The culprit for the drama experienced by the relatives of the missing persons has a name and is the occupying power, without the sincere cooperation of which there cannot and is not expected to be any substantial progress, said the Commissioner for the Presidency, Fotis Fotiou at the funeral of the fallen Christakis Philippos Nicolaides from Kythrea in July 1974.
In his eulogy at the funeral of the bones of H. Nicolaides' funeral eulogy, Fotiou said that it is for this reason that the international community and especially the United Nations and the European Union should take humanitarian initiatives, even after so many years, for our own missing persons in order to overcome Turkish intransigence and the refusal of the occupying power to cooperate.
The exhumation of the remains of Christakis Philippos Nicolaides, he continued, took place in 2016-2017 from the Morphou Cemetery, within the framework of the exhumation and identification programme of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee.
His parents, Andreas and Ada, he added, completed their own circle of life and left hurt by the loss of their child, without being able to say goodbye to him, touching his coffin and placing their tears of love on it. So did one of his brothers, Nick, who passed away two years ago, while his mother passed away in 2006 and his father in 1992, he noted. "This is the tragic fate of many relatives, parents, spouses and even children. They pass away with open wounds in their souls from the pain and anguish of so many years. These sad feelings are shared by Christakis' other three brothers, Panikos, Phoebus and Stelios, who are with us in this holy place, with their own children and other relatives."
Christakis, he said, was mortally wounded by a machine gun blast while on a mission to neutralize an armed Turkish Cypriot enclave in the village of Elia. "The whole operation began shortly after noon on the basis of a well-thought-out plan. Two hours later and while the National Guard men had neutralized the first machine guns and started to enter the village, unfortunately Christakis was mortally wounded by a machine gun burst. He expired on the battlefield while he and his fellow soldiers were on a National Guard mission to defend the territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus."
His body, Mr. Fotiou, was initially transferred to the temporary hospital in Morphou and subsequently buried without the presence of his family at the Morphou cemetery, where other martyrs of the Turkish invasion were also buried. His parents, he continued, when they were informed of his heroic sacrifice, together with two of his brothers, visited the Morphou cemetery and the priest who conducted the burials pointed out his own grave to them. They themselves, he added, then visited the Morphou Police Station, where personal effects of fallen soldiers were kept, where they identified those belonging to Christakis.
Based on these facts, he said, Christakis' name was placed on the official list of martyrs of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
Today we bid farewell to Christakis Filippou and honour his memory with gratitude, the Commissioner for the Presidency said. "We recognise that we have an unfulfilled debt to him and we will fight to fulfil it. We will never stop fighting until we bring freedom, peace and security to this long-suffering land."
Source: KYPE
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