- For the great, for the free, for the brave, for the strong,
- For them silence, for them tears, for them lighthouses, and olive branches and lanterns.
We are here today, in the heroic community of Chloraka, humble pilgrims to commemorate and honour those who set aside the small for the great, those who chose the glory of eternity over the viciousness of submission, those whom history and conscience classify as heroes.
I begin with a confession, an admission.
I begin with a confession, an admission. Let us be honest, with history and with those we honor today. Today is not the day for grandiose theoretical speeches and shallow rhetoric. We are not here today to mechanically recall a long list of dates, nor to read an endless list of heroes. The sacrifices of our ancestors do not need historical reference, but historical consciousness.
If we truly wish to honour the greatness of those we commemorate today, we must translate it into our "being". If we sincerely want to stand with respect for the 55-59 epic, we must first bravely and soberly accept and acknowledge our own responsibilities. We therefore look to the past to learn lessons, to reflect, to reassess our needs. Not to imitate, as we could, but to be inspired by the greatness and heroism of those we honour today.
It is with immense respect and awe that we feel history, a history that fills us with pride, but even more so that arms us with an immense responsibility of the heavy national heritage we carry. After all, "a people writes its history not only to narrate its past but to declare what it wants to be in the future".
Blessed are the soils of Chloracca, wherever you look the indelible stamp of its heroes. Identical with our national struggles is this community. Present in every call of the homeland, in the Balkan wars, in the Second World War, in the epic of 55-59.
Just as the then 23-year-old Lieutenant Georgios Azinas was present when, in the battles of April 1, 1949 at Grammos and Vitsi, he heroically fell during the civil strife in Greece, defending the legitimate government of Greece. This brave young man not only honoured his homeland, Cyprus, but also inspired his fellow countrymen with his heroic sacrifice. It was George Azinas' dream to see Cyprus smoother than the British conqueror. Azinas did not live the epic of 55-59, but his sacrifice and heroism was a beacon and compass for the young people of the community to follow his example, to stand up to his glory. After all, how can we overlook the overwhelming symbolism? April 1 is the heroic death of Lieutenant Azinas, April 1 and the beginning of the liberation struggle of EOKA in 1955. History is synchronized, time and place are small and human in the face of the destiny of glory and eternity.
The community of Chloraka can rightly feel proud of its enormous contribution to the ethnic liberation struggle of our people against the British colonialists. You cannot feel the EOKA epoch without starting from Chloraka. And indeed, in this place, in this community, things happened that deserve to be remembered forever.
It was here, after all, that the beginning was made and the flame of freedom quickly spread to the whole island. A little further down, in "Aliki", the fighters Kostas Leonidas, Nicholas Mavronikola and Michalakis Papantoniou received the leader Georgios Grivas Digenis on November 10, 1954, who arrived secretly with the ship "Siren" to take him to the house of Nicholas Azina.
A few months earlier, in March 1954, on the deserted coast of Chloraka, away from prying eyes, another event of decisive importance for the struggle had taken place. The ship "Siren", captained by Vangelis Loukas-Koutalianos, carried the first shipment of weapons for EOKA from Piraeus. The Chlorakians Andreas, Nikolas and Charalambos Azina together with Kostas Leonidas were the first small group of fighters formed in the spring of 1953 in the community of Chloraka. Under the cover of darkness they waited anxiously to see from the sea the bright signal of the sailing ship carrying the precious cargo. The unloading of the first arms for the throwing off of the British yoke and the premonition of the union of Cyprus with Mother Greece was now a fact. The pioneer fighters of Chloraka received the first 46 crates of arms and ammunition.
Early the next year, on 25 January 1955, the boat "Agios Georgios", captained by Vangelis Koutaliyanos, arrived at "Rodafinia" in Chloraka with a new load of arms. A group of seven fighters, consisting of the team leader Kostas Leonidas and Christakis Evzonas, Kyriakos Mavronikolas, Nikolas Mavronikolas, Michalakis Papantoniou, Nikolas and Christodoulos Pendaras, were waiting for it on the shore. But the boat was not only expected by our people. In the darkness of the night the English warship "Comet" was lurking and British policemen ashore. The mission had been betrayed.
