Sixty-six years after the sacrifice of the little hero of EOKA, but great in soul, Dimitrakis Dimitriadis, the state, the church and the family gathered today, in this historic holy church of Larnaca to honor his memory by bidding him farewell according to our religious traditions, feeling, at the same time, the sacred duty to pass on to the younger generations the great ideals that accompany the sacrifice of our compatriots for the freedom of our homeland.
I thank the hero's family for the honour of being with them today. It is a great honor to speak of a hero, and to pay him the just tribute of eternal gratitude he deserves. As Cavafy aptly pointed out, true honor must be paid to those "who in their lives were appointed to guard Thermopylae never moved by debt."
Dimitrakis was one of the four children of George and Paraskevi, who departed this life with bitter regret for the unjust and unjustifiable loss of their young child. His two siblings Andreas and Sophia have also passed away while his brother Kyriakos is still alive and residing permanently in the UK. Dimitrakis had two other half-siblings, which his father acquired from his second wife Stavroula, Lakis Dimitriadis and Frosoula who is a permanent resident of Denmark.
With us today are Lakis Dimitriadis and his family as well as Androulla Dimitriadis, wife of his deceased brother Andreas and her family.
Lakis and the rest of his relatives have been searching for years to find out the actual burial site where the sacred remains of Dimitrakis were found. It is Lakis who, together with the late Phileleftheros journalist Pambos Vassilas, who passed away recently, worked systematically and persistently to find the answers to the fate of Dimitrakis' remains.
It is sad that Pambos Vassilas is not with us today to share the successful outcome of the efforts that led to the identification of the remains of Dimitrakis.
Following a request from the family to which the State responded immediately and with zeal, the remains of the little hero were located on 30 October 2021 in a multiple burial site in the cemetery of Agios Georgios Kontos. All procedures were followed with the exhumation and identification of the remains, in order to create a grave with the name of the hero to honour his memory and sacrifice according to our sacred traditions.
The story of Dimitrakis Dimitriadis, the youngest hero of our liberation struggle of 1955-59, is truly shocking. A child of seven years old did not bend before the armoured British soldiers, and with the stones he threw against them together with other children, he demonstrated the desire for freedom and union with Greece, as the overwhelming majority of the Cypriot people had felt for centuries deep in their souls.
Along with the circumstances that led to the militant demonstrations against British colonialism in March 1956, in which our little hero took part and met his death, we should also look back together to the historical facts of the time, as a result of which our people as a whole felt strongly the need to throw off the colonial yoke and claim their freedom.
This desire has never been extinguished and has remained unchanged, no matter how many conquerors have passed through the island, and no matter how much continuous slavery and cruel oppression our people have faced. Throughout the period of the British rule in particular, our people never ceased to demand the realization of this desire by petitions, telegrams, pandemonium rallies and sending embassies to London. In October 1931 things led to a national uprising. Arrests, imprisonment, deportations and expulsions followed. At the same time, constitutional freedoms of the people were abolished, which lasted for nine years.
Cypriots' hopes for union with Greece were raised during World War II, when Greece was fighting fascism and Nazism as an ally of Great Britain. But after the end of the war the British showed no inclination to satisfy the unionist desire of the Cypriot people.
On 15 January 1950 the Nationalist Church of Cyprus held the Unitarian Referendum in a climate of general enthusiasm. With a percentage of 95.7% our people were in favour of union with Greece, but the English continued to hold a negative attitude, because they always considered the Cyprus question closed. They confirmed this in a debate in the House of Commons four years later, on 28 July 1954, when the Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, Henry Hopkinson, said that Cyprus was an area of strategic value and therefore the principle of self-determination would never be applied.
This was followed on 17 December of the same year by the rejection by the UN General Assembly of Greece's request for the application, under the auspices of the United Nations, of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, including in the case of the people of Cyprus.
Under these circumstances, the Cypriot Hellenism was led to the decision for an armed struggle in order to claim its inalienable right to freedom.
This struggle was quickly embraced by the entire people. Men, women and children, each in their own way, made their mark on the unequal struggle. The superiority of the English was evident, but their stubbornness and longing for freedom armed them with courage and strength.
It was in this climate of national uplift and militancy that the story of our little hero, Dimitris Demetriades, who passed into immortality on 14 March 1956, when the bullet of an English colonial military officer hit him in the face, near here, on the street in Larnaca that bears his name, was written.
