Holy Church of Panagia Chryseleousis - Sunday, 19 March 2023, morning service
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Honourable representatives of parliamentary parties,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
Honorable Mrs. Eparchy of Paphos,
Honorable Mr. Mayor and members of Chada Community Council,
Honorable gentlemen representatives of the National Guard, the Police Force and the Cyprus Fire Service,
Ladies and gentlemen, representatives of communities, educational institutions and organized associations of the Paphos district,
Respected relatives, friends and comrades of the heroes of Chadas,
Ladies and gentlemen,
To the street, between the bends, as the land of Chada rises in the beautiful Cypriot nature, merging with the endless Greek blue of the sky and the sea, the land of Chada stands proud, a thought dominates the mind, overwhelming the soul. On these sacred soils... On these slopes, the valleys with running water... The secret ascents... Heroes and poets have walked and lived. Evagoras Pallicarides... Vladimir Heracleous... Andreas Christodoulou... Herodotus Savvas... They proudly raise their heroic greatness and teach us Greek history.
It is with utmost awe, respect and emotion that we are here today, at the annual memorial service of the youth of Chada, the brave men of Cyprus, to listen to their songs; their own hymns of heroism and sacrifice for faith and country.
Born in 1938, the hero poet Evagoras Pallikaridis was initiated into Greek education from an early age. The national liberation and anti-colonial movements of the time and the ardent desire to shake off the colonial yoke fascinated Evagoras from an early age, and he dedicated himself body and soul to the struggle long before it officially began on 1 April 1955. His participation in June 1953 in the front line of the student demonstrations on the occasion of the celebrations of Queen Elizabeth's coronation imposed by the English authorities and the lowering of the English flag from the forecourt of the Jacobian Gymnasium constituted his first revolutionary act.
The brave teenager's participation in the student protests that erupted in October 1955 in response to the death sentence of Michalakis Karoli led to his arrest and trial. However, Evagoras had already made the big decision. The day before the trial he gives a classmate, with the strict instruction that it be read before the class not before the next morning, his farewell letter.
Old classmates,
At this hour someone is missing among you; someone who is leaving in search of a little free air; someone whom you may never see again except dead [...]
Hello, old classmates.
The last words I write today are for you.
And whoever wants to find a "lost brother", an old friend,
"Let him take an uphill,
let him take paths,
to find the steps
that lead to Freedom.
With Freedom together
he may find me.
If I live, he will find me there."
The militant activity of the bounty-holding Evagoras in the mountains of Paphos was halted by his arrest on 18 December 1956 on charges of possession and trafficking of arms. At the trial, which was set for 25 February 1957, he left no room for his lawyers to defend him, since, despite their objections, he testified eloquently before the judge: "I know that you will sentence me to death. You will hang me, I know. But what I have to say is this: what I have done, I have done as a Greek Cypriot who seeks the freedom of his homeland. Nothing else."
The nationwide and international initiatives to prevent his hanging were fruitless. The hero, moreover, had long been ready to go uphill, refusing to apply for a pardon. What today, what tomorrow, what after forty or a hundred years", he consoled his parents Miltiades and Aphrodite with faith and courage a few hours before the end.
13 March 1957. It is almost midnight. The most beautiful day of his life, the most beautiful hour, don't ask why. Nineteen-year-old Evagoras, the heroic poet, surrenders himself to the beautiful Maiden - her name in five syllables - the one for whom he has come this far, for whom Solomos wrote his most beautiful song, and passes into immortality with his last wish answered: he was the last to climb the scaffold of the gallows.
The life and death of Evagoras Pallikaridis constitute a precious national legacy: a life rich in ideals and poetry; a death a hymn to immortality and the spiritual heritage of an entire people.
His magnificent sacrifice, his spiritual form were an example and inspired many young people who followed the path he had blazed. Among them, the other three heroes of the Chada we commemorate today, young men equal to the heroism, self-sacrifice and greatness of Pallicarides.
