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Cypriot Fighters' Park, Drama, Greece
It is with great joy and emotion that I am here with you tonight, in the sacred land of eastern Macedonia, in the long-suffering Drama, the homeland of the martyr, ardent patriot and pioneer of the Macedonian Struggle, Metropolitan Chrysostomos Kalafatis, later Metropolitan of Smyrna, who experienced a martyr's death when the Turkish swarms entered the "diamond of Anatolia" in 1922.
Your prelate's martyr's heroic sacrifice was preceded by a martyr's death a century earlier when on 9 July 1821 the Turks hanged Archbishop Kyprianos of Cyprus and 486 other prominent local metropolitans, abbots, teachers and leaders whom they considered dangerous supporters of the 1821 revolutionary movement.
Ladies and gentlemen of Drama, it is with the utmost respect that I attend here, in your martyred city, which experienced all the sufferings of the epochal occupation, three times in 29 years, during the first Balkan and two world wars.
And I know that the people of Drama, knowing first-hand and experiencing the tragic consequences of foreign occupation, identified with the drama of their Cypriot brothers and sisters, who continue to live the consequences of the invasion and occupation of their own land.
The Park of Cypriot Fighters is, as a place, the minimal testimony of memory and honour to those who, as genuine descendants of the heroes of the nation, offered their lives in the struggles in defence of Cyprus.
Especially these days, we recall the tragic events that took place in the black July and August of 1974, with the brutal Turkish invasion.
The tragic moments of a nightmare that continues to this day.
We recall the horrible memories from the battlefields.
We recall the horrible memories from the battlefields.
When the officers, non-commissioned officers, soldiers and reservists of the National Guard units, after the omissions and the repeated wrong assessments and decisions of the then leadership of the troops and despite all the bitterness they experienced due to the preceding treasonous coup d'état, found themselves on the battlefield, fighting with vigour, courage and determination against the Turkish invader.
They were met with ruthless ferocity by the numerically and technologically superior Turkish war machine, opposing their inadequate and outdated weaponry, unreliable and in some cases non-existent communications and significant shortages of personnel.
The numbers of dead and wounded document the magnitude of the sacrifice and sacrifice.
The numbers of dead and wounded document the magnitude of the sacrifice and sacrifice. Hundreds of human stories were told in the wreckage of flattened buildings from the bombing and on the bloody battlefields.
With their lives shattered and their hearts and souls wounded, women and children and the elderly, with terror in their eyes, panic-stricken and without a destination, took the road of refuge, exhausted, seeking escape and salvation from the hell of war.
With their lives shattered and their hearts and souls wounded, women and children, with terror in their eyes, panic-stricken and without a destination, took the road of refuge, exhausted, seeking escape and salvation from the hell of war.
Most vividly we remember the black-clad mothers of our missing day and night at the barricades, seeking with silent tears the truth about the fate of their children.
At the side of the fighters of the National Guard, who in the summer of 1974 were called upon to repel Turkish aggression, were the children of the ELDYK from the very first moment, as well as the commandos of the A' Squadron, who arrived on the island with the heroic operation "Niki".
The children of Greece fought bravely, sticking out their chests with boundless heroism in the face of the numerous and armed Turkish soldiers.
As genuine descendants of the heroes of the Nation, they showed unparalleled courage by paying a heavy blood tax in the struggle to defend the sacred and holy places of Hellenism on our island and writing golden pages of genuine Greek bravery and fighting spirit.
Before the contribution of all these children from Greece and Cyprus who sacrificed themselves defending our homeland, we pay the appropriate tribute and at the same time we reflect on our own responsibility and our own debt towards them and towards History and future generations.
Drawing on all the lessons that History teaches us, we must, with collectivity, unity, a sense of responsibility and unity, be worthy of the struggle and sacrifice of our heroes.
Today, 49 years after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, our people continue to strongly experience the consequences of the crime of the Turkish invasion, the final results of which are in flagrant violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in complete contradiction with the principles and values of the European Union.
All the efforts of the President of the Republic, Mr. Nicos Christodoulides, are aimed at breaking the deadlock and creating the conditions to reach an honourable, mutually acceptable and viable solution, which will fully restore and safeguard the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all legitimate citizens of Cyprus.
In this direction, we have no choice but to continue our struggle with unity and unanimity. We have a sacred duty and a supreme obligation to fight for a better tomorrow, for a free homeland.
This will be the best memorial for our heroic ancestors. For those who showed us the way with their ethos, their struggles and their sacrifices.
Their selfless, selfless choice to defend our land to the utmost, as a thunderous voice calling us to continue our own efforts.
Thank you.
(ΕΠ)
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Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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