The capture of the ship was a blow to the organization, but the river of resistance was now rushing down and nothing could turn it back. The words of Kostas Leonidas, one of those arrested, writing from the Central Prison in July 1956, are indicative: "After forty years of age I have also offered something for what I have loved and longed for all my life and for all of which I am here. I have missed nothing in this world. I have loved only these divine gifts and goods, faith, country, freedom, justice and true peace."
The armed action was constantly flaring up and for four whole years the generation of '55 wrote pages of unstinting heroism, self-sacrifice and national greatness. The fighters of Chloraka were not discouraged by the capture of the ship with the arms and continued to thicken the lines of EOKA. The community was an example of militancy and solidarity. With extreme secrecy, the Chlorakians carried out the instructions of the organisation, contributing in every way to the armed struggle. They built hideouts and transported arms and ammunition throughout the province of Paphos. No one wanted to be left behind and they were all consistent with their historical duty and their destiny.
Greeks, Greeks,
If in Agia Lavra the banner of the Greek Revolution was raised in 1821, here in Chloraka the torch that lit the epic of 55-59 was lit.
If in Agia Lavra the banner of the Greek Revolution was raised in 1821, here in Chloraka the torch that lit the epic of 55-59 was lit. Here is the beginning of the struggle, here is its soul. April 1, 1955 was a historic moment of challenging oppression and foreign tyranny, the great robust leap of Cypriot Hellenism towards the very idea of its existence.
A handful of fighters rose up to claim the "unthinkable" for some, the throwing off of the British yoke. The Cypriot soul proved to be brave and the heroism and determination of the EOKA fighters surprised and embarrassed even the British conquerors themselves. A handful of rebels, loyal to their oath and determined to win or die, managed to rouse an entire island in search of freedom. Small in size, Cyprus stamped its history in indelible letters. Besides, Kostis Palamas captures the true greatness of a people. It is measured by the fire of the heart and by the blood.[/B]
The virtue, the spirit, the fortitude, the fighting spirit and the self-sacrifice of our heroes shine like the brightest stars in the history of our country and in our struggles for the future.
Because it is true, friends, that we have a historical debt to our glorious ancestors, but we also have a perhaps greater debt to our children, to throw off the Turkish yoke from our divided homeland. For 49 years our homeland has been experiencing the barbaric consequences of an illegal invasion and continued occupation. There can therefore be no higher goal for all of us than the redemption of our martyred homeland.
As the President of the Republic Mr. Nicos Christodoulides has declared, our main concern is to work with all our forces to achieve a solution for an independent and truly sovereign state, free from any anachronistic guarantees and the presence of occupying troops. We are working for the end of the occupation, the reunification of our homeland through the achievement of a peaceful solution to the Cyprus problem. A solution, of course, which should be based on the relevant United Nations resolutions and Security Council Resolutions and in accordance with the principles and values of the European Union. To fight unwaveringly for an end to the occupation, the unity of the state, the safeguarding of human rights and fundamental freedoms of all the Cypriot people.
Every man, every people, becomes worthy of his historical mission as his consciousness of his history deepens. The greatness of a nation's civilization is always proportional to the purity and depth of its historical memory. It is our duty, therefore, to make this historical memory an experience, the need for history to meet the historicity of need, the imperative for unity to be transformed into redemption.
After all, as the poet says:
We owe a debt to those who have come and gone,
they will come and go.
Judges will judge us
the unborn, the dead."
Hellenes, Greeks
We bow reverently to the struggles of the fighters of EOKA, but also to our heroic dead who bravely fought for the faith in ideals.
Honor and glory to all the fighters of Chloraka who marked the beginning, who founded the struggle of EOKA and continued to fight for the freedom of the homeland until the final justification.
Honor to the land of Chloraka that gave birth, nurtured and sewed with the seeds of Hellenism and Christianity, these worthy children.
Eternal be the glory that will accompany Lieutenant George X.
Eternal be the memory of all the brave men who gave even their lives for the good cause.
Immortal heroes of Chloraka,
We honour and bow to your great sacrifice. Your memory will be eternal, as our struggle will be unceasing until the final vindication, the justification of your sacrifice.
Eternal and ageless may be the luminous memory of our heroes.
(PM/NG)
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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