December 22, 1954
ROYAL DECREE: Yesterday, King Pavlos made the following radio broadcast to the Greek people: «The emotions we have felt over the past few days over the Cyprus issue have shaken us all. (…) Our brother Cypriots have demanded their freedom via the principle of self-determination for which two World Wars were fought and which was the basis of the United Nations Charter. Greece was forced to raise the issue with the United Nations but Great Britain has refused to discuss the issue directly with the Greek government. (…) There is no doubt that we expected much more. (…) As long as the Cypriots declare their implacable will to gain the right to decide their own fates, there will not be a force on earth capable of preventing the sole natural outcome. (…) Let us not forget that the friends who have disappointed us (…) are those who are a guarantee of our security, as well as that of the entire free world. (…) Our friends know what we have done for them in the past, something that is engraved on the tombs of our soldiers in Greece, El Alamein, Rimini and Korea. If our friends have temporarily forgotten, the best way to remind them is by not forgetting their sacrifices for us.»
