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- Русский
This year marks forty-nine years since the brutal Turkish invasion of 1974. Inevitably, memory today recalls the most tragic events in our history since the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960. To the intercommunal clashes of 1963 and the heroic resistance of the defenders of Nicosia against armed Turkish rebels. The saga of Tilliria in 1964, with the first operational actions of units of the then newly established National Guard against Turkey's dichotomous plans. And finally, ten years later, the barbaric, illegal, bloody Turkish invasion of 1974.
The memory goes back to the treacherous coup d'état that provided the insolent invader with the pretext to implement his plans and invade Cyprus.
The tragic consequences of the brutal Turkish invasion, which have plagued our country for almost half a century, include the uprooting of thousands of refugees from their ancestral homes, the looting of houses and property, the confiscation of churches, the violent and uninterrupted destruction of our cultural heritage and the systematic colonization of our occupied areas.
Thousands were those who died fighting, were cowardly murdered or are still missing from the hostilities of the 1960s and from the Turkish invasion of 1974.
Determining the fate of the people who have been missing for decades can be considered the most tragic aspect of all.
Along with them, their families are irreparably affected, experiencing deep and long-lasting tragic consequences.
Parents have been forced to live without their children. Grandparents without their grandchildren. Children, in the absence of the parent were forced to become the father or mother to their families. Many of them leave the mundane world with anxious anticipation and pain in their souls.
Whole families were condemned to experience fear, anxiety, despair and deep sadness in a perpetual agonizing search for the truth about the fate of their loved ones.
This is their own tragic reality which is also an unhealed wound for the Republic of Cyprus.
This is their tragic reality which is at the same time an unhealed wound for the Republic of Cyprus.
This is their own tragic reality which is at the same time an unhealed wound for the Republic of Cyprus. A stagnant and prolonged state of mourning and grief, which is carried and spread from generation to generation.
The more time passes, the fresher the wound becomes. A bleeding wound that causes an excruciatingly endless emotional balancing act between hope and frustration.
This is because the constant goal is not just to find their loved ones, but to fight against the odds that they will never be found.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have an inalienable right to know and at the same time an obligation to continue to strive in every way possible to achieve an investigation into the fate of all our missing persons.
Only then is there any hope of healing all the open wounds that still torment their families.
Only then is there hope to answer the nagging questions that have haunted them for so many years and comfort their tormented souls.
This is the aim of the tireless efforts of the team of expert scientists, who are working within the framework of the mission of the Committee of Inquiry on Missing Persons in Cyprus.
As a government we declare unequivocally that we will never give up the effort until the last of our missing compatriots is found.
We demand from the international actor to exert all its influence on the occupying authorities and Turkey to assist the effort to find the missing persons of Cyprus and to end once and for all the drama and agony of their relatives.
Greeks,
Events like today's steel our will to continue our struggle until the final vindication and liberation of Cyprus.
They remind us, at the same time, of the heavy debt we owe to our history and traditions, to our heroically fallen and missing persons, who, with self-denial and self-sacrifice, defended freedom, democracy and justice to the end.
They are a special reminder of our responsibility and duty towards our children and future generations.
Through this year's "Marathon of Love for the Missing", we are once again sending out a strong message of awareness on this thoroughly humanitarian issue.
May the memory of all our heroically fallen be eternal and may the Almighty help to determine the fate of all our missing persons.
(AF/SX)
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Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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