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As I have been informed, this is the second time that the President of the Republic of Cyprus has visited the community.
Allow me to make a reference, which is very characteristic in my memory. I first visited Potamia in 1985 at the age of 12. And the reason I visited Potamia with my late parents, one Sunday, it was the first time, others followed, was because my brother was serving here as a soldier, in the outposts of Potamia. And I remember distinctly, it was one of the first things I remember in my life, the fact that my mother took my brother's uniform to wash it because we came from Paphos and I remember a fountain in the village square washing my brother's clothes and that was strange for me at that age and I remember a lady, Turkish Cypriot woman, shouting at my mother to go to her house to dry my brother's uniform.
It was the first contact I had with Turkish Cypriots and it is a feature of your community that deserves more attention from the State.
But today we are here for another event. A ceremony to commemorate and honour heroes of our homeland, ordinary fellow citizens who gave what was most precious to them, their very lives, to defend the freedom, democracy and territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus. And I honestly feel a real shiver of national pride for what the Deputy Mayor said about the mother who is with us today, waiting patiently for her son, but at the same time, and I think this is the most important thing, the sense of responsibility that must go through all of us in order to reverse this unacceptable state of affairs.
All the more so when today's event is a tribute to a Battalion of the National Guard, the renowned 398 Infantry Battalion, which paid a very heavy price to the homeland, a battalion that those who dealt with the Turkish invasion of 1974, will find many, many, many references and references, because of the great bravery, but also the great loss of soldiers that this battalion had.
Counting 28 killed and another 10 missing, the 398TP is among the hardest hit battalions of the Turkish invasion and every year this event, the gathering of the surviving soldiers, the relatives of the missing and the relatives of the two missing from Potamia, is the minimum tribute and prayer for the repose of their souls and finding the fate of those still missing.
It all started 50 years ago, when the 398TP, based in Kythrea, received an order to move towards the enclave of the Turkish Cypriot village of Tziaous. The fighting was epic and disproportionate in numbers. Without exaggeration, the soldiers of the battalion were literally guarding Thermopylae, until the Turkish invaders, cowardly and illegally, having failed to observe the ceasefire, gathered a large force of tanks, infantry and air force and launched a fierce attack.
The soldiers of the 398TP were not discouraged, but fought with all the means they had to counter the enemy. They knew all too well their fate and fortune. They tried their best, but unfortunately, many of them breathed their last breath on the battlefield. Others, after firing their last bullet, were taken prisoner. Of these, some were executed on the spot, and others are still, 50 years later, missing.
And it is very characteristic to all of us, it is something that the younger generation should know, for the photograph that made and still makes the rounds of the world today of the five prisoners in Giaos. The reason why this photo was originally given was to mislead public opinion, to distort the truth and to exonerate [TURKEY] of the crime. The narrative of the supposedly good treatment of the prisoners, which was attempted to be given through this photo, immediately collapsed with the revelation of the documentation of the crime. A photograph, a thousand words, which continues to be a symbol of the tragedy of the invasion and a witness to the ongoing attempt to distort the truth.
398TP is one of the greatest chapters of modern Cypriot history and, at the same time, one of the most tragic pages of the Turkish invasion of 1974. Ceremonies and the erection of monuments in honour of those who gave their lives for the sake of the homeland, and those whose fate is still unknown, are a supreme duty both for the State, which is why I am here today, and for society, not only because of the need to preserve historical memory, but also so that we all realise that the current unacceptable state of affairs must come to an end. This cannot be the future of our country, the future of the new generation.
50 years, half a century later, the 28 names of the fallen stand before us as signposts of the path we must follow. A course with the sole aim of exhausting all possibilities for the reunification of our homeland, a course of courage and magnanimity, despite the difficulties and the disproportion of forces.
The struggle for vindication, the struggle to end the occupation and reunify our homeland is our final and constant goal. As a State, we are using all diplomatic means, because only through diplomacy can we achieve our goals and bring the Turkish side back to the negotiating table to find a solution that is viable and workable for all the legitimate inhabitants of the land, Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, always on the basis - I want to repeat this, because there has been a lot of talk lately - of the agreed framework, the bizonal bicommunal federation and the principles and values of the European Union.
And despite the adverse conditions, the challenges, the disputes, the illegal visits, the manifestations, I believe that we will soon have a substantial effort to achieve the goal of ending the occupation and reunifying our country. We cannot do otherwise, this situation cannot be the solution to the Cyprus problem and the future of our country.
Eternal be their memory.
(PM/MS)
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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