Sunday, November 27, 2022, Holy Church of Apostle Andrew, "Strovolos 3"
At each step they won an orgy of heaven - to give it away.
Panos in the carousels were stoned like burnt trees,
and when they danced in the square,
inside the houses the ceilings shook and the glass on the shelves rattled.
Borrowing the stirring lines of our poet Yannis Ritsos' poem Romiosini and with feelings of deep emotion and national debt, we are gathered here today, in the Holy Church of Apostolos Andreas, to commemorate the heroically fallen Neapolitans in the battles with the Turkish invaders, as well as those who fled to the Lord while in exile.
To honour, also, the memory of the National Guardsmen who fought for faith and country and served in units in the area of Neapolis, Trachona and Omorphitas and to pray to God that the effort to find all our missing compatriots will be successful.
We kneel, therefore, with reverence and awe at the memory of our heroes and our missing brothers and sisters. For this is fitting for every selfless fighter for freedom and democracy.
This is fitting for those who fought and sacrificed for the freedom of our homeland and the ideals of our race.
An undiminished pain, a complaint and a great longing remained to torment every Neapolitan every time their thoughts wandered through the peaceful streets of Neapolis.
"Homeland, like your sun, no other sun shines", our Ionian poet Lorentzos Mavilis suggests.
Neapolitans are nostalgic for their place. They are nostalgic for the lands they walked on while making their youthful dreams. The eucalyptus-filled square with its crossroads, the Thoi house, the cafes, and the little shops where they made their daily purchases.
They recall the church of Agios Andreas, now converted into a mosque, the primary school with its pioneering building and the Neapolis Gymnasium, where children from Omorphita, Kaimakli and the surrounding communities attended.
They reminisce about the Spinning Mill - the largest textile factory of the time, Diogenes' clinic, the clothing industry, the two soft drink industries and Poullaidis' cinema, which later became a police station and outpost of the National Guard.
They also remember the Olympiad Association, the carefree and carefree moments with the football, volleyball and table tennis matches, the excursions and the events that were organised. Unfortunately, Neapolis and all the northern suburbs of Nicosia from December 1963, when the intercommunal riots began, found themselves early on at the centre of Turkish aggression. Their residents were trapped for a long time, with no way out to the rest of Nicosia and witnessed bloody battles between Turkish extremists and the Greek Cypriot forces that rushed to their aid.
In a very intense way they experienced, a decade later, the horror of the Turkish invasion. On 20 July 1974, just before the start of the landing of Turkish troops on the "Five Mile" coast of Kyrenia, thousands of Turkish paratroopers stained the clear blue skies of Cyprus and flooded the plains of Nicosia, just outside the districts of Neapolis, Trachona, Omorphita and Kamaklion. The northern part of Nicosia from the early hours of that day had been transformed into a theatre of fierce warfare.
The din of war and the tongues of fire caused by the incessant aerial bombardment and the concerted fire from warships reaped the desire and the internal need of the Cypriots to protect their land.
At the same time that the streets were filled with carts crammed with elderly people and mothers with children in their arms, running frantically and with tears in their eyes to save themselves in fear and despair, thousands of reservists rushed to their units, leaving behind, not knowing where they were and whether they would ever be able to return to their families and children.
The mothers kissed their mothers crossly and sobbed goodbye to their boys, not knowing if they would see them again, and begged God and the Virgin Mary at every moment to protect their children and their country.
The soldiers of the 3rd Company of the 211th Infantry Battalion, manning the outposts in the area, were fiercely attacked by the Turks from the very first hour.
The soldiers of the 3rd Company of the 211th Infantry Battalion, who were manning the outposts in the area, came under heavy Turkish attacks from the very first hour. The inhabitants of the area, in order to save their lives, were forced to forcibly abandon their homes in search of safe shelter.
Neapolis, Trachonas and a large part of Omorphita were abandoned on 23 July 1974. Until then, many young people had consecrated these sacred lands, fighting with vigour and heroism, offering their lives on the altar of Cyprus' freedom, even though they knew deep down that they were fighting an unequal and betrayed struggle against a superior and outnumbered invader.
But they were fighting for their villages, their homes and the families that raised them.
But they were fighting for their villages, their homes and the families that raised them. They were fighting for their children.
For justice and freedom.
They were fighting for the principles and values they had inherited from their fathers and grandfathers.
For Cypriot Hellenism, the families and properties of all Cypriots.
Because they considered their homeland their home and their fellow citizens their brothers and sisters.
Because they considered their homeland their home and their fellow citizens their brothers and sisters. As the ancient Greek historian Xenophon teaches us from time immemorial "He thought of the homeland as home, and the citizens as partners".
Heroically fighting in his hometown of Neapolis, the reserve second lieutenant of the 3rd Company of the 211 Infantry Battalion Sotiris Konstantinos Harilaou fell and was buried in a mass grave in the military cemetery of Lakatamia. After identification, his remains were reburied in 2000 in the Mound of Makedonitissa.
