Larnaca Municipal Theatre
Your Eminence, Honorable Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Writes the historian, journalist, academic and writer Dionysios Kokkinos in "The History of the Greek Revolution: "Memory was the great first capital of the thinking man for the conquest of his new ways. From the necessity of the development of this weapon, History was created. It is the knowledge of a people's tried and tested strengths and their manifested qualities in the obstacles, trials and conquests throughout the ages. Without knowledge of the past it is not possible to measure the strengths of the present, nor to look to the future."
On the paths of memory we meet today to commemorate with due respect two great anniversaries: 25 March 1821 and 1 April 1955... two great historical milestones in the long journey of Hellenism through the millennia of history."[/I]
On the paths of memory we meet today to commemorate with due respect two great anniversaries: the 25th of March 1821 and the 1st of April 1955... two great historical milestones in the long journey of Hellenism through the millennia of history.
Congratulating the Municipality of Larnaca for organizing tonight's anniversary event, allow me to thank you for your kind invitation and to convey the warm greetings of both the President of the Republic and the entire Government. A revolution whose messages transcended its geographical and temporal boundaries and deservedly earned a place in the focal points of European history in the 19th century.
The Ottomans had initially made the mistake of underestimating both the uprising of the Greeks - considering it to be just another local rebellion - and the interest of the powerful powers of the time in it.
And yet history proved them wrong. A history that has the face of Greeks and philhellenes, warriors, prelates and churchmen, merchants and intellectuals, as well as artists whose work helped to make the Greek cause known throughout the world.
I will not go into specific heroic moments and decisive battles. Such references are rather excessive, given that the Greek and international literature is full of works recording known or unknown aspects of the Greek Revolution.
The whole of Greece becomes a holocaust. It is estimated that there were 800,000 dead and victims of the Greek Revolution who offered their lives as a libation to the tree of freedom, confirming the Solomic saying that the freedom of the Greeks is always taken from their sacred bones.
It is, however, always of particular importance to remember that, apart from its successful outcome, which contributed catalytically to the foundation of the modern Greek state, the 1821 Revolution reshaped the geopolitical balance in the Eastern Mediterranean and had an impact in many other parts of the world.
If we seek living proof of this impact, we need not go far. The direct link between Cyprus and the Greek Revolution is theoretically and research-based. And it is not limited to the thousand or so Cypriot volunteers who fought heroically under the command of many leading figures of 1821. Irrefutable evidence of the massive presence of Cypriot volunteers in the Greek Revolution is a flag, which today is kept in the National and Historical Museum of Athens. This flag must have been used by a company of Cypriot volunteers who fought in the Greek metropolitan area at that time. The Cypriot contribution was also expressed in the financial and other assistance to Greece by Archbishop Cyprian and other provosts and priests who were so brutally hanged or executed by the Ottomans.
The impact of those events is still evident 134 years later, at the height of the Cypriot liberation and unification movement. The Greek Revolution of 1821 was a source of inspiration for the fighters of EOKA and Cypriot Hellenism in general in their own revolutionary effort against the British colonial regime.
The heroes of '21 and the heroes of EOKA were the true heirs and continuators of the warriors who stood proudly at the Thermopylae and made the corridors of history reverberate even today with their proud "MOLON LAVE".
The fighters of '21 and the rebels of EOKA were branches of the same Greek tree. They spoke the same language, Greek. The same wind was blowing in their chests, that of freedom and dignity. The revolution of 1821 was the starting point of our modern history. Among other things, it read: "Fellow Cypriots, From the depths of the ages all those who have made Greek history more difficult in order to preserve their freedom are looking at us: the Marathon fighters, the Salaminomachoi, the Three Hundred of Leonidas and the younger ones of the Albanian epic. The fighters of 1821, who also taught us that liberation from the yoke of the oppressor is always won by blood. Hellenism is still looking at us, and is watching us with anxiety, but also with national pride. (...)"
The references to the Revolution of 1821 inoculated the national spirit and offered models of militancy and self-sacrifice during the period of the liberation struggle in the four years 1955-1959.
People of all ages and from all walks of life, clergy and laity, were transformed into heroic figures who defied threats and restrictions, imprisonment and torture and even death, putting the good of the cause and the homeland above all else.
It is important to honour their sacrifice every day through our actions. And it is no coincidence that the first act of the newly elected President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Christodoulides, was to visit the Prisoners' Memorials.
On the one hand, it is undoubtedly a due tribute to the thirteen heroic martyrs who rest there, but also to all those who sacrificed for the Republic of Cyprus to exist today.
On the other hand, it is in line with the words of Dionysios Kokkinos, which I quoted at the beginning of my speech, as he expresses his commitment to keeping memory alive as a weapon and a shield against the trials that our country continues to face.
As long as Cyprus remains divided, with occupying Turkey reinforcing its narrative of permanent partition of the island, challenging the Republic of Cyprus and its international standing as never before, the resolution of the Cyprus problem must be and is our top priority.
We know very well that it will not be easy. However, the current state of affairs cannot be a solution. There is no other way than the one that will lead us to a reunited and free Cyprus. A common homeland of freedom, prosperity and security for all its legitimate inhabitants, without discrimination, without barbed wire and occupying army, without foreign guarantees and invasive rights, restoring the unity of its territory and its people. A modern European state, which will respect and guarantee the human rights and security of its citizens, Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins. And it will become an international model of reconciliation and peaceful coexistence of people of different religions and cultures.
Our effort is focused on developing a European initiative for the resolution of the Cyprus problem, always within the framework of the United Nations. We seek a more active involvement of the European Union in creating the conditions for breaking the deadlock and resuming negotiations on the basis of the agreed framework for reaching a solution based on the principles and values required by European and international law.
President Christodoulides' contacts, first in Athens and then in Brussels, where he had high-level contacts in the framework of the European Council, as well as the visit of the UN Deputy Secretary General Rosemary DiCarlo to Cyprus, are moves to revitalize efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem.
With our hearts in the past and our minds in the future, we arm ourselves with wisdom, faith and determination to walk together on a difficult road that can lead us to another glorious page in our history.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the Revolution of 1821 and the Annunciation of Theotokos, I wish you a Happy Birthday.
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