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- Ελληνικά
It is a shocking moment when we as a State and as a Society are called upon to honour people who sacrificed their lives "for faith and country", who gave away what they had most precious in defence of freedom, democracy and the territorial integrity of our country. And today, as President of the Republic of Cyprus and on behalf of the Cypriot people, I participate in this solemn ceremony to pay tribute to our Greek brothers, who during the Turkish invasion of 1974 and the Turkish occupation of 1963-64, arrived from Greece to strengthen the defence of our territories, to secure the sovereignty and independence of our homeland, to counter Attila's hordes, to join their brothers in Cyprus, as in every other common national imperative of history.
It is a fact, friends, that every time we hold funeral services for our Greek Cypriot and Greek Cypriot brothers and sisters, who were considered missing and whose remains have been identified, even after 50-60 years, the events of the brutal Turkish invasion that black summer of 1974 are revived and come to life even more.
Today, here in this holy place, we pay tribute to our heroic Greek brothers, honoring them and their families for their contribution to our homeland, for their sacrifice, for the blood they gave to our homeland, the battle fronts and conflicts, the conditions of the war, the looting, the bombing, the past becomes present again and enlarges the memory. At the same time, it magnifies much more the will to continue our struggle until the blessed day of liberation and reunification of our homeland.
We are all here today to acknowledge and pay tribute to those who sacrificed for this land. After all, the repatriation of their remains to the land that gave birth to them, and the burial of others in the land that received their bodies and blood, is an act of national pride for all Greeks. Thucydides remains as relevant as ever, "tomb of illustrious men throughout the land". All the more so when the other land is the pure Greek land of Cyprus.
The core and axis of our effort, from the very first day that the Cypriot people entrusted us with the future of the country, is man. It is precisely in this context that the issue of the missing and the fallen during the Turkish invasion cannot but be a humanitarian issue, and as such we approach, treat and manage it.
And within this reasoning, we considered it our duty to inform the relatives of Greek soldiers, whose remains were recently identified, in person by the Head of the Office for Humanitarian Affairs of Missing and Trapped Persons, in cooperation of course with the General Staff of the Hellenic Army.
It is the least we ought to do to all those who fought and sacrificed for the freedom and defence of our homeland. To the heroes whose remains are being repatriated today, to the heroes we bury and entomb in this historic place, the place where the land of Cyprus receives in its bowels Greek and Greek Cypriot fighters and fallen soldiers of freedom, the place where Greece and Cyprus become one, Historically and Eternally.
We owe it:
to Kratimenos Anastasios
to Analytis Georgios
to Tsitiridis Konstantinos
to Iliopoulos Panagiotis
to Toulis Ilias
to Martzaklis Georgios
to Tsagalidis Konstantinos
to Iliopoulos Ioannis
to Christopoulos Alexios
to Xanthopoulos Athanasios
to Koukoularis Christos
to Binakis Georgios
to Bourekas Asimakis
to Chios Frangos
to Sarlian Charalambos.
Eternal be their memory.
Immortal their name in the history of our country, in the history of Hellenism everywhere.
(PM/MS/NYAN)
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Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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