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Ladies and gentlemen,
We celebrate this year again, with a sense of pride, the anniversaries of 25 March 1821 and 1 April 1955, paying due respect to the people who wrote with their struggle and sacrifice the most intimate pages of the history of Greece and Cyprus. We pay due tribute to those people who set their footsteps in the footsteps of the values of love for freedom and homeland, building the modern Greek state and the Republic of Cyprus.
The Greeks, united around the desire and vision of Freedom, expressed, through their uprising, their will and determination to take on, despite their small numerical size, the numerous Ottoman Empire. Capturing in the slogan "Freedom or Death" the essence of the Revolution, Bouboulina, Mavrogenous, Kolokotronis, Diakos, Androutsos, Karaiskakis and so many other known and unknown fighters challenged with their actions all forms of oppression, tyranny and slavery. They established liberal and democratic principles as the foundation of their struggle, succeeding in consolidating the Greek state and, at the same time, making their own struggle a special event in European and world history.
It was the Greek Revolution that inspired philhellenism and paved the way for the manifestation of similar revolts of other oppressed peoples.
It was the Greek Revolution that inspired philhellenism and opened the way for the manifestation of similar revolts of other oppressed peoples. It was the greatness of their self-sacrifice, their solidarity and unity that inspired the people of Cyprus, who were also under Turkish rule, giving them the baton to write, decades later, their own Epic.
Inspired by the revolutionary spirit of 1821, young, old, women and children of Cyprus responded universally to that historic call of EOKA, on 1 April 1955, to start the struggle for their freedom from the British. The armed uprising was the culmination of the previous, failed peaceful efforts for freedom from British colonial rule.
With the flame of liberation smouldering in their souls, the people, through their active participation in both the preparation and the conduct of the Struggle, kept their spirit and soul unsubdued. It did not faint in the face of the privations, hardships and tortures of the colonialists. Instead, he faced with pride the detention cells, concentration camps and gallows. He stood up and responded with heroic 'molon lave' and sacrifices. The Prisoner's Memorials, Machairas, Liopetri, Dikomo, Zoopigi, and so many other places of heroic deaths of the EOKA braves will remain in history as symbols of bravery, self-sacrifice and unwavering love for the homeland.
The struggle of 1955-59, recording one of the brightest pages of the history of our martyred homeland, managed to end colonialism and laid the foundations for the creation of the Republic of Cyprus.
In these glorious pages of Cypriot history, Yeri has its own special part, nurturing fighters who ran to the call to defend the honour and dignity of the homeland and freedom.
Among the so many other sprouts of Geri who fought for our land during the Liberation Struggle of EOKA, Ionas Nikolaou and Kyriakos Kolokasis fell heroically fighting in the battle of the hospital on August 3, 1956.
During the period of intercommunal riots, Kyriakos Kakoullis was killed fighting for his homeland in the battle of Kaziveres on 19 March 1964, while Kostakis Loizou died in 1968, serving in the National Guard. Fighting heroically during the Turkish invasion, Andreas Koukoumas and Makis Pamporis are still missing from the tragic summer of 1974.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Commemorating today the two anniversaries that sealed the modern history of Cyprus and while our country, after the traitorous coup and the Turkish invasion of 1974, continues for 50 years to be under Turkish occupation, the fighters with their sacrifice remind us of the price of love for freedom and country. For it is to them that we owe the existence of the Sunday Republic. That is why it is with immense respect for these fighters and their families that we face every year the sacrifice of their own lives.
It is our duty to continue their struggle for the liberation and reunification of our homeland. This struggle is not over. That is why we must continue our efforts with unity and unity to solve our national problem. In this context, our highest priority remains the end of the ongoing occupation and the restoration of human rights for all the inhabitants of our country.
As the President of the Republic himself has repeatedly stated, what is sought is the resumption of talks in order to achieve, through dialogue, a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus issue on the basis of a just and viable solution. We wish to see the liberation and reunification of Cyprus and the prevalence of the values of peace and justice. We want to give every citizen the right to live in our land in conditions of security, prosperity and progress. We want to hand over to the new generation a homeland free from occupation and segregation.
We will continue to fight for this goal, because we owe it to all those who lived, grew up and died in exile, to those who are still waiting for their return. We owe this, above all, to those who fought and sacrificed for the freedom of our homeland. This will be the true justification of their sacrifice with their own lives, the most precious commodity.
(EΠ/NZ)
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Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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