Plenary session - 2 March 2023
Dear colleagues,
We begin today's session with a reference to the tragic train accident that occurred in Tempe last Tuesday night, leading to the death and injury of dozens of people. The violent head-on collision between the two trains occurred under circumstances that are being investigated, but whatever the cause, this cannot alleviate the unbearable pain and the unspeakable grief of the families of the victims.
As the House of Representatives, we express our deepest sorrow for this unspeakable tragedy and sympathise with the Greek government and the people of Greece. At the same time, we are anxious and concerned about the fate of the two missing Cypriot children. On behalf of all members of the House, I express our sincere condolences and our unreserved sympathy to the families and loved ones of the unfortunate victims. Constantinos Tasoulas, the Ambassador of Greece to Cyprus Mr. Ioannis Papameletiou, as well as other officials in Greece.
Flags are flying at half-mast in the building of the House of Representatives, which, participating in the heavy national mourning, has illuminated the building with the colours of the Greek flag.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to refer to another sad event, the death of Chrysostomos Sofianos, former Minister of Education, who served our country's literature and culture with great dedication during a decisive period for the Cypriot state.
Chrysostomos Sofianos was born in Strubi in 1939. He attended the Greek Gymnasium of Paphos, studied at the Cyprus Teachers' College and then Classical Studies at the University of Athens. From 1966 to 1969 he worked as a secondary school teacher and from 1969 to 1972 as a professor at the Cyprus Pedagogical Academy. He was then accepted for postgraduate studies at Ohio State University on a scholarship from UNESCO and from 1973 to 1975 he worked at the Research Center of that university. In 1976 he returned to Cyprus and took up special duties in the Department of Higher and Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education. At the same time, he started working at the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute. On 5 October 1976 he was appointed Minister of Education by Archbishop Makarios III, an office in which he remained during the administration of Spyros Kyprianou, offering his services to education with zeal and great dedication. Subsequently, he founded the Pancyprian Renewal Front, a political party which contested the 1981 parliamentary elections. He also served as director of the Government Printing Office. Finally, he served for several years as Secretary of the Council of Ministers. Chrysostomos Sofianos passed away on Monday at the age of eighty-four.
On behalf of the House, I express our sincere condolences to the family and relatives of the deceased.
Colleagues and colleagues,
March 3 marks sixty-six years since the heroic sacrifice of EOKA deputy leader Gregory Pieris Afxentiou. On such a day, as Tefkros Anthias writes, "ONE, with myriad hands, [...] vibrated the atmosphere with the Greek chant: 'Freedom or death'". Known for his action in EOKA as 'Zidros', 'Rigas', 'Aias' or 'Ares', Afxentios was distinguished in battle for his courage, wit and leadership skills. At the village of Spilia, where British troops first came on the trail of the fighters, the British were defeated thanks to a ploy by the resourceful Afxentius, who deceived two British columns into clashing with each other: "I set up a great game for them, which they will remember as long as there is a British army," he wrote to a sage friend, only to add a little further on that "wherever I go, treachery pursues me." Having become the terror of the British, with a £5,000 bounty on his head, Afxentius once again fooled his pursuers by disguising himself as a monk. At the martyred Machaera, with great self-denial, after directing his comrades to the exit, he fought alone for ten long hours against all-armed British troops, forcing the conquerors to cowardly burn his hideout. "And dead enica", with the British not even daring to approach the site, even after burning it down. Still fearing popular outrage, the British summarily buried the hero's burnt body in Nicosia's Central Prison, known as the Prisoner's Memorial. Machairas' holocaust inspired the fighters and became for all a shining example of self-sacrifice, a symbol of the inalienable right of the Cypriot people to self-determination and national restoration. In the face of the callousness of the powerful, the centuries gestate, assuming the unpaid debt on the marble threshing floors of honour and human dignity.
(Text as sent by the House of Representatives)
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