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With feelings of emotion and national pride, we gathered today at the Holy Church of Panagia Pantanassa in Houlou, to celebrate the annual memorial service of the heroically fallen residents of the community and to pay tribute to them.
To those who with their blood watered our sacred land, and with their struggle and sacrifice sealed the historical course of our homeland.
Today we recall some of the most important periods of modern Cypriot history and with nostalgia and longing for return, we return mentally to our beloved occupied areas, stating clearly that not only have we not forgotten our homeland, but we are eagerly awaiting the blessed hour of our return.
The fresh wounds are still bleeding in our souls.
The fresh wounds are still bleeding in our souls. The sad memories of the suffering our people endured throughout most of the 1960s, until the brutal Turkish invasion, recur and always have the same inexorable form.
Remembrance goes back to the past and creates images of the then difficult period, immediately after the proclamation of the Republic of Cyprus, which did not augur well for the peace of the Cypriot people. A few days before Christmas 1963, the first armed clashes in the area of old Nicosia marked the beginning of the countdown that gradually led to destruction. The intercommunal incidents, starting in the capital, soon escalated into generalised conflicts and spread to the whole of Cyprus. They continued throughout the decade with Turkey's dichotomous plans, as a result of our own serious mistakes, being put on track for implementation.
In Paphos, the incidents took on major proportions in the form of armed clashes. The Turkish insurgents set out to turn Muttalo into an enclave of harassment and terrorism of Greeks.
The "Battle of the Estate", which took place on Saturday, 7 March '64, was foreshadowed by the "Lausanne Incidents", as they became known, in the first two months of the year.
The pan-Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot-owned bus company "Lozan" gathered at its offices in Ktima many Turkish Cypriots, who travelled from there to other towns and villages.
On 4 February 1964, in the first skirmishes that took place there, the community of Choulos mourned the murder of one of its own children, Kyriakos Konstantinos Theodorou, who happened to be passing through the area.[/B]
In the following months, until the summer, sporadic bloody incidents continued throughout Cyprus. The culmination of Turkish provocations was the systematic transfer of arms from Turkey and the attempt to create a beachhead in the Kokkinin-Mansoura enclave, with the aim of merging it with the Lefka and Nicosia enclaves. The ultimate goal of Ankara was to control a large geographical area of northern Cyprus, which would gradually lead to the collapse of the state and the partition of the island.
The security forces of the republic, with the newly established National Guard and armed volunteer units of the region intervened decisively to eliminate the bridgehead and prevent the imposition of Turkish plans.
The intervention of our armed forces provoked the wrath of Ankara, which proceeded to mercilessly bomb the area of Tillyria on August 8 and 9, 1964.
In these attacks, the officers, the newly recruited National Guardsmen and volunteer fighters, as genuine guardians of the values and ideals of Hellenism, were decisively present and showed courage, self-denial and selflessness in the critical moments that our homeland was going through.
These virtues and cheerfulness in the face of danger were also demonstrated by Christodoulos Theophanis Argyrou, who at the age of 29 laid down his young life, a libation on the altar of the freedom of our Cyprus.
Another young man, Miltiades Miltiadous, until the discovery and identification of his bones with the DNA method, remained for 50 years on the lists of the missing persons of the period 1963 - '64.
The eldest son of a large family, being a prison guard at the Central Prison in Nicosia during the period of the intercommunal riots and while on duty, he was arrested by the Turks on 15 October 1964 and has been missing ever since. His remains were found in a mass grave in Hamit Mandres and were buried with proper honours in June 2014.
The stubborn resistance of Cypriot Hellenism in 1963-64 to neutralize Turkish aggression and the attempt to dismantle the Republic of Cyprus was followed by the ten-year civil strife, which like a curse devoured the innards of our homeland and eventually led to the tragic events of the treacherous coup of 15 July 1974 and the Turkish invasion.
Victims of the civil strife were, among others, the barber by profession and later special police officer in the Reserve Corps Andreas Ellinas, who, one month before the coup, on June 16, 1974, was murdered in Limassol, during an ambush organized by people belonging to EOKA B.
