Respected Priesthood,
Dear President of the Council of Historical Memory of the EOKA Struggle,
Dear President of the EOKA 55-59 Memorial Association of Tembrias - Solea,
Dear Commune Chief and members of the Community Council of Tembrias,
Representatives of the political parties, the state,
Honoured members of the family of the hero Andreas Avraamidis and the heroes of the community of Tembrias,
Honoured Freedom Fighters,
Greeks,
Heroes are born in the storm, "... with dreams made by the clouds....". They are people who are born free, march proudly and die gloriously. Not to have their names written in the stone of history, but to find the peace that will steel their ideals, their values and their duty to their homeland.
The heroes of Cyprus were born in the storm, without weapons, nurtured in the seeds of faith and Greece. "From the mountains and the valleys, from the hiding places and the holes of the earth", they are people who clasped the fire of uprising, who turned their love and passion for their homeland into hope for freedom and union with Greece. People with a clear imperative: "Our freedom, no one will give it to us. It is won with unceasing struggle, even with blood."
Ladies and gentlemen,
It was August 3, 1958 and the night rose without its moon. The sky was heavy... it seemed to portend evil.
The sound of nature sweet-sweet in the ears of Andreas Avramidis and his fellow competitor Andreas Ellinas. With all their senses on alert, they moved for the mission. With a spirit of authentic, tireless and swelling enthusiasm, they trod the earth firmly. With slow, sharp steps, they clutched the basket with the important load in their hands.
Fear and darkness alternated on their faces, and breathing shortly, they continued unapologetically to "load the story", to carry it and drag them with it to unknown paths.
Fright and silence there. The deafening sound encapsulated the peace and tranquillity of the valley of the Solia, and cruel fate verified the ill omen.
The groove of the "Mersinia" betrayed the course, and their conversation was undeservedly left half-hearted. All the life that ran at the feet of Andreus Abramides was to settle down, extinguishing the smile before the dawn broke
...And brought the earth to its knees. All the mingling of pain and sorrow there. But thus rises and whitens the soul, against the flutter of glory.
Our Andrew is gone. He went away happy. And he passed into the Pantheon with a strong spirit, writing together with the heroes of EOKA pages of glory in Greek history.
Greeks,
Today, sixty-seven years since the beginning of the struggle and almost forty-eight years since the summer of '74, we commemorate the heroic martyr Andreas Avraamidis and the heroes of the Community of Tembrias who fought in the glorious EOKA struggle of 55-59. We pray not only for the repose of their souls, but also for the resurrection of our souls. He was the only son of a large family. He attended the elementary school of his community and graduated from Solea High School. In the 4th grade of the Gymnasium, the struggle of EOKA against the colonialist English moved the then teenager Andreas and he joined EOKA. His mind and soul were already given to the struggle and the cause of the union of Cyprus with Greece. He took the lead in student demonstrations and was arrested by the English authorities for organizing an "illegal parade". He was sentenced to three months' imprisonment and after his release he continued his action with greater enthusiasm, developing initiative and taking on additional responsibilities and duties in the Organisation, including distributing leaflets in the surrounding villages, writing slogans and monitoring English agents.
Andreas Avraamidis was only 20 years old when Tembrias mourned her offspring. His fellow fighter, Andreas Ellinas, is a unique source and testimony of the events that wrote the epilogue of his militant action, of his heroic course:
"On 3 August 1958, he received an order calling him to carry 27 improvised bombs to the lower villages of Solia, namely Flassou, Linou, Katydata, Kalo Chorio Lefka and Petra, to counter the malicious actions of the Turks of Lefka, who with the acquiescence and encouragement of the British gathered in the area. The bombs, which were hidden in the house of Michael Ellinas, were received by Andreas early in the night.
He carried out the order ungrudgingly, fully aware of the deadly risk he was assuming. Above everyone and everything, above himself, he always put his country.
Although the load was quite heavy and the mission extremely dangerous because of the constant presence of English soldiers and informers, the distribution began with the bombs placed in a basket and later in a bag.
But luck had played a bad game that night. Hero Andrew's life was suddenly cut short when near the "Mersinia" location the bombs exploded, fatally wounding him... Andreas left as he lived, with a smile painted on his lips."
Greeks, Greeks,
From this platform, I could not fail to mention the contribution and the contribution of the region of Tembrias-Solea to the struggle of EOKA.
