It is with great emotion that I deliver today the memorial speech for the champion of justice and symbol of militancy Theofilos Georgiades, on behalf of the Minister of Defence, who due to other unfulfilled obligations and despite his wish to the contrary, could not be here with you today.
"[...] Joys and riches be lost, and kingdoms, and all,
Nothing is, if the soul be upright and whole.
All the ruins around her she looks on smiling,
And blossoms in them, everywhere and slowly, sprout to the grave [...]".
Recalling the verses of Dionysios Solomos from his poem "The Greek Mother", with feelings of deep emotion and national pride we came today to the Holy Church of Apostolos Andreas, to pay tribute to a true child of freedom.
To the internationalist signpost of the proper course towards the liberation of enslaved peoples.
For, as our national poet suggests and teaches us, nothing can be considered lost if the soul - where our strongest will to struggle nestles - remains unscathed in the passage of time, when all else fades, fades and is lost.
This is because the soul cannot be substituted by anything else.
So is the heart, as it translates into love for one's country and one's fellow man.
"The heart is a strange thing", wrote our poet Kostas Montis.
"The more you waste it, the more you have."
"The more you waste, the more you have."
"The more you waste, the more you have.
And if anything characterized Theophilos Georgiadis, it was the immense reserve of soul and heart that he kept for every difficult hour.
Twenty-nine years have passed since his brutal murder.
Twenty-nine years have passed since his brutal murder. But his voice has not been silenced.
We still hear it and remember him in every struggle in defence of our national dignity.
We still hear it, clear and stern, calling with indomitable will and unyielding strength for resistance to all forms of subjugation.
Theophilos believed in and fought for the rebirth of Hellenism.
Theophilos believed in and fought for the rebirth of Hellenism.
He believed and fought for the liberation of Cyprus.
He believed and applied his universal human values and his high ideals, making every possible effort to translate them into deeds, for the benefit of the freedom of our long-suffering homeland.
He was certainly well aware of the lurking danger. Nevertheless, conscientiously and with determination he stood in the service of his country and honour, armed with the immortal values and ideals of Hellenism.
He was one of the pioneers of the movement that took shape thirty years ago in Cyprus. One that wanted our homeland to be assertive, not complacent and marginalized in the face of national issues.
One that was sure that Hellenism could achieve much and gain the role it deserved in the wider region. Who knew that solidarity with the peoples whose rights were being violated, the Kurds, the Greeks of Pontus and the Armenians, could strengthen Cypriot Hellenism itself.
And he may have had no guarantee for his personal safety, but that was no obstacle for him.
From a young age he was nurtured with the ideals of philanthropy and democracy.
From a young age he was nurtured with the ideals of philanthropy and democracy. From a very early age he was fermented with the unending, eternal yeast of Hellenism that gives birth to heroes.
From his father, EOKA fighter Charalambos Georgiadis, present in all the struggles of his homeland for freedom and democracy, he inherited his expanded patriotic perception, his great faith in ideas and values that have the true meaning of life.
From his father, EOKA fighter Charalambos Georgiadis, present in all the struggles of his homeland for freedom and democracy, he inherited his expanded patriotic perception, his great faith in the ideas and values that have the true meaning of life. Those ideas to which later, growing up, he devoted his strength and his soul entirely.
The loving image of his mother, Elli Georgiadis, indelibly stamped his thought with honesty and religiosity, and was decisive for his love for the unjust and unable to defend himself fellow human beings.
Theophilos was born on September 9, 1957.
Theophilos was born on September 9, 1957. He grew up in Trachona, Nicosia. The Turkish invasion of 1974 forced his family, like thousands of other refugees, to leave their homes and properties and settle in the free part of Cyprus.
Kyrenia, Pentadaktylos, Famagusta, Karpasia and all our occupied parts were once and for all sealed inside him. The double evil of the invasion and occupation of the homeland had stained his young soul. This was the reason why he set as his life's goal the struggle for justice and the liberation of Cyprus. At the same time, he understood that the drama of refugees and the violation of human rights was a global phenomenon, and many peoples around the world suffered from the deprivation of their basic freedoms.
Graduating in 1975 from the Pancyprian High School, he joined the National Guard and served his military service as a Reserve Officer in the Commando Forces. Afterwards, he moved to Athens, where he studied Political Science at Panteion University and later specialized in Turkish Studies in France and Germany.
