Reverent and proud we gathered in this holy Church to commemorate and honour the two first martyrs of the gallows. The heroes who offered themselves as a sacrifice on the altar of the freedom of our Cyprus.
We commemorate the indomitable and unparalleled fighters of the legendary EOKA Michalakis Karoli and Andreas Demetriou, whose sacrifice brightened the Pantheon of the Immortal Fighters of our Nation, honoring our homeland. Consciousness of national responsibility and sense of historical duty led us to this mystagogy.
We honour and praise the two shoots of Paleochori and Agios Mamas Limassol, because there are events and deeds in people's lives that history distinguishes and writes them indelibly in gold letters to leave them in our memory timelessly.
The memory and honour of our immortal heroes is the minimum tribute to those who gave their lives for the supreme good of freedom, justice and democracy. For those who felt on April 1, '55, the world of dreams and fairy tales come alive. For those who, in search of Freedom, joined Chief Digenis on hills and paths, in mountains and gullies.
In the early morning hours of Wednesday, May 10, 1956. The central prison of Nicosia is vibrating with the cries of the imprisoned fighters of the E.O.K.A. Michalakis Karaolis and Andreas Demetriou will soon cross the last step of life, gaining eternity.
"You should not feel sorry for me, since I find no reason to cry. Neither should my relatives cry for me," were the last words of the immaculate figure of Michalakis Karoli, who marched to the gallows singing the National Anthem.
Andreas Demetriou, when he hears the sentence in court, stands up with vigour and utters his own last words. But I am not afraid of death, because life is unnecessary in slavery. Goodbye."
At dawn on Wednesday 10 May 1956, the gallows cut the thread of their lives and handed them over to immortality.
What fate predetermined destiny and what seeds turned the two Leventonians into universal symbols of virtue and bravery?
Turning back the clock of time, we will meet Michael Karoli, born in Paleochori. The fourth child of Savvas and Panagiota Karoloi. He graduated from the English School of Nicosia and later became a civil servant. He joined the ranks of EOKA long before 1 April in the group of Polycarp Yiorkatzis.
On 28 August 1955, together with his colleague Andreas Panagiotou, they undertook the execution of policeman Herodotus Poullis, a close collaborator of the British. Panagiotou escaped, while Karaolis was wanted and arrested as he was being transported to the Kyrenia area to join Gregory Afxentios' group. He was brought to court and sentenced to death on 28 October 1955, although the bullet that killed the Greek Cypriot policeman came from Panagiotou's gun.
Efforts to organise his escape before his execution were unsuccessful and Michalakis Karaolis was taken to the gallows along with Andreas Demetriou.
Andreas Demetriou was born in Ayios Mamas Limassol and came from a poor large family. He attended the Famagusta Night High School for three years and then worked in an explosives and hunting shop and later in the British Army. From an early age he became involved in trade unionism and served as Secretary of the Porter's Guild of the FCC. He was one of the first to join the EOKA force. He was active with the Famagusta groups, extending his participation to the executive.
The culmination of his activities was the seizure of weapons from within the military warehouses of Famagusta harbour in early December 1955, immediately after their unloading and before they were transferred to barracks. The weapons were forwarded to various EOKA guerrilla groups, which until then had been supplied almost exclusively with hunting rifles.
After attempting to execute the English agent Taylor, whom he wounded, Andreas was confronted by armed soldiers. He brandished his weapon, but it betrayed him after he became entangled and was captured wounded. He was detained in the Central Prison and sentenced to death by hanging.
Greeks and Greeks,
It was about 3 a.m., the night sleepless, when the jailer pushed open the iron bar of the cell door. In the gallows chamber, absolute silence... This silence is broken by the dry clang of the double wooden hatch. The two bodies hung lifeless, silent, suspended in the dawn light. And flew to immortality, to glory and eternity.
The people awake to the mournful sounds of the bells. On the face of the island the pain freezes. Michalakis and Andreas were the first fighters to be hanged. The first double hanging of Field Marshal Harting.
With souls baptized in the pool of heroism, Michael and Andrew proved that manhood is not measured by the acre. "The two young heroes whose love for union with mother Greece had set their souls on fire, have been forever identified by history as heroes of the great struggle for the vindication of the Hellenism of Cyprus, but also of the entire world!
The mental fortitude and Greek worship they displayed by rising undaunted to the scaffold of the gallows, raised the prestige of EOKA and created a heroic precedent not only for the fighters, but for the whole of tested Cypriot Hellenism.
