With memory recalling the most critical moments in the history of our country, we gathered today at the Holy Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, to commemorate the two heroic policemen of Fasoula, who lost their lives during the intercommunal riots of 1963 and the Turkish invasion of 1974.
Those who set as an end in themselves and as the highest priority the debt to their homeland and sacrificed their youthful dreams, but also the supreme human good, their own lives, on the altar of freedom and justice.
It is with deep emotion, therefore, that we commemorate the memory of Giannakis Aeroporos and Vanios Spanias.
Their busts in the Heroes' Monument of the Fassoulas community remind us of our duty to all those who toiled, fought and sacrificed for a free Cyprus.
Along with the two police officers who defended democracy and the rights of our people, we also commemorate EOKA fighter Charalambos Ioannou, who, although he did not sacrifice himself on the field of honour, throughout his life was a model of an ardent patriot, participating in every call for the defence of the homeland.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Yannakis Aeroporos was born in occupied Lapithos on 16 March 1941. He later settled permanently in Fassoula, where he and his wife Lella created their own family, had two children, Andri and Giannos, and lived a peaceful life with their beloved relatives and friends.
From childhood he was distinguished for his philanthropy and unadulterated love for freedom. Displaying a high sense of responsibility, daring, courage and fighting spirit, despite his very young age, he was present and active in the national liberation struggle of EOKA in 1955-59.
On 17 October 1960, shortly after the proclamation of the Republic of Cyprus, he joined the Cyprus Police and studied at the Police Academy.
On 17 October 1960, shortly after the proclamation of the Republic of Cyprus, he joined the Cyprus Police and studied at the Police Academy. On completion of his studies, he was appointed to the Larnaca Police Directorate and then to Nicosia.
He always performed his duties with zeal, loyalty and devotion. Just before Christmas 1963, and while Nicosia was shaken by the onset of intercommunal riots and clashes, he was called upon to defend our compatriots trapped in the northern suburbs of the capital, which were early on at the centre of Turkish aggression.
Giannakis, setting aside all fear, participated with bravery and self-denial in the operations that were carried out and fell heroically fighting at Omorphita, thus adding his name to the long list of memorable defenders of our homeland.
Born of the community of Fassoulas, he was the second hero we commemorate today. Vanios Spanias was born on March 14, 1944. He was married to Yola Chatzivassili and together they had their only son Andreas.
In 1963 Vanios joined the voluntary National Guard, which was established to counter Turkish aggression and he, like Giannakis Aeroporos, participated in the battles of Omorphita.
As a young man he was very active and philanthropic, and although he was offered a scholarship to study abroad, he chose to remain in Cyprus. In February 1964 he joined the Police and was assigned to the Central Intelligence Service.
He was always consistent in every call of his country. A characteristic example is his participation and action in the battles of Mansoura in July 1964, when the then newly formed National Guard faced the continuous Turkish efforts to strengthen and expand the Kokkin beachhead, which had the ultimate goal of destabilizing the state and dividing Cyprus.
Ten years later, in the black July of 1974, the black July of Cyprus when, as our poet Pantelis Mechanikos describes, "the footsteps of the barbarians reached Salamina" and King Onesilos roared with rage and indignation, the sirens of war and the mortal danger our homeland was in were sounding in the towns and villages.
Cyprus was called upon after the tragic consequences of the fratricidal coup and with the National Guard overworked and disorganized to fight the Turkish forces, who were attempting to invade the island and wreak havoc.
Faithful to the call, the fighters of Cypriot freedom, with inadequate organization and training, with antiquated equipment and means, stood up against the numerically and militarily superior forces of Attila.
There the lads of the 1st Commando Squadron, who arrived in Cyprus with the NORATLAS of operation "NIKI", assisted by the 32nd Strike Company of the 33rd Commando Squadron and other forces of the National Guard, repelled the successive furious attacks of the Turks and finally, with unprecedented bravery, prevented the occupation of the airport before it was handed over to the UN forces.
During the fighting, Vanios Spanias was killed by Turkish fire.
Ladies and gentlemen,
When the time of crisis arrived, Giannakis Aeroporos and Vanios Spanias did not bend, did not hesitate, did not have second thoughts. With full awareness and total self-denial, they offered all their strength for the sacred cause.
