Honorable Members of Parliament,
Respected clergy,
Dear Mayor,
Respected relatives and colleagues of our hero,
Dear Madam President and members of the cultural association "Evagoras"
Pallikaridis,
Ladies and gentlemen,
"- Everyone present?
- Sir, Eugoras is missing.
- Present, says the teacher, and in a trembling voice:
- Get up, Evagoras, tell us Greek history.
The next, the back, the front, mute and tearful,
they wonder at first, until their silence makes
them and the whole class fall with sobs.
This is what Fotis Varelis writes in his poem "Evagoras Pallicarides" and our body and soul shudder. The emotion overflows as we contemplate the sacrifice of a young man who was not afraid of the gallows and defied death for the collective good, for the good of his beloved homeland.
It is with deep emotion, with immense respect and awe that we came here today, at the Cathedral of St. Theodoros in Paphos, for the annual national memorial service of the hero and poet Evagoras Pallikaridis. I really feel that it is a great honour for me to be here today and I would like to express my special thanks to the cultural association "Evagoras Pallikaridis" and take this opportunity to warmly congratulate its members, who with their rich activity manage to keep the memory unquenched in Cyprus, in Greece and in Hellenism everywhere and honour the sacrifice of one of the brightest symbols of the anti-colonial struggle of Cyprus. In the person of Evagoras Pallikaridis, the memory of all the heroes and heroines of our land who, throughout history, responded to the call of duty, offering their own lives as the ultimate sacrifice on the altar of freedom. Vagoris was both: a romantic and sensitive young man of poetic inspiration, who left us a rich intellectual work, and a brave lad, who with self-denial despised death and breathed his last on the gallows for the sake of his country. A poet and a hero!
One of the youngest fighters of EOKA, Evagoras was born in 1938 in the village of Tsada in the Paphos district and was a child of the family of Miltiades Pallikaridis and Aphrodite Papadaniil. While still attending the Greek Gymnasium of Paphos, at the age of just 15, he led the student demonstrations against the British that took place on the occasion of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth of England. On June 1, 1953, with unparalleled courage, he climbed the mast of the Iakovio Gymnasium of Paphos, lowered and shredded the flag of the conquerors, resulting in the expansion of the demonstrations and the cancellation of the celebrations in Paphos for the Queen's coronation. Vagoris is arrested, but is released because of his young age. This action, as his first revolutionary act, marked his further course of struggle.
The struggle of Cyprus to throw off the colonial yoke is now something to which he has devoted himself completely. In April 1955 he joined the ranks of EOKA and took a leading role in all the organisation's activities: secret operations, blowing up British targets, writing slogans, distributing leaflets, demonstrations. In November, during one of the demonstrations, he was arrested and taken to court on charges of illegal participation in riots. He denies the charge and the trial is postponed. The day before the trial resumed and just before he fled to the mountains to join the guerrilla groups in Paphos, he leaves a note for his classmates in his classroom, which closes as follows. I am writing these last words for you today. And whoever wants to find a lost brother, an old friend, let him take an uphill, let him take paths, find the stairs that lead up to Freedom. With freedom along, he may find me. If I live, he will find me there."
Evagoras Pallikaridis."
On the evening of December 18, 1956, he was ambushed by a British military patrol while in possession of a machine gun. With courage he declares to the English: "I am Evagoras Pallikaridis and I am fighting for my country". He is accused of possession and trafficking of arms. During his detention he is subjected to horrific torture. At his trial he leaves no room for defence to his lawyers, stating: "I know that you will hang me. What I have done, I have done as a Greek Cypriot who seeks his freedom. The day after Pallikaridis was sentenced to death, the people rose up to save the young student. Appeals from Cyprus, Greece, and other countries for a pardon are rejected by the English Governor Harding and the British diplomacy. Sixteen days elapsed before his hanging. During this time he impressed everyone with his restraint and his unwavering faith in the sacred cause for which he would sacrifice his youth. He writes in his last letter. Perhaps this will be my last letter. But it still doesn't matter. I'm not sorry for anything. Let me lose everything. One dies once. I'll walk happily to my final resting place. What today, what tomorrow? Everyone dies one day. It's a good thing to die for Greece. It's 7:30. The most beautiful day of my life. The most beautiful hour. Don't ask why."
In the morning of March 14, 1957. Singing the national anthem, Evagoras is led to the gallows, bellowing to his fellow prisoners: "Hello, brothers. Hello, brothers and sisters. I hope I am the last to be executed. Brothers, keep up the fight. I march to the gallows laughing, determined and proud." At the age of nineteen, Vagoris follows his fateful path to freedom and passes into immortality. His conscious confrontation with death made him not only a national but also a global benchmark.
He was the youngest of the nine hanged men. His conviction and execution caused a worldwide outcry against the British colonialists, an outcry that succeeded in preventing the hanging of other militants who had been sentenced to death. Unfortunately, the joy of liberation and the vindication of the struggles of Evagoras Pallikaridis and his fellow fighters was interrupted only fourteen years after the independence of Cyprus, when the discord and mutual strife that resulted in the coup d'état and the brutal Turkish invasion of black July 1974 came. With it came all the suffering: death, refugees, the missing, the trapped, the pain.
Today, 65 years after the ruthless execution of Evagoras Pallikaridis, we honour his heroic memory and bow to the greatness of the soul of this eternal teenager, who with his supreme sacrifice became a symbol for all peoples struggling for the conquest of their freedom.
Today, 65 years after the ruthless execution of Evagoras Pallikaridis, we honour his heroic memory and bow to the greatness of the soul of this eternal teenager, who with his supreme sacrifice became a symbol for all peoples struggling for the conquest of their freedom. Our minds inevitably run to the current tragedy taking place in the heart of Europe, in Ukraine. The Russian invasion continues to cause scenes of chaos, suffering and despair, awakening the nightmare for Europe and the whole world. For Cyprus, the images of war evoke painful memories, because its wounds are still open. Therefore, fully aligned with the decisions of the European Union, Cyprus stands by the side of the hard-pressed people of Ukraine, firmly committed to international law, respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all states, as well as to the fundamental European principles and values. Through unity and far from any expediency and pettiness, we aim in particular to free our homeland from the facts of occupation, to reunify it and to transform it into a place of peace, security, democracy and prosperity for all its legitimate inhabitants, without exception. For only in this way will we do justice to the sacrifice of young Evagoras, and of all our heroes and martyrs. We cannot leave our debt to them unpaid.
For freedom means responsibility (George Bernard Shaw).
And freedom is the will to be responsible to one's place and one's country on the basis of principles and values that are so often shaken today.
I assure you that these principles and values will be both protected and preserved as the apple of our eye.
This defines the light, this defines our conscience and our responsibility.
Eternal be his memory, eternal the example of his sacrifice and self-sacrifice!
(EC)
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Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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