Main opposition Akel is marking its 95th anniversary on Sunday with the promise to do what it takes for a better future for Cyprus.

In a statement, Akel said its 95th anniversary was “a milestone” in the history of the country and its people.

After paying tribute to the memory and the contribution “of all the pioneer fighters” who established, strengthened and made the people’s party grow, Akel addressed its thousands of followers with “a message of vigilance and counteroffensive for the struggles ahead of us”.

“At the same time, we are sending a message of unity and solidarity to the world of the wider Left, to the democratic and progressive citizens of our country, to chart a different course together, a course of progress for the Cyprus of the future,” Akel said.

The party said August 15, 1926 saw the birth of the party of the island’s working class, the communist party of Cyprus (KKK) that fought against colonial rule, local plutocracy and rampant loan sharking.

“It was the first time in the history of the country that a voice spoke about the people and the poor as the protagonists of the struggles and of history,” the party said. It added that it was the first voice that sowed within the Cypriot society “the revolutionary vision of socialism, the communist ideas, the ideals of internationalism and peace […] and fought for a united front of the Greeks and Turks of Cyprus against British colonialism.”

It said it was also the soul of the labour movement that formed unions throughout the island and organised the first workers’ struggles for wages, the eight-hour working day and social security.

“The party made revolutionary demands for its time, such as gender equality and the protection of motherhood, the prohibition of child labour, free education, the distribution of ecclesiastical and vakif land to the those without any land and the writing off of the debts of the impoverished peasantry,” Akel said.

It united the progressive intellectuals and artists with the workers in the organised struggle and at the same time, inspired a movement of culture and education that clashed with the ignorance and religious darkness of the time, it added.

“Almost a century now, our party, as the KKK in the beginning and as Akel afterwards, has gone through trials like no other power in the country: murders, persecutions, imprisonments, twice declared illegal, organised slander, defeats and setbacks,” it said, adding that it always managed to overcome these trials because it has been tied to the people and is only accountable to them.

Akel said the party survived also because it had and still has the power to recognise and correct mistakes and weaknesses, lead struggles and be at the forefront of the modern demands of workers and the new generation.