi-communal, it is not a dispute between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots. It is an illegal invasion and illegal occupation and our new strategy should be that way.
And I am glad that we have the Minister for Foreign Affairs here Mr. Kasoulides, absolutely our new strategy Mr. Kasoulides has to have the 3 Cs, advertising public relations. Concise, consistent and continues message. I have been saying this for years. There is no question that you have achieved much with the bilateral agreements with Israel, Greece, Egypt, the bilateral agreements with the United States, there is no question that our new economy and we should congratulate the Government for bringing the economy back is creating a miracle Mr. President, we are very proud of you, but the time has come the phrases illegal occupation, destruction of cultural heritage, illegal settlers, ethnic cleansing, these are the messages that we have to bring out to the world.
I know many of you overseas Cypriots are frustrated and many disappointed. I can tell you my friends that the work goes on, the hope endures and the dream of going back to Kyrenia will never die.
Thank you so much”.