COMMUNIQUÉ # 42 February 2023
CYPRIOTS’ VOICE for the quake-lost Cypriots
We have been shocked by the unspeakable tragedy caused by the great earthquake in the early hours of Monday 6/2/23 in south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria. Tens of thousands of lives lost and hundreds of thousands of injuries amongst unimaginable material damages. Human pain is indescribable. Among the dead were 25 children from Cyprus and 14 teachers and parents escorting the group of students from a Famagusta who were in the earthquake-hit area to take part in volleyball sports.
Cypriots’ Voice sympathizes and joins the mental pain of the victims’ relatives. It is time to awaken human reflexes and overcome nationalistic expediencies. Mourning is common for all Cypriots, and we must all join hands with symbolic actions demonstrating our solidarity because the children who were lost are children of Cyprus. Let the unjust loss of these children become a starting point for the unification of all Cypriots in the common homeland.
We welcome the offer for dispatch from Cyprus via the European channels of a rescue team as well as the collection of materials to be despatched to the earthquake-hit area in Turkey.
We call upon the Republic of Cyprus to declare public mourning by flying the flag at half-mast in all educational and public buildings of the Republic in memory and support for its lost children.
11/03/2023