We have a duty to remain committed to the struggle, to stand worthy successors of the struggles of the heroes of EOKA and all those who watered the tree of freedom with their blood, said yesterday Defence Minister Haralambos Petrides in his speech at the literary memorial service of Evagoras Pallikaridis, organised by the Evagoras Pallikaridis Cultural Association in Paphos.
Today's commemoration of the sacrifice of Evagoras Pallikaridis is not only about paying due tribute to another hero, but is, as he said, something bigger, something even more important.
Cyprus may, the Defence Minister said, thanks to the sacrifice of the heroes of 1955-59, have been freed from the colonial yoke and gained its independence, but shortly afterwards a new invader from the East, illegally and criminally occupied half of our homeland, which is still suffering today from the presence of the Turkish army.
With thousands of dead and refugees, he continued, forcibly uprooted from their ancestral homes. With hundreds of missing persons, many of whose relatives are still experiencing the daily drama of waiting for their fate to be known. With destroyed and ruined towns and villages, with enormous destruction of our cultural heritage.
The Minister of Defence noted that we all bear a heavy debt to our immortal heroes and that we must all unite together to continue the struggle for the liberation of our island and to be able to hand over to the younger generations a free and reunited homeland where the human rights and basic freedoms of all its legitimate inhabitants will be protected, without the encroachments and dependencies of third parties.
He also said that from the Pantheon of our heroes, Evagoras and the other heroes of our country's struggles await the performance of the duty that precedes the meaning of the 1955-59 liberation struggle.
The Minister of Defence said that Evagoras Pallikaridis was the youngest and the last fighter to be hanged by the British.The executioners of the young hero immediately after their criminal act ordered the prison priest Papantonis Erotokritou to conduct the funeral service and before dawn, they buried him in the prison yard, in the same grave where a few days earlier the lifeless body of Gregory Afxentios, burnt at the altar of Machairas on March 3, 1957, was buried.
In her greeting, the president of the Evagoras Pallikaridis Cultural Association, Andri Kanari, said that the poet and hero Evagoras Pallikaridis has managed until today to sensitize and touch the souls of young people. A simple example are the poems written every year by students of high schools and high schools of the district in the Poetry Contest "Mantouvas Fund" in the framework of the Evagorians. The influence that he still exerts today is also evident, as she said, from the participation of students in theatrical one-act plays at the events of the Evagorion and in events of their schools dedicated to the hero.
Ms Kanari noted that it is not only in Cyprus that we honour Evagoras Pallikaridis.
Ms Kanari noted that it is not only in Cyprus that we honour Evagoras Pallikaridis. Hellenism honours the hero with theatrical one-act plays, with his poems set to music and sung by the learning youth of Hellenism everywhere. He also pointed out that in recent years, before the pandemic, similar celebrations were held in Greece in honour of the hero by Music Lyceums and Gymnasiums in Lamia, Tripoli, Chalkida and Karditsa.
She added that nations do not forget their heroes, they pay tribute to them, trying to repay their eternal moral debt and at the same time to be inspired by their sacrifice.
Evagoras Pallikaridis, Mrs Kanari continued, represents the young people of the liberation struggle of EOKA. Those who were not overwhelmed by the gallows of the English colonizer... who were not bent by the horrific torture.... who did not faint in the face of the hardships and deprivations of the detention centres, prisons and hideouts.
The event included, in addition to the speech of the Minister of Defence, songs by the choir of the Cyprus Association of Paphos, the choir of the Evagoras Pallicarides Cultural Association, conducted by Zacharias Evangellou and the awarding of the students who excelled in the poetry competition of the Mandouvas Fund.
In addition, today Sunday is the religious memorial service of Evagoras Pallikaridis with the President of the Parliament Anita Demetriou, headed by Metropolitan George of Pafos, as speaker. After the religious memorial service, which will be held at the Cathedral of St Theodoros, the flame will be carried from the place of his arrest in the village of Lysos to his father's house in Tsada and from there to his statue in front of the school he attended, today's 1st Lyceum of Paphos. The flame will be carried by members of the Pancyprian Reserve Ranger Association and the Stelios Kyriakides and Pericles Demetriou Runners Associations.
At midnight on March 13, the time of the hero's hanging, fellow fighters, classmates, friends and appreciators of his work will lay wreaths at his statue, opposite the school he attended, today's A' Lyceum of Paphos.
It is noted that "Evagoria" started on March 6, with a Cyprus-wide cycling race that has been put under the auspices of the Cyprus Cycling Federation.
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