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With feelings of deep emotion, immense pride and special honour I am present here today in the Holy Church of Saints Constantine and Helen in the very honourable position to deliver the anniversary speech of remembrance and unspeakable sorrow for the black anniversaries of the traitorous coup and the barbaric Turkish invasion of July 1974 that marked the history and the body of our Cyprus.
Before I proceed with my anniversary reports, please allow me to first commemorate today's tragic anniversary of the martyr's death by hanging of the Archbishop of Cyprus, the Ethnic Martyr Kyprianos, on 9 July 1821.
And we should also commemorate the other 486 primates of our island, metropolitans, abbots, teachers and provosts whom the Turks brutally executed because they were considered dangerous supporters of the 1821 revolutionary movement in Greece.
The charismatic hierarch of Cyprus, before the spectre of his painful martyrdom, found the courage, the audacity and with unparalleled courage refused to declare loyalty to the Turkish commander in order to save his life. To proudly proclaim the claim of the nation of the Greeks that
Romionysia is a race of the world
No one has come to silence it
No one has come to silence it
No one because my God has silenced it
Romionysia is lost when the world is gone
Romionysia is lost when the world is gone
No one has come to silence it
No one has come to silence it.
This widespread bloody crime of the Turks was the first significant sponsorship of Cypriot martyrs in the Greek revolution that had just begun.
One of the greatest Greek writers of Greece's modern times, Nikos Kazantzakis, in his shocking novel "The Faggots", which is set and unfolds during the years of the civil war in Greece, refers to one of the most epic and darkest pages in the history of the Greek nation.
It celebrates internal freedom by highlighting the hatreds, conflicts, contradictions between the two sides, co-responsibility and the personal and collective dramas recorded in each period of violent "fratricidal" confrontations and conflicts.
When the people are divided and blind fanaticism overrides rationality, mutual understanding and the ability to perceive the ensuing consequences.
A decade after the publication of the Cretan author's novel, a similar drama was to unfold in Cyprus, marking one of the darkest moments in its modern history.
At a time when division, hatred and passions prevailed in Cyprus and Greece.
Hate and passions that led to the treacherous coup of July 15, 1974, which left the back door wide open for Turkey to implement its dichotomous plans on the island.
Ten years earlier, in 1964, Turkey had shown its intentions and then, with unity, with sacrifices, with great effort, determination and struggle, but also with the involvement of the international factor, Turkey's criminal plans in Cyprus had been thwarted.
Nevertheless, Turkey did not hesitate to commit atrocities in Cyprus, spreading death and destruction.
Specifically, in August 1964, the area of Tillyria was the recipient of unannounced serious attacks by Turkish forces.
The Turkish air force unhesitatingly bombed residential areas with napalm incendiary bombs, indiscriminately burning Tilliria.
The land became hell and the burnt bodies of our heroic dead became torches and a toast to the holy struggle for the homeland.
With the holy Tillyria the souls of the entire Hellenism were burnt, which at that time watched in horror the development of Turkey's horrible, atrocious crime in Cyprus.
Commemorations of the black anniversaries of July and August 1974 should not be mere manifestations of passive devotion or contribute only to the preservation of our collective historical memory.
Above all, they must constitute acts of immersion in the ark of the principles, values and ideals of the Greeks, through which our national identity and our collective historical consciousness were forged and steeled.
And memorials for our dead, such as today's, are a constant reminder of our debt to all those who fully performed their duty to their homeland and offered their lives for the conquest of the highest ideals of freedom and justice.
there and there in the very north wind
there and there they call it freedom
the first and their first and last mistress"
Our writer Theodosis Pierides condenses in a few verses what is the deepest desire of every Cypriot, who has experienced throughout its long history dozens of subjugations.
Our historical consciousness is shaped and formed by the interaction of our historical past with the present.
A true knowledge of our history is a necessary element in order to know our complex historical past, to understand the present and to shape our own future.
"History is the witness of the ages, the lamp of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the messenger of antiquity", the great Roman statesman, orator and writer Marcus Cicero submits to us to emphasize the importance of historical knowledge.
With today's simple commemoration of the black anniversaries of 1974, we honour the unquenchable memory of our fallen heroes and stand with the families of our missing persons in Greece and Cyprus.
We reverently turn our thoughts to the thousands of refugees who continue to see their land, homes and properties illegally encroached upon and occupied, but also to our heroic internees who remain and insist on "rooting" in our occupied land.
It is with pain of soul that memory recalls the grim events that took place during the treacherous coup d'état of 15 July.
When some whose actions or omissions left the door wide open to the bloodthirsty criminal invader.
