This online article was published on 11/08/17 on the website of Syspirosi Atakton.

Peace Agreement Between the People of Cyprus

After many years and countless efforts, discussions and negotiations to resolve the Cyprus problem, we have seen very little. International negotiations and conflict resolution have proven to be ineffective and insufficient in bringing an end to the division of Cyprus. The latest failed attempt at Crans Montana has brought waves of disappointment and frustration among the people of Cyprus.

For these reasons, we, the undersigned, are determined to take matters into our hands and build the Cyprus we dream and envision.

We demand the right of every person to live in Cyprus without the Cyprus problem, a problem which has overshadowed every other political affair. We demand the right to live together in peace, without the threat of war, without the shadow of arms. The culture of militarism contributes and enhances the division, while it also supports and perpetuates other oppressive structures related to nationalism, gender and sexuality, the destruction of the environment and our ecological and urban commons more generally. We therefore declare that:

• we refuse to take arms against any person who lives on the island for the purposes of perpetuating the ethnic conflict in Cyprus;
• we will not participate in any military-related activity (including civil defence);
• we are committed to building bridges that transcend the Greek Cypriot-Turkish Cypriot binary, in order to create a true federal culture that includes everyone who lives in Cyprus;
• we pledge to make the effort that all our political actions and activism from now on will be oriented to the conception of a whole and re-united Cyprus;
• we will undertake measures that challenge the division and build trust, facilitate contact and cooperation of the people of Cyprus;
• we will strive to secure that no person who lives in Cyprus is victimised and that everyone is treated with full equality regardless of their language, religion, race, place of birth, social class, age, physical ability, gender or sexual orientation;
• we choose to support federalism as a system that ensures justice and equality: this is the ideal system for a political organisation of Cypriots, a system born out of the conditions of the history and geography of Cyprus.

Our aim is to create a federation from below, to continue working in order create and implement the structures that will create a united Cyprus.

We are the solution! We are reunification!