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- Ελληνικά
It is with deep emotion, respect and at the same time with pride that I participate in tonight's event to pray for the fate of the missing persons of the 1974 Turkish invasion.
I am here to join you in the obligatory tributes to our heroic martyrs. Those who sacrificed themselves, who fell for their faith and country, those who are still missing and for whom I assure you that the determination of their fate is a top priority for the state.
The chilling sound of the sirens every 15th and 20th of July awakens memories, memories that haunt the soul of each of us to this day, since the painful consequences that we as Cypriot Hellenism have been called upon to face and, unfortunately, are still facing today, spring up as open wounds in the unfortunate body of our homeland.
Many are the consequences, many are the effects, many are the wounds of that tragic summer, 49 years ago. Undoubtedly, however, the most painful consequence of the treacherous coup d'état and the brutal Turkish invasion, that which does not fit into any human logic, that which to this day at the international level cannot be ignored, cannot be interpreted in terms of interests and strategies, is the issue of the missing persons. Those people who are missing 49 years after that black summer. The families and loved ones who have waited all these years to be informed of the fate of their own people.
Five Mile, Agios Georgios Kyrenia, Omorphita, Lapithos, Karavas, Agios Hilarion, Mia Milia, Koutsoventis, Gerolakkos, Kioneli, Palaikythro, Famagusta, Tymbou, Temblos Kyrenia.
Some areas where great and difficult battles were fought in the black summer of 1974. Areas in which the men of the National Guard, conscripts and volunteers, our Greek brothers who served in its ranks and of course the men of the Hellenic Force of Cyprus, put up a heroic resistance to face the multiple forces of the Turkish invaders.
In these areas where they breathed their last breath, their traces were wounded or lost and since then their fate has been unknown.
It is with feelings of deep gratitude that I address and welcome once again in Cyprus, the relatives of the missing from Greece, stating to them that our thoughts, for 49 years now, are also with theirs, our people. Our memory also returns to the men of ELDYK who, on 22 July, after a counter-attack, reached Kioneli, inflicting heavy losses on the Turkish troops.
The memory, terrible and relentless, also returns to the painful and deadly site of the ELDYK Camp, where on 14 August 1974 the deadly and unequal battle, comparable to that of Thermopylae, began. Where your people, our children and our heroes, fought their last battle, knowing, and knowing all too well, that death was inevitable.
49 years later we do not forget. We honour and search for our fallen and missing. And I heard some expressions of protest before and I want as President of the Republic of Cyprus to take responsibility for all Cypriot Governments from 1974 until today for the bitterness, for the resentment, for all that you feel that as a State we have not responded.
At the same time, however, we are here and through your very active organised groups to address any concerns, any problems you may have.
So we are lifting with you - and I want to prove it in practice - the cross you have carried for so many years. But despite the difficulties, the problems and the frustrations, the struggle to resolve a purely humanitarian issue, far from any political or other considerations, continues.
It was precisely in this context that one of my first actions was to address the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr. Tatar, for a joint visit to the Anthropological Laboratory of the Missing Persons' Committee, but also to issue, on the occasion of our joint visit, a joint communiqué that would send the message about the need to accelerate all processes related to the issue. And within the framework of the meeting I have a number of proposals and suggestions, some I have already discussed with Maria Kalbourtzi and Nikos Sergidi, some others have been heard in the public debate, such as the very remarkable proposal of our friend Achilleas Dimitriadis, as well as some other specific suggestions, because I do not want this meeting to be of a mere communicative nature, we expect substantial results to emerge. And when we talk about substantial results on the issue of the missing persons, it can be nothing other than the acceleration, in practice and not in words, of all relevant processes.
The missing persons of the Turkish invasion of 1974 are the eternal symbol that will remind us of the disastrous consequences of the Black July. It is our obligation, and this is how we are proceeding, in this context we approach the issue with absolute seriousness and respect to all of you.
49 years after the barbaric Turkish invasion, the occupation and its remnants cannot continue. We are well aware of the difficulties, problems and challenges. We know, at the same time, all too well that for us there is no other choice. The current state of affairs, the current unacceptable status quo, the barbed wire, the dividing line cannot be the future of our country.
It is precisely for this reason that from the first day we took office, we took the initiative, through a specific plan and design, for a more prominent role on the part of the EU - I heard Maria Kalbourtzi earlier asking the EU to assume its own responsibilities in this matter - always within the framework of the United Nations, to break the deadlock and resume the talks from where they were interrupted in the summer of 2017. Negotiations that will lead to the resolution of the Cyprus problem on the basis of a bizonal bicommunal federation, a solution that will also guarantee in Cyprus the principles and values of the EU.
A solution that will free Cyprus from anachronistic guarantees and occupying troops. A solution that will in practice lift the occupation and allow all the legitimate inhabitants of this land to coexist, far from any kind of separation, under a regime of equality and equality.
This, after all, is what we owe to all our heroes who fell to protect this land. We owe this to our children, to the future of our homeland.
Honor and glory, then, to all those who answered the call of their homeland. To the illustrious men and women who sacrificed themselves to protect this land.
Respect, first and foremost, to all of you, the relatives of our fallen, courage, strength and faith to the relatives of our missing. All of you who for 49 years have carried on your shoulders the torment of uncertainty about the fate of your loved ones, heroes of this martyred land.
(PM/EP)
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