The defense of the homeland.
Just as the poet Tasos Livaditis
"If you want to be called human,
you may have to leave your mother, your beloved or your child.
You will not hesitate.
You will forsake your lamp and your bread
You will forsake your evening rest on the home doorstep
for the rough road that leads to tomorrow."
This is what the heroes we commemorate today did.
They honoured the oath, the uniform and the glorious Greek history, carrying out to the fullest the mission of defending the freedom of their ancestral homes and the sacred lands where they were revived and became men.
They renounced the individual good for the benefit of the collective, put the we above the ego and sealed with their active participation the most critical moments of modern Cypriot history.
Greeks, Greeks,
Today we also recall memories of the pure national liberation struggle to shake off the British yoke and commemorate EOKA fighter Charalambos Ioannou, who passed away in 2019.
Charalambos, in the summer of 1955, when he was only 18 years old, already enjoyed the esteem of the Organization. He combined boldness, discretion, and an unwavering belief in the values and ideals of Hellenism, and it was only fitting that he should be appointed in charge of the Fasoula fighters' group.
The group began to undertake missions, initially distributing leaflets, writing slogans on walls, transmitting messages and carrying weapons, and later undertaking missions of assault and hosting guerrillas and fugitives.
The group began to undertake missions, initially distributing leaflets, writing slogans on walls, transmitting messages and carrying weapons, and later undertaking missions of assault and hosting guerrillas and fugitives.
In November 57, following instructions from the Organization, a new guerrilla group was created in the eastern sector of the Limassol district, in the areas of Monagrouli - Eptagonia.
From December 1957 to November 1958, the group, led by Haralambos' fellow fighter, Avgerinos Papares, and including himself, Nikos Nicolaides and, at one point, Andreas Konstantinos Steniotis, followed an adventurous route. It settled successively at Eptagonia in a makeshift hideout, at Prasteio, at Monagrouli, and back again to the Prasteio and Eptagonia hideouts.
The operations they undertook up to the end of the struggle included the execution of ambushes and the construction of bombs. At the same time they were charged with the very important task of conducting a diversion, in case the area where Digenes' hideout was located was perceived and searches were begun.
Throughout the struggle, in all the missions and operations they undertook, their every thought and every action was guided by the unadulterated and ardent desire to throw off the colonial yoke and liberate the homeland.
The same desire that was growing in the souls of all the Greeks of Cyprus.
It was the same desire that fluttered in their hearts, and for this reason the armed struggle was the only and non-negotiable solution for EOKA.
Greeks, Greeks,
In the face of the contribution of the men we commemorate today, we, in turn, are called upon to reflect on our own debt to history and our homeland.
We have a moral obligation and historical responsibility, with the same vigour and the same patience and perseverance, to fight to make Cyprus a state of freedom and peace.
Our national goal remains one. It cannot be shaped, imposed or postponed.
We expect and work for a solution to the Cyprus problem. A solution that will liberate and reunite our homeland, create and ensure conditions of coexistence, security, prosperity and cooperation for all its legitimate inhabitants.
Unfortunately, the occupier has long insisted, through provocative acts and brazen and unsustainable claims, to create new de facto situations outside the agreed solution framework and the UN Security Council resolutions.
By maintaining this negative attitude and making the acceptance of a two independent states solution as a precondition for the continuation of the dialogue, it undermines any effort to re-engage and re-launch the dialogue and, by extension, destroys any expectation of reaching a mutually acceptable, viable and workable solution that will reunite our country.
Despite Turkey's negative attitude, we continue the struggle for a solution to the Cyprus problem and the defence of the rights of our people with the same commitment and without deviating from our main objective.
We therefore renew our vow that we will not give up what belongs to us.
We will never and for any reason abandon what shapes and characterizes our national identity.
In this way we will be able to prove ourselves worthy of the march and heroic sacrifice of those we commemorate today.
Their self-denial and dedication to duty will forever adorn the golden deltas of our history.
Eternal be the memory and glory that will accompany Giannakis Aeroporos, Vanios Spanias and Charalambos Ioannou.
Thank you.
(MΓ)
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Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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