Tasoulas: Greek democracy 'mature' but crisis scars linger, Cyprus solution still sought
Greece's President Konstantinos Tasoulas used his 52nd democracy anniversary address on July 24 to call for national unity, warn that crisis-era divisions still harm the country, and demand a just solution for Cyprus.
Democracy's 52-year milestone
Greek President Konstantinos Tasoulas marked the 52nd anniversary of the restoration of democracy with an address at the Presidential Mansion on July 24, combining historical reflection with a call for national unity. Earlier in the day, he visited the former EAT-ESA detention center in Athens and laid a wreath at the bust of resistance fighter Spyros Moustaklis, who was tortured under the 1967-1974 dictatorship. Recalling the darkness that preceded the return of democracy, Tasoulas quoted Nobel laureate poet Giorgos Seferis, who in 1969 denounced the junta.
I see before me the abyss to which the oppression that covered the land is leading us.
- Poet Giorgos Seferis denounces the dictatorship
- Democracy restored in Greece; Cyprus falls to coup and Turkish invasion
- President Tasoulas delivers 52nd anniversary speech
The address underscored that on 24 July 1974 democracy returned to Greece while Cyprus was being plunged into the abyss of a junta coup and Turkish invasion. Tasoulas said Greece still pursues a just, viable and functional solution to the Cyprus question.
52 years ago, on 24 July 1974, democracy returned to Greece, but Cyprus had fallen into the abyss of the junta coup and the Turkish invasion.
Healing crisis-era divisions
The president turned to more recent national scars, warning that the severe political and social polarization of the economic crisis years continues to weigh on the country. He said the crisis-era confrontation had consequences from which Greece has still not recovered, and that the previous decade must serve as a lesson. Tasoulas urged that political conflict must stop where core national interest begins, and called for zero tolerance toward violence and self-restraint from citizens to safeguard social order.
The acute division that characterized the crisis era has caused consequences from which we have not yet recovered.
He insisted that those in power must set the example, arguing that unity cannot be demanded while division is cultivated, nor moderation sought when it is not first exercised by the rulers.
The 'blue homeland' and border regions
Tasoulas dedicated a portion of his speech to reclaiming the notion of the 'blue homeland' as intrinsic to Greek identity. He pointed to over 5,000 years of maritime civilization and archaeological discoveries, and declared that the sea has been the homeland of Hellenism from Cyprus to Marseille since before Rome.
Blue, therefore, is the homeland of Greece in the fullness of time. Blue was and has always been the homeland of Hellenism from Cyprus and Ionia to Sicily and Marseille, centuries before the founding of Rome.
He added that the heart of Hellenism beats strongest in the 'frontier arc' stretching from the Evros region to Cyprus, and urged support for those communities through regional development, demographic revival, and social cohesion.
Cyprus as a national priority
Returning to foreign policy, Tasoulas said that the reunification of the island and the end of occupation in an EU member state's territory remains the highest priority. He tied the steady European orientation of Greece and Cyprus to the foundational achievements of the post-dictatorship era, noting that the peaceful alternation of power and European integration belong equally to all political forces and the people.
The confrontation must retreat where the hard core of the national interest begins.
He framed the current democracy as the most stable and creative period in Greek political history, now mature and experienced in facing modern challenges of conflicts, uncertainty and global instability.
Education and the duty of the powerful
In a closing appeal, Tasoulas said the state alone is not sufficient for the country's development. He called on wealthy Greeks to systematically support regeneration initiatives and to realize that wealth is not justified unless part of it is transformed into a benefaction for the common good. The speech also urged giving young people access to poetry and quality education, linking national progress to cultural depth.
The powerful Greeks must systematically support initiatives for the country's regeneration. They must simultaneously realize that wealth is not justified unless part of it is transformed into benefaction for the common good.
