Opening Remarks by Murat Kanatlı

Dear friends

Dear guests

Comrades,

First of all let me say welcome to the Youth Conference, the highest organ of YBH Youth.

The Patriotic Unity Movement 3^rd Youth Conference is convening under very special conditions.

In its congress held last week, our party took a historical step towards being the party of the whole of Cyprus and all of the Cypriots, changing both its name, as well as its program and statute.

We would like to salute this step which means that our party is taking its continuous struggle against the regime being waged since 1989, one step further. In this struggle many things happened. As the New Cypriots we were bombed, shot at, they tried to burn our building, they tried to isolate us from the community by taking us under siege but we overcame each obstacle with our determination. Without sacrificing our principles, we changed the name and the program of our party in 1998 but we had to separate our ways with some of the new participants. Due to our newly acquired European citizenship in May 2004 and due to the fact that the Cyprus problem came to a different point, our party once again returned to its original name and changed its program and regulations in accordance with a socialist party believing in peace, freedom, democracy, equality, participation of all of Cyprus and Cypriots.

As YBH Youth, due to our parallel views with the party in our struggle since 1989, we are convening our conference with a similar agenda, for making the necessary changes in order to become ‘the socialist youth movement of all of Cyprus’.

Now it is not time to organize Cypriots with separatist definitions based on religion, language or ethnic identity or following policies in the name of communal interest that would deepen the division in Cyprus. The creation of a socialist youth movement believing in freedom and democracy, paving the way for revolutionary transformation and including all of Cyprus within the European left family is important since it would prevent the deepening of the division of our island and would open the way for a Cypriot solution.  But this is not only important for Cypriots – such a movement is necessary and important for the resistance against the neo-liberal policies in the world and for the creation of a new world and a new Europe.

A strong support from Cyprus, including all of Cyprus for those organizing the global resistance against the global attacks would make the supporters of the imperialistic expansionist policies because they are insisting on using Cyprus as a war base and they will see that we can stop their war policies by our increasing joint resistance.

That is why our task is creating the conditions for the structuring of all Cyprus socialist youth movement, within solidarity and joint struggle together with those who are organizing global resistance against global attacks.

Since our 2^nd Conference, we have done a lot of important activities and actions and I want to thank our friends who have put their hearts and joined their voices to our struggle.

We are facing those who use radical rhetoric and theoretical jargon with our action of the 5^th of April. It was not something that everyone could find the courage to do an action in front of the Turkish Embassy – we have done this and we carried our direct messages to the real rulers. At that time Abdullah Gul was the Prime Minister of Turkey and while we were out in the street, he was within the embassy. On the 15^th of November, again a Turkish Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan was the guest of the embassy and despite very strict security measures we were once again in the street with our placards and carried our message to the real rulers…

Some people produced theories against nationalism, claiming that they were paving the way for the community and again we were out in the streets. We tried to have activities both in the south and in the north in the name of those innocent civilians killed in 1974 in order to struggle against the nationalist wave, saying `No more blood for wars and nationalism.` We tried to go to the Maratha (Murataga) mass grave, in the south we embraced the relatives of the innocent victims of war – we put our clear messages that such things should not happen with a bunch of carnations and with our hearty, warm and determined messages.

While some were hiding behind slogans against imperialism, we participated multiple times in the activities which took place at the British bases area in Acrotiri, we shouted anti-war slogans in all languages in front of the US and Israeli embassies – we were in the streets and as a last word in such places, we said that we will come again…

While some were producing theories about elections and getting elected, we boycotted the elections saying that these were only showcase arrangements, and not in line with international law – we put forward our slogan that ‘the future is not in the ballot box but in the streets’ and on the election day we were not following the ballot boxes but out in the streets with our t-shirts and posters…

As tens of thousands were struggling in the street for a solution, we struggled for the organization of these actions, making our contributions.

Maybe we could not be a massive organization but we became an organization not only expressing its struggle against the regime just with words and theories but out in the streets, having impact with our activities.

We have never compromised our principles from the beginning. Our aim was not to increase the number of heads in our organization but our door was open to all who wanted to put their hearts next to ours, join their voices with ours and we never dealt with red tape. Whether a member or not, those individuals whose dreams matched ours and who wanted to stand side by side with us joined us voluntarily – over time some friends left, some joined other movements, some left the country. We would like to thank those friends who are not amongst us but whose paths had joined ours, for their contribution. In the coming period we are determined to continue our struggle without red tape and against policies from above, together with those young friends whether they are a member of the party or not but whose dreams match ours.

We continue to believe in a joint movement but such joint movements should be principled, with quality and with enough tolerance for the views of the others…

We are determined in our struggle and we are ready to contribute in all struggles for the change of the status quo not those for the status quo.

We do not live in Cyprus only. We must finalize our preparations, knowing that we must be ready for participating in struggles for social policies, against war, for the rights of refugees and the environment, within the European left family. The process of approval of the European Constitution has started. We must be ready for understanding the `No` campaigns of the European left parties and contribute to these within this process.

We must start organizing against all kinds of authoritarian, repressive governance models that would limit human rights and freedoms of each and every individual in Cyprus. For this, we must bring down the walls within our minds. It is time to give up producing policies looking at the `other` from behind the imposed identities such as religion, language, ethnicity or sex. We must start producing policies, freeing ourselves from the prejudices based on racist, historical knowledge full of lies, taught to us for decades now through our education systems. It is time to produce policies with a view that each individual can be free, with untouchable equal rights, avoiding rhetoric that would lead us to nationalist separatist policies by generalizations such as `all Greeks, Turks, Moslems, Orthodox, women and men`…

We are entering a new period. We are entering a difficult period. We are entering a period where there is uncertainty in the Cyprus problem and where the lack of confidence is deepening fast among the Cypriots.

In this process our task as socialist youth is to increase hope.

Our task is to impose that revolutionary transformation is possible instead of the imposition of the rulers claiming that the `regime will live forever`.

Our task is to insist change of the status quo, not those for the status quo.

Our task is to refuse to be ornaments of the showcase, increasing our struggle against the regime…

We have a lot to do and we have a lot of hope…

We are starting on our path for the formation of a socialist youth movement for all of Cyprus and we know that we can make this possible through our struggle and participation. And for this we are once again, sending an open invitation to socialist youth in all of Cyprus.

And once again, we are reminding those who are imposing hopelessness:

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE!

ANOTHER EUROPE IS POSSIBLE!

ANOTHER CYPRUS IS POSSIBLE!

YBH Youth

6 November 2004