With feelings of awe and national emotion, today we reverently bow our heads to the heroes of our liberation struggle, to those who did not hesitate to sacrifice for freedom, justice and our national dignity, to all those named and unnamed and unsung fighters who with one soul and one voice opposed the continuation of British colonialism and demanded the minimum to which every people in the world is entitled.
A few days ago we paid tribute to the illustrious and obscure heroes and heroines of the Greek revolution of 1821 against the Ottoman yoke.
From the same commitment to duty and the high ideals of Hellenism, the Cypriot epoch of 1955-59 sprang. The Greek Cypriots, faithful to the eternal and indisputable Greek legacies, offered their lives on the altar of national honour, opposing the slavery of the English oppressor with a thirst for freedom from the suffocating darkness of oppression and slavery. The Hellenism of Cyprus rose up against Great Britain, the great colonial power of the time, which bought our island in 1878 from its Turkish conquerors. The foreign oppressor stubbornly refused to recognize the right of the Cypriot people to control their own destiny.
All the peaceful protests, demonstrations and manifestations of the Cypriots proved fruitless. The resolutions and delegations sent from the island to London had no effect. Nor did the spontaneous October movement of 1931 succeed in breaking British intransigence. Instead, it hardened the colonialists and palmerocracy began.
The Hellenism of Cyprus intensified its peaceful struggle for national vindication and freedom. The British even refused to receive the volumes with the signatures of the Greek Cypriots and some Turkish Cypriots of the union referendum, which took place on 15 January 1950.
The hopes of the enslaved Cypriots for freedom and national vindication were miserably dashed when, responding to the call of the British, they enlisted in the British army to repel fascism and Nazism during World War II.
Thus, after all peaceful efforts to remove the British yoke failed, the armed struggle of our people began at the dawn of April 1, 1955, under the political leadership of Archbishop Makarios III and the military leadership of Georgios Grivas Digenis, which was to last until 1959.
The National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (E.O.K.A.) was founded and assumed responsibility for the Struggle. Within its bosom were the fighting groups PEKA (Political Committee of the Cypriot Struggle), ANE (Alkimos Youth of EOKA) and O.H.E.N. (Orthodox Christian Youth Union).
In response to the call of E.O.K.A.'s call for thousands: young and young people, men and women, middle-aged and elderly people, worthy offspring of the Greek Orthodox gender. And the land of Cyprus was shaken, and the storm swept everyone away! Our people gathered all the ancestral virtue, the desires and sorrows, the legends and aspirations of generations and centuries, and transmuted them into the heroic tearing of the Greek soul and the dynamic outburst of the epic struggle, which began with one goal and one desire: the union of Cyprus with mother Greece.
The English used every means to stop this heroic effort of Cypriot Hellenism for its freedom. By imprisonment, torture, exile, hanging of fighters and by other often inhuman means, they tried to break the spirit and militancy of our people. However, the young people of Cyprus were in no way discouraged. They fought and sacrificed for the freedom of their homeland like the fighters of 1821 and wrote golden pages of glory in the history of our country. These little Vagorides, these amusing Karoolies would form the irrepressible army of Digenes. What if they didn't go to school? Most of them only attended primary school. And some only in the first grades. But they learned as many letters as they needed to spell the word "Liberty". They were poor, farmers, shepherds, labourers, children of toil and feet, builders, carpenters. But they knew about ancient Greece, Byzantium, the 21st century. In their few belongings they carried the Bible, their eternal companion, and a book with the history of the daughter for whom they would sacrifice, Greece. So what if they didn't go to military schools? What if they didn't go through training centers? What if they didn't have modern weapons? Their school was the Gospel. Their training the mountains and the valleys. Their weapons were their faith in God. Their strength was the Cross. Their companion the sweet Virgin Mary. Their vision is the union with "Mother Greece".
And the history of Hellenism is rewritten in golden letters. "We do not fight for money, but for virtue", Kyriakos Matsis thunders against the English oppressor.
The Cypriot land is filled with heroes. The monuments of the modern Cypriot epoch are numerous! Hiding places, gallows, barns, imprisoned tombs, countless graves... Modestos Pantelis, Mouskos, Dracos, Lenas, Afxentiou, Matsis, Karaolis, Pitta, Koutsoftas, Panagidis, Pallikaridis and so many others, plucked from the depths of Greek history. Those who climbed the gallows, those who were burned in the hideouts or blown up, those who fell on the paths, on the slopes, those who were killed fighting or perished in torture, are unique examples of unfailing heroism and philanthropy.
Unfortunately, the policy of "divide and rule", which was consistently practiced by England from the time it took over the administration of the island, did not allow the Cypriot state, after independence, to prosper and consolidate. From 1878 until the end of the liberation struggle, the British administration cunningly used the T/C Community as a counterweight to the collective will of the majority of the Cypriot people. The winning vote of the governor ensured that no decision could be taken without the consent of the colonialists.
With the legislative council of 1882, the foundations were in fact laid for the practical separation of the political will of the Cypriots. Two electoral rolls were created and the election of the members of the Council was carried out by separate, simultaneous elections between Christians and Muslims.
It is important to point out, however, that from the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 until the end of World War II, Turkey had no involvement in the Cyprus problem. It re-entered the scene at the initiative of the United Kingdom when the question of union was urgently raised. The only guiding principle of the British actions was to create such conditions that would allow them to maintain absolute control over Cyprus.
As a result of British planning, the struggle did not have the outcome that the Cypriot people wanted when they started it in 1955. But this can in no way overshadow the greatness and sacrifice of those who fought for freedom. In the end, independence was not granted to the Cypriots. Independence was won by the Cypriots. At the same time, as a people, we retain the necessary lessons as an inexhaustible source of moral strength.
Independence is today the most important weapon in our struggle for liberation from Turkish occupation, the reunification of our homeland and the survival of our people. With independence and the internationally recognized rights deriving from it, we are fighting at every level to defend our just positions by responding responsibly and seriously to the challenges before us. The challenges are great. Turkey and its entrenched regime in the occupied territories persist in their intransigent positions which effectively preclude the resumption of negotiations. But whatever the challenges, we will never stop fighting for our physical and national survival.
Greeks, Greeks,
The oblivion of the times and any denigration have not managed to cover the pure messages emitted by the heroes of the '55-'59 struggle. We reverently venerate, recall memories, revive, praise and become partakers of the greatness of their souls. We ignite the passion in our hearts and take in the eternal mysteries that they bequeathed to us with their lives and sacrifice.
That is why the messages of the '55-59 Struggle acquire for all of us a decisive significance that we have no right to ignore or disregard. The heroic teacher of the EOKA struggle, Fotis Pittas, wrote in one of his poems:
"When we stand up together, all small and great, in our Cyprus, freedom will once again be visible."
This is the legacy that the heroes of our liberation struggle leave to all of us today. The legacy of unity and rallying. This is the most basic condition, so that we can liberate our enslaved land and justify the sacrifices of our heroes.
This is our historical debt to all our heroes, this is also our debt to the fallen and the missing of Sotiras who paid a heavy blood toll in the effort to repel the Turkish invasion of our island in the bitter summer of 1974.
This is our historical debt to all our heroes, this is also our debt to the fallen and the missing of Sotiras who paid a heavy blood toll in the effort to repel the Turkish invasion of our island in the bitter summer of 1974. We have no right to appear inferior to the circumstances. This is what historical memory demands. And this will be the best memorial to those who offered their consecrated blood to this long-suffering island.
Honor and Glory to those who gave their lives for the freedom of Cyprus.
Honor and Glory to the fighters of our liberation struggle 55-59.
(PM/MB)
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