Vladimir Heracleous was born in 1939. At the beginning of the national liberation struggle, then a student of the Greek Gymnasium of Paphos, he was one of the first to join EOKA and actively participated in the actions of the organization. His parents, Iraklis and Eleni Athanasiou, as well as other fellow fighters and members of his family, patriotically and courageously supported the fighting actions of Vladimir, a friend and fellow fighter of Pallikaridis.
"We should never look at what our country gives us, but what we give to our country. I now feel like a king, because I breathe freely," was the response of the wholehearted and selfless Vladimir to the question of why he did not receive high positions and offices after the end of the struggle. Fate, however, had other plans for the free young man.
With the beginning of the intercommunal riots in 1963, Vladimir enlisted in groups of volunteer soldiers to defend the legitimate state. On 9 March 1964, early clashes began outside the Turkish quarter of Muttallou in Paphos. Although off duty, Vladimir boarded an improvised tank that started from Polis Chrysochous and passed through Chada in the direction of the Turkish quarter. Despite the thunderous fire, the tank crew proceeded heroically to meet the Turkish attack. However, one of the enemy bullets struck the young man and led him to the pantheon of heroes.
A year later, another Chada youth, a child of the large family of Rebecca and Christodoulos Savvas, fell heroically. Born in 1946 and an excellent graduate of the Greek Gymnasium of Pafos, Andreas Christodoulou volunteered as a special police officer in his hometown: his desire to defend his homeland at all costs.
The intercommunal riots of 1963 found him at the forefront of the confrontation. With the aim of defending the legitimate state, he joined the Cypriot Army in January 1965 and after his general and special training as a radio operator, he served at a border outpost in Abeliko, near Morphou. On 9 April 1965 a bullet from the Turkish outposts hit Andreas in the head, cutting the thread of his life prematurely and leading him - among his fellow countrymen and friends - to immortality.
Herodotus Savvas, son of Sophia and Christodoulos Taliotis, is the fourth Chada soldier we honour today. Born in 1954 and a graduate of the Pafos Economic High School, he immediately joined the National Guard. In 1974 he finds himself serving with the 361 Infantry Battalion in Synchari, where he was stranded with other soldiers. Their attempts to escape to Famagusta on 14 August resulted in their capture and execution by the Turkish army. Since then, their names have been added to our long list of missing persons.
Almost forty years later, in 2013, the hero's remains were found in a mass grave in the Kornokambos area and identified by the identification method. He was buried in his hometown. Herodotus did not catch up with his parents, who lived and died with the grief of their missing child.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The heroes we honour today believed, fought and sacrificed for a free Cyprus. They served ideals and ideals until their last breath. The heroes of Chada leave us no choice. They guide and inspire us to build a new vision for our country, with faith and the values of freedom and justice as our compass. Particularly today, when challenges succeed one after another, we cannot afford complacency and especially inaction, especially with what is being illegally attempted constantly by Turkey, to create new fait accompli in Famagusta, Karpasia and the EEZ. We must continue our tireless and intensive efforts, using all political and diplomatic means, both at the level of the European Union and the United Nations. We must activate the international factor through every step, constantly highlighting the Cyprus problem in order to stop Ankara's attempts to deviate from the agreed basis for a solution.
We must never give up the struggle to end the occupation, the unity of our Cyprus, the safeguarding of the human rights and basic freedoms of our entire people.
We must never give up the struggle for the end of the occupation, the unity of our Cyprus, the safeguarding of the human rights and basic freedoms of our entire people. This would be the greatest memorial and the highest honour for the sacrifice of our heroes, the lads of Chada, who, led by Evagoras, took the uphill and the steps leading to freedom.
Evagoras Pallikaridis,
Vladimir Herakleous,
Andreas Christodoulou,
Herodote Savvas,
"Life for you is death
And immortal you will remain"!
(The text as sent by the House of Representatives)
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