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It is with deep emotion and respect that I attend with you tonight at this hallowed site, the Mausoleum of Makedonitissa, at the established event of remembrance and honour organised by the Committee of Occupied Municipalities of Cyprus.
To this end, I would like to thank from the outset the Commission and especially the dear Chairman of the Committee of Occupied Municipalities and Mayor of Kythrea, Mr. Petros Karekla, for the very honourable invitation to attend and welcome today's event.
Today we hold a memorial service and pay due respect and honour to the slain defenders of legality and democracy against the coup d'état of 15 July and to those who heroically died for the freedom of our country during the Turkish invasion in July and August 1974.
At the same time, we pray for the recovery of our missing brothers and sisters, in order to close once and for all this tragic aspect of the humanitarian drama that has been going on for almost half a century.
It is already 49 years since that grim summer which left an indelible and painful mark on all our lives.
During these years we have experienced grief, injustice, anguish and anticipation.
The tragic events of the summer of 1974 cannot be forgotten.
The tragic events of the summer of 1974 cannot be forgotten. We are still counting our wounds, experiencing daily the bitterness of the refugees and the consequences of the occupation.
We continue the struggle against time to determine the fate of our missing persons and hold funerals of identified remains.
For 49 years we have been facing every morning on the horizon our occupied villages, with our shuttered churches that remain mute and inoperative.
For 49 years we have experienced with bitterness and pain of soul the desecration of the graves of our ancestors and the destruction of our cultural heritage.
After 49 years we are still burying the dead and searching for missing persons.
Today, recalling the tragic days of that black summer of '74, from this sacred place we denounce, once again, the unacceptable de facto illegal separation of our homeland and proclaim with vigour our inexhaustible will for liberation and return to our occupied land.
We renew at the same time our vow that we will never abandon our struggle until final vindication.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The course of a nation is absolutely interwoven with the collective memory and awareness of its history.
From it it draws the lessons to correct its mistakes and redefine its course in the future.
Historical consciousness for us Greek Cypriots is the unbroken continuity from Homeric times until today, forged by our traditions, language, customs, but also by the sacrifices of our people for freedom and our historical continuity.
Paying tribute to the heroes of the struggles of Cypriot Hellenism is not a formal passive expression of our gratitude to them, but an act of reminding us of our duty that we will not turn away from the struggle for which they gave their lives, that we will not abandon the struggle for the defence and freedom of our homeland.
Forty-nine years after the twin crimes of the coup and the invasion, the images remain vivid.
Memory, inexorable, inescapable and necessary, haunts our souls.
Tonight at this solemn ceremony, in a course of historical retrospection, we recall the dark pages of the past, the grim days of July and August 1974.
The treachery of the violent overthrow of legitimacy and democracy dragged behind it an even greater crime and opened wide the door to Turkey's barbaric military hordes.
The Turkish invasion that followed the coup was the culmination of the crime, aimed at the division of Cyprus and the dissolution of the Cypriot state.
The events of the invasion highlighted the brutality and savagery of the Turkish forces who indiscriminately spread havoc and death, with criminal murders of civilians and children, atrocious rapes of women, violent displacement of the population from their homes and property and destruction of any evidence of the Greek identity of the occupied areas.
The drama of our missing and interned persons, the confiscation of our places of worship and our cultural heritage and the mass colonization and dehumanization of our occupied territories, among other things, make up the picture of the biblical destruction caused by Turkey to our homeland.
Tonight, in a march of historical retrospection, we feel our open, unhealed, bleeding wounds, bowing our heads before all those spirited Greeks of Cyprus who turned to duty and took on history.
The defenders of freedom, in the battles fought at Mia Milia, Kythraia, Synchari, Klepini, Lapithos, Kyrenia, Lorovouno, Koutsoventi, and wherever else they were required to fight.
Those who, although they experienced the bitterness and disappointment of betrayal, showed unparalleled courage by paying a heavy blood tax in the struggle to defend the holy and sacred places of Hellenism on our island and wrote golden pages of bravery and militancy in the deltas of our history.
