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- Ελληνικά
It is with great emotion that I am here today to inaugurate the Park in honour of the missing children of the 1974 Turkish invasion, without doubt the most tragic aspect of Turkish brutality. The human mind cannot contain the tragedy of the loss of a child, let alone a child hovering between life and death, missing with thousands of unanswered questions.
As a father, I cannot even imagine the position of these parents whose offspring have been missing since those tragic days.
And it is in this context that the strategic planning of the Office for Humanitarian Affairs of the Missing and Internally Displaced Persons over the years includes the effort to highlight this purely humanitarian aspect of the Cyprus problem, such as the issue of the missing children of the Turkish invasion. Of the 36 missing children, only 20 have been identified to date.
The tragic nature of the loss of a child's life violates the human right to life in the most alarming way. The youngest child was only 6 months old and the oldest was 17 years old. Our children, the expression of joy and the pinnacle of life and the future, the embodiment of hope for any society, should not, cannot fit in the human mind, ever be subjected to this kind of atrocity.
So as a minimum tribute to these children, we are all here today to inaugurate the "Park of the Missing Children of the Turkish invasion of 1974".
After consultation and cooperation between the Head of Humanitarian Affairs of the Missing and Trapped with the Mayor of Strovolos and the "Embrace with Love" Association, this space was granted in honor of their memory, and they are to be congratulated for their initiative. I would also like to congratulate the "Pericles Demetriou" Association, which is present at all events all over Cyprus, and my friend Petros (Stylianou) who, on the occasion of a personal ordeal, has started a daily struggle to help our fellow human beings all over Cyprus, most recently the need to help a small child, Stylianou, three years old, and my friend Petros, you are worthy of congratulations.
On each of the 36 cypress trees we planted in the Park there is the name and details of each missing child. The names of the children, through the trees, will continue to echo forever in the hallowed soil of our long-suffering homeland, reminding us throughout time of our debt to them, our debt and our obligation not to turn away from the struggle for freedom and the reunification of our land.
Following your example, my friend Anna (Aristotelous), my friend Mayor, the Ministry of Education will proceed with the naming of 36 classrooms throughout the country in primary schools, secondary schools and high schools, so that the memory of these children will continue, but also so that through the naming the new generations will be informed and learn about the Cypriot tragedy.
There are no words to describe any speaker, there are no appropriate words in the rich Greek language that can describe the magnitude of your loss.
As a father, as a citizen of this land, as President of the Republic of Cyprus, I reverently bow my knee to you and I promise you that I will make every possible effort to restore in every possible way our bleeding homeland, to reunite our land which is still suffering from the suffering of the Turkish invasion and occupation and which, unfortunately, this year marks its 50th anniversary.
May each of the 36 trees take root deep in the soil, as the memory of each of these children and their unjust loss has taken root in us.
(PM/NYAN/GS)
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