Syntagma Square
In a few days Christians everywhere will celebrate the birth of the God-Man. It is a day of celebration with messages of joy, hope and peace. On such days, more than ever before, our thoughts are with the families of our missing persons and the drama they are living.
By decorating the Christmas Tree of the missing persons here in the centre of Athens, we send everywhere the message of our brotherhood and our support in the struggle to finally end the drama that the relatives of our loved ones have been experiencing for 48 years.
We demand that full and clear answers are finally given to all relatives about the disappearance of their loved ones. And these answers should of course be provided by the occupying power, Turkey, which all these years has refused to work honestly and in good faith to clarify all the cases of our missing persons.
For our part, we are working and intensifying our efforts to curb the intransigence and refusal of the occupying power to cooperate to end the tragedy, which it has created and tactically maintains by increasing the pain and suffering of the families of our missing persons.
It is an inhuman and unnatural situation that nullifies the values and principles of civilized humanity. We cannot and must not allow this tragedy to continue. The powerful of the world, the United Nations, the European Union also have a moral obligation to finally take humanitarian initiatives to end this tragedy.
On this holy day, I would first of all like to thank and congratulate the Youth of the World Federation of Expatriate Cypriots for your initiative. The decoration of the Christmas tree of missing persons in the various countries where Cypriots of our Diaspora live, symbolizes the support and sympathy of NEPOMAK and all of us to the tragedy experienced daily by the relatives of our missing persons and expresses sincere feelings of love and solidarity to the suffering families. It is a commendable act that honours you greatly.
Let us wish that every Christmas tree we decorate, in cooperation with the youth of our expatriates, will send out a strong message of our international appeal for further support of our efforts and actions in support of the determination of the fate of all our missing persons, without exception.
On behalf of the President of the Republic Mr. Nicos Anastasiades, the state and all of us, I express our unreserved and sincere support to the families of our missing persons and to all of you with the assurance that we continue together the sacred struggle for the restoration and respect of the human rights of our last missing person and his family.
This is a national imperative and a duty towards our heroes and their families.
Congratulating once again the members of NEPOMAK for their initiative, I also extend our sincere thanks to all our expatriates for their enduring support and I wish that this Christmas and the New Year will strengthen our aspirations for freedom and peace in our small country and throughout the world.
(AT/SX)
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