Representatives of 36 Turkish Cypriot trade unions, parties and organisations rallied outside a US embassy office in occupied Nicosia yesterday afternoon, calling for an end to the US-Israeli war on Iran and the demilitarisation of Cyprus.
The demonstration, led by the teachers’ union KTOEOS, was held under the slogans “Solution, peace, right now” and “End imperialism and war!” KTOEOS president Selma Eylem read out a joint statement, according to the Turkish Cypriot press.
The statement said US and Israeli attacks on Iran were, in the organisers’ view, dragging the region toward war and large-scale global catastrophe. It accused US military interventions of ignoring international law and the right of peoples to self-determination, arguing that liberation from authoritarian regimes could only come through the will and struggle of a people itself. “Freedom cannot come to a country through external interventions, military attacks, targeting a school with 160 girls and massacring children and civilians,” the statement read.
Eylem said the situation was also affecting Cyprus directly, arguing that the presence of British bases on the island, combined with the build-up of European and NATO weapons, was increasing military tensions and the risk of the island becoming a target. “The imperialist bases and the countries storing weapons on our island are dragging our island and us Cypriots into danger, into the middle of the war and into a catastrophic destruction of all living organisms and the environment — this is unacceptable,” she said.
The protesters demanded the demilitarisation of Cyprus, with Eylem calling for the island to be cleared of all bases and weapons and not to be used as a launchpad for military operations. “Efforts must be made to prevent the repetition of wars that brought pain, tears, loss and destruction to our island, the imperialists who dragged our island into war must withdraw, and a solution and lasting peace — not war — must be achieved,” she said.
(Featured image from LefkehaberTV)
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