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- Ελληνικά
We are all here today, at this venerable ceremony of remembrance, to pay due tribute to the heroic children of the community of Troullo.
History is written by simple, everyday people, people of toil, patience and perseverance, peaceful villagers, who, when called upon to defend the greatest good of all, freedom, did not hesitate for a moment and took the uphill road to eternity.
And the history of the community of Troulos is directly identified with the history of our homeland.
And the history of the community of Troulos is directly identified with the history of our homeland. The inhabitants of Trullo, nurtured by the principles of our Orthodox faith, as well as the ideals of our people, have been present throughout time in the call of history to defend the homeland, its honor and integrity. Placing above their lives their duty towards their country and the higher national ideals, they did not hesitate to fight, to sacrifice themselves, recognizing freedom as the supreme good.
This legacy was set as the guiding principle of their own struggle by the heroes we have the honour to commemorate today, who, remaining steadfast and unyielding, defended their country and the duty entrusted to them by the State.
Today we commemorate and honour the Leventochildas of Troulos who bravely faced whatever armed and powerful enemy we as a people were called upon to face.
Starting from World War II, Christodoulos Demetriou fought bravely against fascism, against Nazism, and fell fighting in the last of the many battles he participated in.
Starting from World War II, Christodoulos Demetriou fought bravely against fascism, against Nazism, and fell fighting in the last of the many battles he participated in.
The heroic community of Trullo could not fail to give a dynamic presence during the glorious national liberation struggle of '55-'59 against the English yoke. Almost all the young people of the village joined the ranks of EOKA, PEKA and ANE from the very first moment. Their active activity inevitably led to arrests and imprisonment. And I am referring to the four young men Chrysanthos Kyriakou, Makis Papacharalambous, Andreas Kokkinos and Christos Kouloubris. In the context of the EOKA struggle, the most glorious and purest struggle that led to what is most precious to us today, the Republic of Cyprus, Eftychia Zenios was killed by the British colonialists and Monk Nektarios was killed by the Turkish Cypriots.
The oath to fight for freedom was honoured to the fullest extent by the hero Andreas Suruklis, who fell heroically fighting during an ambush at dawn on 1 August 1958. Andreas was the son of a family of fighters, with a great contribution to the struggle of EOKA, and he cooperated with the guerrilla group of the village, hosting fighters in his house. Suruklis was married to Georgia Papacharalambous, who, after his sacrifice, gave birth to their second child, who never knew his father.
The blood toll paid by the Trulli people in defence of their homeland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, continued during the brutal Turkish invasion of 1974. The list of heroes here is also long and glorious.
Michael Zeniou, born in 1947, was known to all for his ethics, honesty, philanthropy and bravery.
An excellent student, he studied at the University of Athens, with a scholarship from the State Scholarship Foundation of Greece. His joining the ANE was a natural progression.
During the first phase of the Turkish invasion, as commander of a Heavy Mortar Company, he participated in the battles of the Turkish invasion. In the second phase of the invasion, on 14 August, he was in the North Pole area. There, under difficult conditions, he fought with his fellow soldiers to hold back Attila's attacks. He was mortally wounded by a mortar shell, entering the pantheon of heroes at the age of 27. His burial, like that of other young men, was hastily carried out in the Latakamia cemetery, and in 2001 his bones were identified by the DNA method. He was buried with due honours in the cemetery of his hometown on 27 October 2001.
Equally honouring the oath he took to his country and society was Nicholas Georgiou, who was murdered in July 1974 while serving his military service. For 26 years his parents, his family, his friends, no one knew his burial place. In 2000 his remains were found in Lakatamia and his funeral was held in September 2000.
The heroes we commemorate today, along with another heroic child of the community, Antonis Christodoulou, who was assassinated during the coup, were worthy defenders of the homeland, the sovereignty, the territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus and responded to its call at the time they were called to serve it.
Today, we also commemorate the memory of Sotiris Pambouloulou and Andreas Plarkos, who were on the long list of missing persons and whose remains were found and identified by DNA. Born in 1919, Sotiris Pamboullos lived with his family of seven in Aphania. When the second phase of the brutal Turkish invasion began, he tried to move his family to a safer area, but his car was intercepted by a Turkish tank. They were all arrested and taken back to Aphania. The women and children were taken to Assia, while eight men, including Sotiris Pampoulou, were taken to an unknown location and were missing until their remains were found in a mass grave in 2010.
Andreas Plarkos, a father of three children, was captured by the Turks in September 1974 while at a point between Dhekelia Base and Pergamus. His remains were found near Aphania in 2009.
Three other heroic children of the community, Kostas Gavriel, Andreas Michael and Kostas Fassias were missing since that black Summer of 1974, and the unequal battles that were fought, while six others had been missing since the end of August 1974, when the Turks entered, looted the village and arrested, among others, Georgios Mellecha and his wife Anastasia Mellecha, Nikolas Giannis Parpas and his wife Maria Parpas, Paraskevi Charalambous Zenona and Christina Dimitris Giorgallis. Their fate was ascertained in the summer of 2012, during excavations carried out, where their bones were found in a well near the village of Arsos and identified by the DNA method. Unfortunately, so many years later, Kostas Gavriel and Andreas Michael still remain on the long list of the missing.
With pain in our souls, despite the struggles, efforts and sacrifices of our heroes, for 49 years we have been experiencing the consequences of the Turkish invasion and occupation. Consequences and consequences that you here in Trullus experience every day. Our country, for almost half a century, remains under occupation, we are searching for the fate of the missing persons, the Turkish troops who forcibly expelled one third of our people from their ancestral homes are still in Cyprus.
We have an obligation towards all those who sacrificed for justice and for the freedom of our homeland, to join in the common effort, with vision, determination, but above all with wisdom, in order to remove the current deadlocks and lead to the resumption of the talks from where they were interrupted in the summer of 2017.
The current state of affairs cannot be the future of our homeland.
The present state of affairs cannot be the future of our homeland. Our only goal is a solution. The solution on the basis of the relevant UN resolutions, EU principles and values. A solution that will end the occupation and division of our country. This is our debt and our debt to the heroes we commemorate today...
Eternal memory
(PM/IS)
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