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- Ελληνικά
I confess that it is with great emotion and awe that I am here today at the Church of St. George of Aglantzia to participate in the National Memorial of the hero of the Republic of Cyprus, Lieutenant Stelios Masini.
It is the supreme duty not only of the state, but of every citizen to honour and pay due tribute to the heroes of the homeland, to the people who gave the greatest good, their own lives, for peace, prosperity and freedom. To the people who defied danger and every personal interest and put the common good and loyalty to duty above all and everything.
Stelios Masinios is one of them. We usually associate heroism, valor and bravery with the battlefields and have attached to the term "hero" the meaning of sacrifice in times of conflict and national danger. And yet, today and today's memorial is proof that heroism is not limited to times, times and war situations, but concerns every moment, every circumstance, every sacrifice in the line of duty, concerns every citizen of any position and rank.
Lieutenant Stelios Massionis was born in 1968 in Kyrenia.
Lieutenant Stelios Massionis was born in 1968 in Kyrenia. His father George was originally from Jordan and his mother Katina from Agios Ambrosios of Kyrenia.
The whole family, during the Turkish invasion of 1974, was expelled from beautiful Kyrenia and settled here, in the hospitable community of Aglantzia.
Far from their ancestral lands, the parents of Stelios and his sister Maria never let their children forget the memory of their occupied hometown and kept alive the desire for freedom and return to their beloved Kyrenia. Perhaps that is why Stelios, by his own choice, joined the ranks of the Corps of Engineers of the National Guard and specifically the Landmine Clearance Platoon. He consciously chose one of the most dangerous Army Corps and showed unparalleled zeal in the exercise of his duties, always with a sense of responsibility and discipline, aware of the dangers and catastrophic possibilities.
For him, every day was also a new contract between life and death, a challenge of responsibility and stability in his promises and commitments to his Service Corps, to his country, and most of all to his conscience. A contract between himself and his homeland, his family, his Kyrenia.
Such a day was the 24th of March 1999. Stelios left home for Potamia, where his assigned service involved minefield removal-clearing. He knew the dangers, knew the field, took all necessary measures. And yet a mine, "Cyrus Odeen," laid a trap for him, and the day's contract was kept too early, not until 9 o'clock in the morning. A deafening explosion marked the premature end of Stelios Masini's earthly life and blew away his youth, dreams, desires and plans. At the same time, however, the explosion also signalled Stelios' freedom from this perishable and futile world, freed his soul from his body and let it travel to horizons and skies, fly over the barricades of the occupation and the barbed wire of the invasion and free to visit his parents' homeland, his birthplace, the city that gave birth to him, our Kyrenia.
The explosion marked Stelios' entry into the ranks of Cyprus' peacetime heroes, the people who gave their lives for the welfare, safety and peace of their fellow citizens.
The monument erected in the centre of the village of Potamia in his honour reads "Lieutenant Engineer Stelios Masini. Killed in the line of duty by a landmine explosion on 24 March 1999, aged 32". Those who pass by the spot now know that the place of Potamia since 1999 is a place of martyrdom, a place of heroic sacrifice. Every traveller and passerby cannot pass indifferently the soils of Potamia without realising that they were watered and sanctified by the proud blood of a Lieutenant Engineer named Stelios Masini, whose life and history they can search for, wish for the repose of his soul and thank him for his faithfulness to his duty towards his country and our race.
Stelios Masinios is a modern post-war example for every Cypriot citizen, wherever he is, whatever he does. He strongly reminds us of our duty to our country and the value of loyalty to duty - national, professional, social and family.
His sacrifice shocks us, tests us and prompts us to self-criticism because, as a State, we have an obligation to honour and promote the sacrifice of all the heroes of our country.
We express our sympathy to his relatives, especially to the sister of the hero Maria, and we assure them that as a State we are doing everything possible to ensure that the sacrifice of Lieutenant Engineer Stelios Masini is not wasted. We do not ignore the difficulties and challenges, but we work methodically with a single objective: Her mission to lead us to the resumption of talks. We are striving, like the hero whose national memorial we are commemorating today, to fulfil our duty and respond to his call, responsibly and without compromising our objectives.
Stelios Masiniis sacrificed himself for a homeland free and united, without Turkish occupation troops and without dividing lines, for a free Kyrenia in a reunited homeland.
May his memory be eternal and his sacrifice bear the fruits of freedom and the longed-for reunification of our homeland.
(PM/MS/AF)
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