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- Ελληνικά
[...] I will tell you about this island
that was yesterday a dream and thyme and asbestos
and today a river of suffering
river that will not be silenced
rolling down from the centuries
not water
but our stones, ancient stones that built temples
and raised castles and cities
that etched their names in time deep, and forever [...].
Recalling the lyrics of the distinguished writer and late son of the Community of Cherion, Michalis Pasiardis, which capture in a fierce style the anguish of the tragic events of the invasion of '74, we have gathered here today, at the Church of Saints Constantine and Helen, to commemorate the heroically fallen residents of the community in the national struggles of our homeland.
To pray together and to pray to the Lord to determine the fate of our missing compatriots, with the wish to heal once and for all the deep, bleeding wound that has been eating away at our insides for the last 49 years.
The relatives of our missing persons have been experiencing for decades an unrelenting torment, which is the most painful consequence of the Turkish invasion: the drama of ignoring the fate of their loved ones for so many years. [BR]Ah, our dead have no place in the soil and in the weeping [BR] [BR] [BR] [BR][/I]
Our poet, Yannis Ritsos, in his lament for the conquest of Cyprus, praises the indomitable Greek soul and the fortitude shown by the lads of Cyprus against the armoured hordes of the Turkish invader.
Today, with the utmost respect, we reverently bow our heads before the holy candle that smolders in the place of their sacrifice, as befits every spirited fighter for the freedom and democracy of our homeland.
As befits those who resisted and sacrificed or were ignored in defence of the territorial integrity of Cyprus.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It was the ideals of Hellenism and the unquenchable passion for freedom that became their way of life, experience and need.
It was the glorious history of the nation, whose pages record countless moments of heroism and self-sacrifice.
It was the heavy, indestructible and indomitable shadows of the heroic ancestors of our homeland.
It was all this together, but also the experiences with which the heroes we honour today were brought up and became manly, which prompted them to stand up and fight to the end, putting every ounce of strength into the struggle to defend our homeland.
Along with them, the other four lads of the community, who fought to the bitter end and whose traces were lost during the military conflicts in the tragic summer of 1974.
We therefore, today, pay due tribute to Christos Salidis, who was brutally murdered by a Turkish mob who attacked Greek Cypriot workers of the acetylene factory of the Hadjikyriakou company on May 29, 1956.
We also remember Kostas Misiaoulis who was murdered by paramilitaries during the tragic days of the coup d'état of '74. Kostas Misiaoulis was arrested on July 17 along with other compatriots and on July 22 he was murdered outside Cheri, during his transfer to the Deuteras police station.
Together with them we remember the fighters of the heroic 305 Recruiting Battalion, of the glorious Commander Tasos Markos. Andreas Raspa, Michalis Tourapi and Yiagos Kyriakidis, who fell in the field of honor during the second phase of the Turkish invasion, on August 14, 1974. All three were on the list of missing persons for years, until their remains were found and identified within the framework of the Missing Persons' Committee's programme in 2009, 2013 and 2019 respectively.
We also pay tribute to Elias Christodoulou of the 211 Infantry Battalion, whose remains were identified by DNA and interred in 2017, and Kostas Kapsokarti of the 286 Mechanized Infantry Battalion, whose remains were identified and interred in 2016.
Together with the lads who fell on the battlefields, we devoutly pray to the Most High for the recovery of the four young men of Cherio, whose fate has been unknown since 1974.
Kostas Charalambous, George Stavrinos and Kostas Efthymiou, reservists of the 305 Recruiting Battalion, and Nicolas Theodoros Zaou, a soldier of the 286 Mechanized Infantry Battalion, whose traces were lost during the operations of August '74.
The young people of the Community of Cheriu whom we honour today fought with all their strength for justice and freedom.
They fought for the land that nurtured them, for their families and homes, their traditions and history.
They fought for a better future for their children.
They fought for the principles and values bequeathed to them by their fathers and mothers.
They fought for the whole of Cypriot Hellenism.
They fought for the whole of Cypriot Hellenism.
They are rightly ranked among the golden delta of the heroic martyrs of Cyprus.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is indeed impossible to comprehend the pain experienced by the families of our fallen and missing. The profound sadness, bitterness, frustration and anger at the loss of their loved ones.
The task of expressing in words the sense of compassion and sympathy we feel becomes even more difficult.
We are well aware of the unfulfilled debt we owe.
The duty to stand up and follow the rough road that has been pointed out to us.
Only in this way will we manage to keep the hope alive that this land deserves better days ahead.
Today, taking from the meaning of their sacrifice, we also identify our own responsibilities.
We have a sacred obligation to continue the struggle until final vindication.
For the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Despite the difficulties, challenges and Turkish intransigence, the path to a solution is one. Only then, with mutual understanding and sincerity, will we be able to lead to the conclusion of a mutually acceptable, just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem.
A solution that will liberate and reunite our country, offering the future we envision for our people and ensuring peaceful and secure living conditions.
Our land patiently endures the occupation, awaiting the success of our efforts.
Our heroes await for half a century the vindication of their sacrifice.
Only then will our land be at peace.
Only then will the souls of our heroes rest in peace.
In that holy hour, when we are free now, in a homeland without barbed wire and occupying troops, we will be able to worship in our churches, to cultivate the fertile land of Morphos and Mesaoria, to swim in the deep blue waters of Famagusta and to walk on the lacy beaches of Kyrenia and the mountain peaks of Pentadaktylos.
"You don't say anything
but I'll tell you about the children
who suddenly bent down with their hands on their chests
there on the slopes of Mount Pentadaktylos and cried
for their mother until they died [...]
We stay with open wounds on the cross of the horizon. [BR] The blood binds. Cyprus calls. [OUR VOICE ECHOES IN THE STREETS OF THE WORLD [...]
With the lyrics of Michalis Pasiardis we salute them.
Eternal be the memory of the heroically fallen Cherios and all those who offered their lives in the struggles of the Cypriot people.
May the Almighty answer our prayers and help to ascertain the fate of our missing.
Thank you.
(MB)
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