Along with them and the Greek brothers of the heroic ELDYK and the Commandos, who arrived in Cyprus during the fateful Operation "NIKI" and fought heroically at Kioneli, in the battle of the crossing of Vasileia, at the Nicosia airfield, but also in the titanic, to the last effort to defend their camp.
The huge losses of the Eldykarian fighters constitute one of the most tragic blood contributions during the Turkish invasion of 74.
The thousands of champions of the ideals of freedom and justice put themselves at the service of their homeland and ultimately sacrificed themselves martyrically, unmoved by debt.
They are today for all of us models of bravery, selflessness and altruism.
They are models of bravery, selflessness and altruism for all of us.
And the places of their sacrifice, blessed and sanctified by their blood, are waiting patiently for the joyful message of our return.
To the sacrifice of our fallen who, as a historical voice echoing in our memory, we pay the minimum tribute, paying the laurels of our deepest respect and eternal gratitude.
We become recipients of the messages of virtue and draw the lessons emanating from their sacrifice.
Lessons of courage, self-sacrifice, and self-denial.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the period between the tragic events of 1974 and today, Turkey has not only remained intransigent, but through a series of actions it has consolidated the occupation, has created new facts and has maintained a provocative and aggressive attitude.
The declaration of the pseudo-state, the maintenance of a large number of Turkish troops, the systematic transfer of settlers from Turkey, have the obvious aim of altering the population data of Cyprus and leave no doubt about Turkey's ultimate objectives.
We should not be under any illusions. Ankara's constant and permanent goal is the legitimization of the occupation and the dissolution of the state entity of the RoC.
The adoption of the narrative of the two-state solution and the final partition is the gravestone of the Cyprus problem and poses a great danger to the survival of the Hellenism of Cyprus in the land that nurtured it.
The adoption of the narrative of the two-state solution and the final partition is the gravestone of the Cyprus problem and poses a great danger to the survival of the Hellenism of Cyprus in the land that nurtured it.
The consolidation and perpetuation of the fait accompli of the Turkish invasion, with the maintenance of the presence of occupying troops on the island, the violation of the human rights and basic freedoms of the Cypriot people, the ongoing colonization and the selling off of the property of the refugees, cause the slide towards partition and will certainly not lead to the desired liberation of Cyprus.
In the face of this dangerous situation, the promotion of our own determined resistance is a supreme patriotic duty.
The need for the survival of our people against the ruthless occupier is a national imperative and an urgent necessity.
Any tendency to disregard the existing dangers, any tendency to downplay the visible threats, leads precisely to the disarmament of our people and to the facilitation of the realization of the Turkish goals.
Fellow countrymen,
We know that 49 years is a long time.
Time, unfortunately, consolidates the achievements of the invasion and creates new problems that hamper the efforts to solve our national problem.
The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Nicos Christodoulides seeks to break the prolonged deadlock and resume the dialogue process with a view to reaching a just, viable and workable solution.
A solution that will liberate and reunite the homeland, end the occupation, restore the territorial integrity of Cyprus, and allow our people to live in security, peace, progress, under conditions of justice and equality.
Of course, it is up to Turkey to reverse the current negative climate and give substantial meaning and utility to the talks, paving the way for a fair compromise.
Unfortunately, its attitude to date and its unacceptable statements and claims maintain a completely justified mistrust and frustration on the part of the Greek Cypriot side.
And this is where we seek the more active involvement of the European Union in efforts to break the deadlock and resume negotiations immediately.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Bowing to the greatness and sacrifice of our heroically fallen defenders, we pledge that we will not forget our past, we will not allow memories to fade and we will not turn away from our struggle until the moment of final vindication.
We also pledge that we will fight to the end to protect what is in danger and to claim what belongs to us.
With unity and unanimity, with prudence, determination and rationality we continue our just struggle.
To offer a better future to Cyprus and to future generations.
This goal is the greatest obligation towards our children and the best memorial for all our heroes.
May the memory of those who gave their lives in all the struggles of the Cypriot people be eternal and may our Lady answer our prayers to help determine the fate of all our missing persons.
Thank you.
(MB/EXP)
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