Compatriots,
For four whole years the generation of '55 wrote pages of unstinting heroism, self-sacrifice and national greatness. The Greeks of Cyprus, a daring and sensitive people, proved to be consistent in their encounter with their historical debt and their destiny.
Cyprus, an inch of land, accommodated, and still accommodates, great deeds, great visions, great ideals, great and brave heroes, such as Miahalakis Karoli and Andreas Demetriou.
With the liberation struggle, the Hellenism of Cyprus stands up before the English conqueror, with a longing for freedom and vindication.
The four-year anti-colonial struggle of the Cypriot Hellenism, unfortunately, was not the last struggle of our homeland. Sixty-six years after their sacrifice, we continue to march in the international arena, claiming our legal and internationally guaranteed sovereign rights.
Despite the tactics of Ankara, we reiterate in every direction that the problem of Cyprus is a problem of illegal invasion and continued occupation, towards the removal of which President Anastasiades will continue to work towards the just and functional reunification of our homeland, demanding the resumption of negotiations.
Occupying Turkey clearly seems to be seeking the de facto partition and incorporation of half of our homeland, undermining efforts for a just solution to the Cyprus issue.
However, even in this unfavourable environment, we declare ourselves ready to take political initiatives towards the resumption of talks for the resolution of the Cyprus problem by proposing Confidence Building Measures.
We remain firmly committed to a just solution, within the framework of the United Nations Security Council resolutions and the principles and values of the European Union. Determination, collective effort and unity are required to enable us all to overcome the difficult obstacles that lie ahead of us.
The recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, ladies and gentlemen, which today is eroding democracy in Europe, echoes 48 years of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. It is a fact that the reflection of this senseless war creates nightmarish associations for the Hellenism of our island.
Cyprus, which is still experiencing the consequences of the Turkish invasion of '74, cannot but stand firm on the principles of international law by unequivocally condemning Russia's invasion. This barbaric act of war violates every notion of democracy, sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Greek Greeks,
Today, on the day of International Mother's Day, I could not fail to express the state's appreciation to all the mothers of our Cyprus and the recognition of their immense contribution to society and country.
The assistance and contribution of the Cypriot mother has been recorded by history for all that our long-suffering island has experienced.
It is the mother of Cyprus who gave birth to the brave fighters we honour today. Who nurtured young people and who, when necessary, offered her blood on the altar of her homeland.
To this anonymous mother, the farmer, the worker, the employee, the businesswoman, the fighter on all fronts of life, we owe our respect and gratitude.
All the more so to the Mother fighter, the Mother of the hero of EOKA, the martyr of the fallen and the missing son, the mother who was imprisoned in her own land under the violence of the Turkish occupation weapons.
The symbol statue on top of Papoutsas is an expression of immense respect and appreciation to all mothers of Cyprus for their persistent and selfless contribution to our liberation struggle of 55-59.
Friends,
Allow me to thank the Athletic Spiritual Club of Paleochori for this extremely honourable invitation for me to deliver the commemorative speech for the two heroic martyrs of Cypriot freedom.
I would also like to congratulate you on behalf of our Government, because it is through such initiatives as today's organization of the national memorial that the memory of our heroes is kept alive. And in the critical times that our country is going through today, patriotic actions such as these are perhaps more important than ever to keep alive the memory of our history, the course, the consciousness and the perspective, so that the hope of our divided homeland remains unquenched.
Greeks, Greeks,
"Greek children do not only know how to live. They also know how to die."
The freedom of Cyprus was not impersonal. It had a name, a body, a gender and a relationship! Today, 63 years after the liberation struggle, the small enclosed enclosure with the high stone walls of the Prisoner's Monuments hosts the bodies of thirteen sacrificial braves, a sacred pilgrimage of the liberation struggle but also a symbol for every people and every human being, fighting for their independence and human dignity.
Today, 63 years after the liberation struggle, the small enclosed enclosure with the high stone walls of the Prisoner's Monuments hosts the bodies of thirteen sacrificial braves, a sacred pilgrimage of the liberation struggle but also a symbol for every people and every human being, fighting for their independence and their human dignity.
The confluence of the roads shown and carved by Michalakis Karaolis and Andreas Demetriou shows us the way, the place and the way. He is the head of the corner and the cornerstone.
Faced with the insurmountable moral greatness of the Struggle and the supreme duty, we bow our heads reverently before the two lads.
Eternal be your memory, immortal Greeks Michalakis Karoloi and Andreas Demetriou.
Eternal be your memory, immortal Greeks Michalakis Karoloi and Andreas Demetriou. Your glory will accompany you for ever and ever.
(EFYs)
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