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- Ελληνικά
With feelings of deepest gratitude, we came today to the Military Cemetery of Lakatamia, to pay with due respect the minimum due tribute to the heroically fallen of the Turkish invasion.
To those, who in July and August 1974, expending every ounce of their strength, fought with vigour and unparalleled self-sacrifice, giving an unequal struggle in defence of our homeland.
To those who, as our Nobel Prize-winning poet George Seferis wrote about an alien era in his prophetic poem "Salamina of Cyprus", "saw the dawn through the mist of death [...], and [...] felt the eyes of the whole catastrophe on them, big and wide".
Despite the fact that a few days earlier they had experienced the coup against the Cyprus government and the collapse of democracy, they proved that there will always be a small, imperceptible ray of hope.
A ray that may not be visible to many, but is perceived by the few.
Those who, in the hour of great crisis, guided by an invisible, an inconceivable perseverance, manage to rise to the occasion and become leaders in the effort to defend the justice and freedom of our country.
The heroes we commemorate today fought for justice and freedom.
For their families and their children. For the children of Cyprus.
For their homes, their neighbourhoods, their villages.
For the principles and values which, as a sacred legacy, they inherited from their ancestors.
For the whole of Hellenism.
Infused with the Greek-Christian education and the glorious history of the nation, which they transformed into passion, hope, faith and fighting spirit, they faced the aggression of Attila and fought to the end with vigour and heroism.
The passion for freedom and justice guided their every action.
It had become a way of life, an experience, a necessity.
It was with this in mind that they contemplated, dreamed and acted.
This is how they grew up, how they were nurtured by their mothers and fathers. They felt ready to follow the path of duty and duty, showing unparalleled fighting spirit, altruism and self-sacrifice, and putting the common good above all personal desires.
"If you want to call yourself a man", wrote our poet Tasos Livaditis, "you will never stop fighting for peace and justice [...]
your face will bleed from the bullets but not a step back. [...] every gesture you make is like tearing down injustice [...] You have no time, you have no time for yourself, if you want to call yourself a man [...]".
Today, we also recite a prayer for the finding of our compatriots, who for half a century have been on the list of the missing.
For this prolonged and traumatically unchanging state of pain, grief and mourning for their families to finally cease.
For the deep bleeding "psychic wound", which has been passed on as a bitter legacy from generation to generation, to finally heal.
To end the excruciatingly endless emotional balancing act between hope and disappointment, and to alleviate the grief and anxiety they feel.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Individual and collective historical memory turns today, with pain and deliberation, to those fateful days, which so inexorably marked the fate of our long-suffering island, scattering death and destruction, expulsion from our native land and the division of our homeland, unprovoked and violent.
Forty-nine years of occupation is too many.
Restoring the historical anomaly caused by the Turkish invasion of 1974 and the continuing occupation is a collective historical responsibility.
We face these moments with prudence and seriousness, and by measuring the magnitude of the sacrifice of our heroes, we measure and reflect on our own debt and responsibility towards our history.
It is up to Turkey to act accordingly in order to reverse the negative political climate.
It is up to Turkey to act accordingly in order to reverse the negative political climate. We expect Turkey to demonstrate goodwill and a spirit of cooperation.
The perpetuation of the status quo is not acceptable.
Today, as we pay tribute to our immortal heroes, we send the message that the Cypriot people will not give in and will not back down, despite the difficulties.
They have learned to fight for peace, freedom and national dignity.
This is our highest duty to all those who gave their lives on the altar of duty to their country.
The bravery and self-denial shown by the fallen of Lakatamia become a lesson and a sacred example for present and future generations and keep us firmly tied to our roots, throughout the centuries, here in the heartland of Hellenism.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Hellenes,
Lakatamia paid a heavy price in the black summer of 1974. The sacrifice of the 29 heroes and heroines who fell fighting for faith and country or were killed during the Turkish invasion, and the loss of our 23 missing persons, are the beacon that illuminates the path we must follow if we wish to achieve a better future for our land.
We therefore renew our vow that we will not turn away from our struggle and we will not turn our backs on what our ancestors bequeathed to us.
Those things that for centuries have defined our national identity as Greeks of Cyprus.
Eternal be the memory and glory that will accompany our heroically fallen and may the Most High answer our prayers for the discovery of the fate of all our missing persons.
Thank you.
(MX)
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