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- Ελληνικά
It is a pleasure to be among you at an event that has a dual purpose. On the one hand it evokes the Christmas spirit and on the other it sends the message that together, State and citizens, we stand by the families of our missing persons, who for more than 49 years now, have been experiencing these days, with one or more empty chairs at the holiday table, without their loved ones on our long list of missing persons.
There are too many of our fellow citizens who, for almost half a century, cannot feel the warmth of family, since the Turkish invasion, violating their human rights, partitioned families and forced them illegally to be away from the homes where they were born, away from the land where they grew up, without the presence of their father, brother, sister, mother, grandmother, grandfather.
The tree, which we decorate today, is adorned with the most precious symbols. It is adorned by the heroes, the victims of the Turkish atrocities of 1974. It is decorated by the most innocent victims of the invasion, the children. It is adorned by the soldiers who sacrificed themselves defending the territorial integrity of our homeland. It is adorned by parents who sacrificed to defend what was most precious to them, their families. It is adorned by elderly people who refused to leave their towns and villages.
On the other hand, the tree is a symbol of hope. The hope of finding out the fate of our last missing person, the hope of reuniting our country, the hope of returning. Every tree lives and feeds on its roots. Roots that even if destroyed - as the occupying army destroyed the dreams and lives of our people in the black summer of 1974 - remain resilient and with a little water can bring the tree back to life. The tree is our Cyprus and the photographs of our missing are its wounds. We are the water that with faith, determination and assertiveness we continue the struggle to give our country life again, with its reunification.
This is what we work for, this is what we fight for, this is what we believe in. We are working hard to obtain information about our missing persons, we are fighting for Turkish intransigence to be broken and for Turkey to provide information about their fate, and we will continue the struggle until we achieve this, which even now, 49 years later, will soothe the wounds of the relatives of our missing persons and soothe their souls.
For our part, I would like to briefly mention that acting on the basis of the Governance Programme of the President of the Republic Mr. Nikos Christodoulides, we are doing everything possible to increase the flow of information regarding the fate of our missing persons. In this context, we are making an effort to make a number of changes and this effort has already started to bear fruit.
In particular, the change of approach, which is now more human and more friendly, has resulted in an increase in the flow of information while every piece of information that is under investigation is now being recorded. In addition, the investigative procedures of taking a statement have been removed and the whole approach is much more friendly and accessible to anyone who holds a piece of information about our missing persons.
These important changes have led to a very positive outcome and already in one month we have had over 6 identifications.
Undoubtedly our work - I should stress that - is made particularly difficult by Turkey's intransigence and rigid stance on the issue of our missing persons. For our part, we feel a heavy duty to intensify our efforts to break down Turkish resistance in order to secure the necessary cooperation and access to the evidence that will finally put an end to the drama of so many families, the relatives of our missing persons, who have been forced to live in tormenting uncertainty for almost half a century.
Allow me to conclude my greeting with the following reference. It is customary at the end of each year for every person or organization to take stock of its achievements. Although positive, this does not reassure us until we manage to keep this tree bare of pictures of missing loved ones.
I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
(PM/EATH/Th)
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