It is with pain of soul that we attend the funeral of the remains of another of our compatriots, Sergeant Christakis Philippos Nikolaidis, who died defending the freedom and territorial integrity of our homeland. A ceremony of farewell and prayer for the repose of his soul in accordance with our religious principles and traditions, 48 years after his heroic sacrifice.
I thank the family for the honor of being here with them today. It is a great honor to speak for a hero.
Literally like a nightmare, the suffering of the tragedy of Cyprus, the betrayal of the coup, the invasion, the occupation, the drama of the missing, parade before us when we say goodbye and honour our heroes.
But however much our pain, however much our anguish, we must look back to those sad events that marked our course through time and draw the right lessons. We should reflect and set an example. For, beyond paying tribute and gratitude to the martyr-heroes of our people, we draw lessons from their pronouncement and renew our faith in the continuation and glorification of a struggle that has yet to be vindicated.
All the more so when this unjust struggle is linked to the sacrifice and disappearance of hundreds of our compatriots, and especially to our sacred duty to do everything humanly possible to ensure that the relatives of our missing persons all get unbiased answers. Answers to agonizing questions of so many years concerning the fate of their loved ones.
Interpreting the feelings of our entire people, I express to the members of his family our great respect and deep appreciation for the great contribution of their loved one. His parents, Andrew and Ada, have completed their own circle of life and have left heartbroken by the loss of their child, unable to bid him farewell by touching his coffin and placing their tears of love on it. So did one of his brothers, Nikos, who passed away two years ago, while his mother passed away in 2006 and his father in 1992.
This is the tragic fate of many relatives, parents, spouses and even children. They leave this life with open wounds in their souls from so many years of pain and anguish. These sad feelings are shared by the other three brothers of Christakis, Panikos, Phoebus and Stelios, who are with us in this holy place, with their own children and other relatives.
Christakis Philippou was born on November 22, 1954 in Kythrea, where he lived with his family. He was among the many young people serving their military service when the Turkish invasion broke out. He had enlisted a year earlier, on 24 July 1973, at the Nicosia Recruitment Centre to complete his military service and on the same day he was transferred to the Larnaca Recruitment Centre. After his basic training he was assigned to the 256 Infantry Battalion and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant.
While the Turkish troops continued to land in Kyrenia carrying with them tanks and other combat equipment under the cover of their warplanes and firing from their warships, the various National Guard units in the area were trying to repel the attacking Attila and establish defensive positions. This despite the disorganization of the National Guard caused by the traitorous coup d'état.
In this context, military missions were organized to neutralize Turkish Cypriot enclaves in order to avoid their coalescence and the creation of bridgeheads. For this reason, on 22 July 1974, the Battalion Command Company, to which Christakis was assigned, together with the 222 Recruiting Battalion undertook a difficult mission to neutralize the activities of Turkish Cypriot extremists who had turned the village of Elia into an armed enclave.
The whole operation began shortly after noon on the basis of a well thought-out plan. Two hours later and while the National Guard men had neutralized the first machine guns and started to enter the village, unfortunately Christakis was fatally wounded by a machine gun blast. He expired on the battlefield while he and his comrades-in-arms were on a National Guard mission to defend the territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus.
His body was then transferred to the temporary hospital in Morphou and subsequently buried without the presence of his family and other loved ones at the Morphou cemetery, where other martyrs of the Turkish invasion were also buried.
Then his parents, when they were informed of his heroic sacrifice, together with two of his brothers, visited the Morphou cemetery and the priest who conducted the burials showed them his own grave. They then visited the Morphou Police Station, where personal belongings of the fallen were kept, where they identified those belonging to Christakis.
Based on these events, Christakis' name was placed on the official list of martyrs of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
The exhumation of his remains was carried out in 2016-2017 by the Morphou Cemetery, within the framework of the exhumation and identification of remains programme of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee.
There are many of our compatriots who have climbed a real Golgotha over the years due to the loss of their loved ones. And many are still experiencing personal dramas as a consequence of the Turkish invasion, such as the relatives of our missing persons who have not yet been able to get answers about their disappearance and families of our fallen who were buried in known and unknown places in the occupied areas without the presence of their families and without the celebration of funerals according to our religion and traditions. The wounds inflicted on their souls, the anguish and pain of so many years still remain open, and many complete the circle of their lives and leave with the bitter regret of not having their last farewell. They leave without being able to touch the coffin of their loved ones and lay their tears of love on it.
The culprit for this drama experienced by the relatives of our Missing has a name and it is the occupying power.
Unfortunately, without the sincere cooperation of the occupying power, no substantial progress can and cannot be expected. It is for this reason that the international community, especially the United Nations and the European Union, should take humanitarian initiatives, even after so many years, for our own missing persons as well, in order to overcome Turkish intransigence and the refusal of the occupying power to cooperate.
Praying to the Most High for the repose of the soul of Christakis Philippou, we pray at the same time for the vindication of the sacrifice of all our heroes with the liberation of our country from the Turkish Attila and the reunification of our Homeland. And this, by respecting at last, and not selectively, the international law that requires the end of the occupation and the withdrawal of Turkish troops from our country.
Greeks, Greeks,
Today we are writing the epilogue of the tragic story of another worthy child of our Motherland.
The parents of Christakis, Andreas and Ada, and his brother Nikos, who passed away, would feel proud of their heroic son today.
Dear brothers of our hero, Paniko, Phoebus and Stelios,
Dear and respected relatives,
Today you should feel proud of your Christakis, your own man, your hero, the hero of all of Cyprus for the legacy he left, not only to you, but also to society and to all of us. A legacy that gives you the highest honour and us the responsibility to justify his sacrifice. He will rest with the other brave men of our Cyprus in the Tomb of Macedonitissa in this sacred place which is a symbol of glory and honour and next to the venerable monument of the Mother of the Missing and Fallen of the mother who gazes with pain at the Pentadaktylus and waits for her son. This pain is also the pain of all the relatives of our Missing for 48 so many years.
I hope the end of your long agony for Christakis will soothe your soul and ease your pain.
We bid farewell to Christakis Philippou today and gratefully honor his memory. We recognize that we have an unfulfilled debt to him and we will fight to fulfill it. We will never stop fighting until we bring freedom, peace and security to this long-suffering land.
Eternal be the memory and glory of Sergeant Christakis Philip Nicolaides of Andreas and Ada of the 256th Infantry Battalion.
Eternal and Honoured.
(PM/IK)
Contents of this article including associated images are owned by PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
Source