On his return to Cyprus, he joined the Press and Information Office as a Press Officer in the Department of Turkish Affairs.
He wrote numerous articles on the Cyprus problem, the Kurdish struggle, the genocide of the Pontians and the Armenian issue.
He wrote numerous articles on the Cyprus problem, the Kurdish struggle, the genocide of the Pontians and the Armenian issue. His vision was to help in every way and with all his strength the populations that had suffered genocide, atrocities and violation of their human rights by the Turkish yoke.
Undaunted, rigid and unyielding, he engaged in an all-out struggle through his articles, interviews and the conferences and demonstrations he organized.
He joined the Kurdistan Workers' Party and became a key member of its journalistic organ in Athens, the magazine "Voice of Kurdistan". He was also a founding member of the Cyprus Committee for Solidarity in Kurdistan. His international struggle to highlight the true nature of the Turkish state and his influence soon made him a target of the Turkish secret services.
The culmination of his efforts was the organisation of the Brussels Conference on 12 and 13 March '94. There, he revealed facts about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the violation of human rights, the deprivation of freedom and the illegal occupation of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, as well as the oppression of the Kurdish people.
A few days later, on 20 March 1994, in the former Thucydides Street in Aglantzia, Theophilos fell dead with five bullets from the hand of a hired assassin of the Turkish Secret Services.
He fell dead, but his spirit remains to this day whole, alive and well, guided by the heartfelt words of Ion Dragoumis: "I want to be a fine specimen of a Greek man. Here is the purpose of a life! Working for Hellenism, I work for myself. [...] I must imagine that the salvation of the nation depends on me alone. And if it were not for me, there would be no one else to save it [...]".
At the funeral, the coffin of the 37-year-old murdered ideologue patriot-dinationalist was lightly covered by the faded sacred blue and white flag, which for years waved proudly on the web of the Prisoner's Monuments, in the Holy of Holies of Cypriot Hellenism.
Honoured family of Theophilos Georgiades,
Greeks and Greeks,
"Always, always pass through the fire to reach the glow" our Nobel Prize-winning poet Ulysses Elytis suggests. Theophilos Georgiades also passed through this fire, confirming the tragic truth that defines immortality as seeking an early death.
Throughout his career he was identified with the struggle for freedom and national dignity. His personal example is an endless source of inspiration for younger people. Because from the day of his assassination onwards, the uncompromising freedom fighter Theophilos Georgiades belongs not only to his grieving, black-clad family, his relatives, friends and colleagues. He is part of the collective memory of the entire Hellenism, the entire Kurdish people and the entire world.
With his sacrifice he bequeathed us an inexhaustible legacy of values. An ark of philanthropy, democracy, humanism and inspiration for the path of service and duty.
Taking up the bloody baton that he handed over to us 29 years ago, we must in turn renew our oath of struggle until the final vindication of our homeland.
We cannot under any circumstances demonstrate a spirit of compromise with the current status quo of occupation and partition.
Under no circumstances can we demonstrate a spirit of compromise with the current status quo of occupation and partition.
We must, with dedication and faithfully committed to our goal, do everything possible to break the deadlock, resume the talks and, through meaningful and sincere dialogue, achieve the much desired solution to the Cyprus problem.
A viable and workable solution, without occupying troops and without foreign guarantees.
A solution that will not allow for invasive rights, but will fully restore the unity of our homeland and our people. It will guarantee human rights and take into account the concerns of all its legitimate citizens, in a modern, European state.
History teaches us that the desired result only comes about when Hellenism, united, united, united and focused, strives to achieve the common goal.
Therefore, following faithfully the example of Theophilos Georgiades, we must fight today with all our strength and prove ourselves worthy of the critical times we are living through.
Looking forward to a future of peace, security, progress and prosperity for all Cypriots, we renew our promise to continue the struggle until the final liberation and reunification of our Cyprus.
With our eyes fixed on a future of peace, security, progress and prosperity for all Cypriots, we renew our promise to continue the struggle until the final liberation and reunification of our Cyprus.
This is what the indomitable will, fervent zeal, noble selflessness and struggle to the end of Theophilos Georgiades has taught us.
Eternal be the memory and glory that will accompany him!!!
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Note.: The memorial speech was delivered on behalf of the Minister of Defence by the Director General of the Ministry, Mr. Andreas P. Louka.
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