Panagiotis Hadjigeorgiou also fell with heroism and although he was a commando, he presented himself in the 211 Infantry Battalion and fought a fierce battle with the enemy. His remains were found in a mass grave in Trachona and were buried in 2011.
In the area of Neapolis also fell the athlete of the Olympiad of Neapolis Andreas Alexandrou, who was fatally wounded by mortar fragments outside the Neapolis Police Station. He was buried in a mass grave in the Cemetery of Saints Constantine and Helen, where he was reburied in 2000 after his remains were identified.
The reserve lieutenant of the Commando Antonis Agrotis fought just as heroically and lost his life in the battles of the Nicosia airport on 20 July 1974. He was buried in a mass grave and after the identification of his remains he was reburied with honours in 2001 in the cemetery of Saints Constantine and Helen.
Along with them was the reserve engineer lieutenant Marios Fisentzidis, who perished during a mission to lay minefields in the areas of Karavas and Lapithos, when they were occupied by Turkish troops on 6 August 1974. After 36 years his family received his remains, which were buried with honours as befits any hero of the homeland.
The list of the missing includes the names of Cleovulos Pantelis, a native of Trachona, an athlete of Olympiada Neapolis, who served his military service in the National Guard as a corporal in the 241 Infantry Battalion, and Georgios Hadjikyriakos, a lieutenant in the 366 Infantry Battalion. The latter, when the war broke out, interrupted his medical studies in Athens and returned to Cyprus to defend his homeland. His traces were lost in the area of Mili of Karavas, where his unit fought fierce battles with the Turkish invader.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We owe special mention to the other heroically fallen and missing men of the 3rd Company of the 211 Infantry Battalion, who with self-denial and self-sacrifice stood up against the barbarian Attiles.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We owe special mention to the rest of the heroically fallen and missing men of the 3rd Company of the 211 Infantry Battalion, who with self-denial and self-sacrifice stood up against the barbarian Attiles.
The alpine lads of the 3rd Company of the 211th Infantry, declared themselves present in the volley for the defence of their homeland, found themselves in the front line of fire and paid a heavy price in an unequal and betrayed struggle, sealing with their active participation the most tragic events of our modern history.
Before the call of the fatherland many of those we commemorate today were ordinary, everyday people, of the working class and the breadwinner. People who struggled day and night to provide for their families.
Others were of an age when they were about to spread their wings wide open. To build their own families, to build their homes, to bring their children into the world. Young people, full of life and dreams, ready to enjoy the future that lay ahead of them. They looked history in the face. Fully aware of their responsibility, they joined forces for the sacred cause. The defence of the homeland.
The blessed and glorious battlefields that their lifeless bodies were subjected to are irrefutable witnesses of their self-sacrifice and unsurpassed heroism, but also springboards of national uplift.
Reflecting on their sacrifice, we respectfully count our own responsibility.
With the same vigour and the same patience and perseverance, we too must respond to the national challenges.
Unfortunately, the policy of Ankara has been proving every day for a long time now, with Italian actions and unrealistic provocative statements, that it will not honour the agreed framework, which through dialogue and negotiation will lead to a just and viable solution, will reunite Cyprus, will consolidate the sense of security, and will guarantee peaceful coexistence and co-existence on the island.
On the contrary, it remains stubbornly attached to an extreme solution approach, which has nothing to do with the agreed framework and UN Security Council resolutions.
The conditions it sets for accepting the unacceptable two-state solution basis as a precondition for returning to the talks table dynamite any possibility of resuming the process and make the prospect of a solution unfeasible.
Despite Turkey's unwillingness to abide by what has been agreed and its aggressive attitude towards Greece and Cyprus, we have no choice but to defend the rights of our people internationally with the same zeal and determination. We call upon the international actor to exert its own influence on Turkey, in the hope that it will understand and accept that it is in its own interest to de-escalate the tension and ensure security, peace and cooperation among the states of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Ladies and gentlemen,
With faith in the justice of our struggle and with the sacrifice of our heroes as our beacon and guide, we will continue the struggle until the final vindication.
With faith in the justice of our struggle and with the sacrifice of our heroes as our beacon and guide, we will continue the struggle until the final vindication.
With faith in the justice of our struggle and with the sacrifice of our heroes as our beacon and guide, we will continue the struggle until the final vindication. Until Hellenism can once again return to its homeland.
Until this holy day dawns, we must keep our faith and dignity high, not only as a sacred duty and unfulfilled obligation, but also as a sign of the minimum tribute to all those who fought for freedom and offered their lives for the homeland.
Honor and glory to the heroes we commemorate today.
Honor and glory to the heroes we commemorate today.
Honor and glory to the heroes we commemorate today.
Honor and glory to all those who fought and fell in the national struggles.
Eternal be their memory and may the Almighty help to determine the fate of our missing.
Thank you.
(NΓ)
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Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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