But also when most of them, when called upon to defend the homeland, rose to the occasion and resisted with excessive courage, defending democratic institutions.
Unfortunately, however, the betrayal of July 15 resulted in the morning hours of Saturday, July 20, 1974, when Cyprus, torn, exhausted and divided by the conflicts of the coup d'état, was severely attacked from the air and from the sea by the Turkish military.
Before the "Five Mile" coast of Kyrenia was occupied by the Turkish landing forces, the clear summer sky of Cyprus was stained by the parachutes of the Turkish soldiers of "Attila", which were falling en masse over the plains of Mesaoria.
With the benevolent neutrality of the great of the land towards Ankara, the Turkish troops, gradually reinforced with powerful forces and means, indiscriminately sowed death, devastation and destruction.
The Turkish soldiers with criminal intentions respected nothing murdered innocent civilians of all ages in horrendous ways, raped and destroyed everything in their path.
Thousands of dead and uprooted people, hundreds of raped women, unimaginable destruction, looting and looting of cultural and religious sites and monuments.
And on the contrary, the resistance and the heroic examples of the children of Cyprus and Greece who fought on the battlefields are shocking and moving.
The high-flying eagle defenders, the fallen who fought and perished in the black summer of 1974, are all present here today, mentally with us.
Today we remember and thank from the bottom of our hearts
The fighters of the infantry units, who gave the utmost of their strength on the battlefields. In Mia Milia, Kythraia, Synchari, Klepini, Lapithos, Karavas and Kyrenia.
To the black-skinned men of the Armoured Units, who showed everyone that glory is gained through daring and determination.
The brave and courageous Commandos who tamed the rugged mountain peaks of Pendadactylos, Lorovouno, Koutsoventi, White Moutti and Agios Hilarion, and wherever else required, stuck out their chests and honoured the sacred oath they took with inexhaustible heroism.
Along with these fallen Gunners of the Field, Anti-Tank and Anti-Aircraft Artillery, who fought bravely in the effort to repel Turkish aggression, the heroic diggers of the Engineer, who in Famagusta, Lapithos and Karavas, were on the front line and laid minefields exposed to the Turkish Air Force and the Interviewees who fell in the performance of their duty and mission.
At their side and our brothers Eldykarians and the Riflemen of the 1st Squadron, who as true descendants of the heroes of the Nation showed unparalleled courage by paying a heavy blood tax in the struggle to defend the sacred and holy places of Hellenism on our island and wrote golden pages of Greek bravery and fighting spirit.
In front of the offer of all those who sacrificed themselves defending our homeland, we pay the highest tribute and at the same time we reflect on our own responsibility towards our history.
We have proven that our endurance as a people is great.
As Greeks of Cyprus, proudly and resolutely, we stand firmly on the lands of our ancestors, in the heartland of Hellenism, for thousands of years, and we intend to continue to do so.
It is our obligation, but also our national responsibility and need to put an end to this dangerous situation as soon as possible.
It is our obligation, but also our national responsibility and need to put an end to this dangerous situation as soon as possible. The illegal absurdity that sustains and perpetuates the presence of occupying troops, the violation of human rights and basic freedoms and the ongoing colonization of our homeland.
It is our historical responsibility to restore law and legitimacy.
We have an obligation to all those who have sacrificed for the justice and freedom of our country to join in the common effort, with vision, determination, but also with prudence, in order to remove the current deadlocks.
We cannot and must not ignore the fact that Turkey continues to violate United Nations Resolutions, Security Council Resolutions and European Union conclusions condemning the military invasion and prolonged occupation of our territories.
We also cannot ignore the defiant and intransigent attitude of Ankara regarding the unacceptable proposal for a "two independent states solution", which is not and will not be an option for us to solve the Cyprus problem.
Despite all Turkey's provocative claims, the President of the Republic, Mr. Nicos Christodoulides, with a strong will, is making efforts to achieve enhanced involvement of the European Union in the process of dialogue to resolve the Cyprus problem.
As the Republic of Cyprus, we seek a just, viable and workable solution. A solution that will liberate our country and allow our people, after 49 years of continuous efforts and through historical compromises, to live in security and prosperity.
This is our unpaid debt and our debt to our heroes.
Therefore, with rationality, but also with unity and unity of spirit, we must walk on the road that will lead to the redemption and salvation of our country.
Until the day when, free now, we shall hear the bells of freedom ringing joyfully in our occupied churches, we shall gaze at the sea from the castle of Kyrenia, the Gulf of Morphos from the Paths of Pentadaktylos, and we shall celebrate the Monastery of Apostle Andrew.
Thank you.
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