With the beginning of the struggle on 1 April 55, the Greeks of Cyprus, a daring and sensitive people, proved to be consistent in their encounter with their historical debt and their destiny. So did the patriots of Tempria, but also of the wider region of Solea. The inhabitants of the village, people of all sorts, mostly men and women, amusing boys and countless children, thickened the ranks of EOKA, contributing in every way to the armed struggle. More than 70 men and women of the Community are registered in the register of EOKA fighters.
The section leader of EOKA, the late Frixos Dimitriadis, who passed away to the Lord in December 2018, came from Tembria, making the Community the centre of organisation and information of the struggle in the area of Solia. With supreme zeal he organized the activity of the Organization in the area.
The presence of the guerrilla groups of Markos Dragon, Gregory Afxentiou and Stylianos Lena in the areas of Solia - Marathasa was intense. In the community of Tembrias, three important hideouts of the region are found, where the guerrillas were hosted. It is noteworthy that with the vision and efforts of the late section leader Frixos Dimitriadis himself, with the newly founded Association of the EOKA '55-59 EOKA Struggle Memorial Association of Tembrias - Soleas, it was recently possible to reconstruct and restore the central hideout of Tembrias. I am sure that the initiative - the vision that has now taken "flesh and blood" - will be a small ark of recalling and preserving the historical memory of the struggle, which will proudly empower our younger generations.
Hellenes,
Today is not only a day of honour and remembrance. It is also a day of reflection.
The Greek souls of the freedom fighters fleshed out their faith in their homeland and drove the pole to the goal, driven by their lofty visions of freedom and union with the motherland.
Today, we reflect on our own debt to our martyred homeland and to all those who sacrificed to throw off the English colonial yoke. We fish from the treasury of our history, the struggles and experiences of yesterday, to see more clearly today and tomorrow.
The best way to preserve the memory of the struggle of the H.O.K.A., the best way to celebrate the contribution of the fighters of 1955-59, is to preserve the future of Cypriot Hellenism in the land of our ancestors. We must achieve the goals of the struggle to find a just, viable and workable solution to our national problem.
Sixty-seven years after the beginning of the armed struggle and our Cyprus, ladies and gentlemen, remains crippled waiting for vindication from the burden of the 1974 Attila invasion, which resulted in 37% of the territory of the island of Saints and Heroes being under Turkish occupation to this day.
Turkey's tactics, legerdemain and diplomacy persist in an aggressive rhetoric, which at the same time chooses to "poison" relations between the two sides both with its arrogant attitude and with its positions that defiantly call for a two-state solution.
Unfortunately, its unacceptable attitude, its illegal actions directed against the sovereignty and sovereign rights of the Republic of Cyprus, maintain the deadlock in the negotiations for the resolution of the Cyprus problem.
As if that were not enough, Ankara, having colonized the northern occupied part, is now engaging in a quasi "colonization" of the free areas through illegal immigrants, who are being pushed by the thousands from Turkey across the Green Line to the areas controlled by the Republic of Cyprus. Yet this illegal invasion of populations in the free areas, ladies and gentlemen, is yet another illegal act by Turkey, aimed at demographic alteration and alienation of our country, while pursuing economic, social and political problems.
We have made it clear to our European partners that we will not allow the alienation of our country. We will methodically restrict the flows from the Green Line and resolutely intensify the returns and deportations of those whose applications are rejected and who are not entitled to remain in the Republic.
Despite the difficulties, I assure you that the Government is not complacent. We are relentlessly striving to condemn in every direction the illegal actions that are contrary to international law, whether it concerns the instrumentalization of migrants or the flagrant violation of Security Council resolutions, stressing the need to reverse the Turkish actions, including the acts they are attempting in the closed town of Varosha, and the instrumentalization of migrants.
Greeks,
Commemorations like today's contradict our history and our duty to the armies of all those who heroically sacrificed their lives for our freedom, to our own country and to new generations. Today, the safeguarding of our national interests is a struggle not on the battlefield, but on the European and international political stage.
Touching the memory of the hero Andreas Avraamidis and the heroes of Tembria, we pledge to their relatives and friends that we will continue their struggle until the final vindication, for a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem, restoring the basic freedoms and human rights of all Cypriots, on the basis of the resolutions of the United Nations.
We are committed to the imperatives of the immortal heroes who fell for the holy and sacred causes of the Greek people. Who sacrificed themselves for freedom, but also for the union with mother Greece.
We reverently worship, praise and become partakers of the greatness of their souls.
Eternal be their memory.
(Ephys/IC)
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