A few days before, on 9 March '56, in an attempt to crush the fighting spirit of Cypriot Hellenism, the British had arrested and exiled to Seychelles Archbishop Makarios, EOKA recruiter Papastavros Papagathangelou, Metropolitan Kyrenia Kyprianos and the Secretary of the Kyrenia Diocese Polycarp Ioannidis.
The whole of Cyprus was shocked. EOKA intensified its activity and the students poured into the streets. With Greek flags in their hands and with bells and slogans they filled the streets in protest. They were overwhelmed by the injustice felt by all our people. The oppressors once again sent armoured soldiers to deal with the "threat" of the children.
In Larnaca the schoolchildren gathered here in the area of the church of Agios Lazaros. They are ringing the bells and erecting makeshift barricades wanting to prevent the soldiers from approaching. Soon they are joined by elementary school children with flags in their hands. Soon, however, vehicles with armed soldiers arrive and a wild chase begins. A group of small children took stones in their hands and threw them. They did so shouting "union, union". Among them was little Dimitris, then a student of the second grade of Kalogera Elementary School. Against this small group an English soldier fired shots. In the third shot the bullet hit Dimitrakis in the head. A seven-year-old child who broke out in his own way against the English oppressor.
The British, wanting to avoid further demonstrations, tried to bury the little hero in the evening. And to do this they tried to persuade his father to dig the grave and have the burial at night. But he did not accept and on March 15, 1956, despite the difficult conditions and restrictions, a crowd of Larnaca residents, sad and angry, said goodbye to little Dimitrakis.
The story of Dimitrakis is as shocking as it is tragic. Two years and four days later, Evagoras Pallikaridis, who praised Dimitrakis with his verses, was hanged.[/I]
-And you, slave boy, why do you stand and look sad?
Can't you fight?
-I have no weapon, captain.[ENOUGH FOR YOU, LITTLE MAN.
Honor and glory to Dimitrakis Dimitriadis who taught the children of Cyprus the best lesson of history, it is written on the bust of the little hero at the Kalogera Primary School.
Greeks, Greeks,
Going back to the past is not just for the sake of a historical reference. The pages of our history, which we should regard as our advisor and guide for tomorrow, are full of examples of self-sacrifice and heroic contribution of our compatriots who, with supreme love for their homeland, did not hesitate to offer themselves on the altar of our freedom. Above all, they put the interests of the homeland above all else, inspired by the ideals and values of our national origin and conscience.
Heroes die only when we forget them. And for us, our national self-consciousness requires us never to forget them as an unpaid debt and a reminder of our historical responsibility towards them to live up to their expectations and sacrifice.
In the times we live in, having the bitter experiences of the past but always thinking and acting with the aim of ensuring the survival of the Cypriot Hellenism in this corner of the Eastern Mediterranean, we must put above all the necessity of unanimity and unity of our forces to confront Turkish intransigence and aggression. We must continue our struggle on the basis of international law as contained in the resolutions and resolutions of the United Nations, as well as the principles and values of the European Union, without being bowed down by difficulties and problems.
Greeks, Greeks,
After 66 years, we are writing today here in Larnaca, the epilogue of the tragic story of another worthy son of our Motherland.
My dear Laki, our dear Androulla,
Dear relatives,
Words can give, only for a short time, balm to your painful soul. Behind today's ceremony, they project years of untold pain and suffering, years that have passed with many questions and great regret. I express my appreciation and admiration for the patience and patience you have shown throughout these years.
Cyprus bows before you. And prays for you the comfort of God and for your Demetrakis, your hero, the peace of his soul. Today you should feel proud of your dear brother's unfailing heroism and the greatness of his soul as we all feel.
Greeks, Greeks,
Until the symbol of separation engraved on the Pentadaktylus is abolished and erased, we will continue to fight for the liberation and reunification of our homeland.
We owe this to our heroes, we owe it to our history, we owe it to future generations. We also owe it to Dimitrakis Dimitriadis, whose love for his country and his sacrifice earned him a prominent place in our history forever.
Honor and Glory to you, our great hero, Dimitrakis Dimitriadis.
Eternal be your memory.
Eternal and honored.
(PM/IK)
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