?s this year marks the 50th anniversary of Turkey’s invasion in Cyprus, the Cypriot people need to hear the truth about what led to the destruction of 1974, Minister of Defense Vasilis Palmas stressed on Friday while opening the proceedings of a Scientific Conference, on the “Military aspects of the Turkish invasion in Cyprus” held at the University of Cyprus, in Nicosia. Conference participants announced that National Guard archives would be made available to researchers.
The two-day conference (June 7-8) is co-organized by the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus and the Cyprus Oral History Association.
At the start of the Conference, Professor of the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus, Georgios Kazamias, revealed that “the archives of the National Guard are finally available to researchers who wish to deal with issues of military history of the National Guard.”
In his address, the Minister of Defense emphasized that as this year marks fifty ye
ars since the disastrous events of July 1974, the painful consequences of which we continue to experience to this day, the organization of the Conference is an excellent initiative, which offers to participants the opportunity to get to know and subsequently study largely unknown aspects of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the “greatest tragedy of the modern history of our country, and one of the greatest of Hellenism as a whole” as he put it.
“If there is something we as a people need to delve into, if there is something we need to learn, to be taught, this is nothing other than the real events that shaped the modern history of the Republic of Cyprus. So we should let the light of knowledge be shed on these events. Let’s explore every aspect and let’s face our history with critical reflection and a mood to accept the truth” the Minister added, indicating that it is for this reason that today’s conference has an indisputable academic merit and great historical importance.
Subsequently, retired General Michal
is Siailos, made a general military assessment of the operations of the Greek Cypriot side to repel the Turkish invasion.
The Conference continues on Saturday with sessions on “General Topics of Invasion History”, “Unit and Battle Histories” and “Conventional and non conventional Battles” and the “Fight for Information.”
Source: Cyprus News Agency