George Herodotou, born in the Bishopric of Paphos, experienced the loss of his father, who died fighting in the Second World War, at a very early age, when he was only two years old. He would follow his father's example three decades later, when the traitorous coup d'état brought him to the front of the resistance, in an attempt to prevent the dissolution of the constitution. He fell on 15 July, in Kolossi, defending freedom and democracy.
Sensing the magnitude of the betrayal of our country, we return mentally to the days following the coup d'état of 15 July. When, shortly before the start of the landing operation in Kyrenia, on the "Five Mile" coast, the summer sky of Cyprus was filled with Turkish paratroopers, who swarmed the plains of Nicosia.
Socrates Christodoulou Spyrou, as a conscript private, was then serving his term of service in the 281 Infantry Battalion in Myrtos and together with the rest of the personnel of the unit made superhuman efforts to repel the Turkish aggression. In the difficult hours of 20 July, when the bombing escalated and extended to Myrtou, Socrates, and the other soldiers who were in the camp, despite the fact that they knew that they were a target of the Turkish air forces, did not think for a moment of leaving. They remained faithfully committed to duty and consciously chose to continue to carry out their ordered mission.
During the air attacks he was seriously wounded. He expired during his transfer to a clinic and was buried in the Morphou cemetery. His remains, after testimonies, were recovered and identified by DNA and buried in 2021 in his hometown with hero's honours.
The two of the heroes we commemorate today, like our other missing persons, with their identification and burial, remind us of the most tragic aspect and the suffering that the Turkish invasion of '74 caused to our people. Unfortunately, many are still missing, adding to the drama and pain of their families. The issue of our missing persons remains as a bleeding wound to remind us that we must expend all our efforts to resolve it until the fate of the last of our compatriots is determined.
Despite the death of thousands of our fellow human beings, the violent uprooting and the illegal occupation of part of the territories of our homeland, despite the shameless pillaging of our cultural heritage, despite the desecration of our places of religious worship and despite the attempts to alter the Greek-Christian character of the occupied territories, we continue the struggle by repeating the verses of George Seferis.
"The mandatophore runs and no matter how long his way may be, he will bring to those who sought to chain Hellespont the terrible message of Salamis."
The bitter memories of '74 are not forgotten, the wounds are not healed. Our people cannot come to terms with the pain, the grief, the heartbreak of refugeeism and the loss of loved ones. It refuses to accept the facts of the invasion and occupation, refuses to allow the memories to fade.
We must fight for the present, with determination and unity, so that we can claim a better future for our children.
From this sacred place where we commemorate the sacrifice of the six heroes of the Hulu community, we bow to their towering figures and express our pledge that we will continue to strive with faith and determination to achieve our supreme national goal. The liberation and reunification of our homeland.
This is where all the efforts of the President of the Republic, Mr. Nikos Christodoulides, are focused. To break the deadlock that has arisen and to create the conditions that will allow the resumption of the talks.
The resumption of a sincere dialogue that does not contain insubstantial and provocative claims and actions that undermine the whole effort and process and that aim to create new fait accompli.
We seek a just, viable and workable solution.
We seek a just, viable and workable solution.
We seek a just, viable and workable solution.
We seek a just, viable and workable solution. A solution that will liberate our homeland and allow our people to live in security and prosperity.
The "two independent states solution" proposed by Turkey is in no way an option for the Greek Cypriot side. On the contrary, the attempt to impose a slow and silent partition threatens to destroy any convergence of views and positions, threatening the very foundations of the whole process.
Despite any problems and Turkey's unacceptable claims on the Cyprus problem, we, with the same determination and the same strong will, calling for enhanced involvement of the European Union - which, I assure you, will not replace the role of the United Nations, nor will it affect the already agreed framework of the solution - will continue to fight to make our country a free state, where peace and justice will prevail.
This is what the sacrifice of those we commemorate today has subjected and called us to for so many years. Only in this way will we be worthy of their march. Eternal be the memory and glory that accompanies the heroic fallen of Hulu whom we commemorate today.
Thank you.
(OP)
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