A briefing to relatives was held today 9.12.2022 by the Commissioner for the Presidency, Mr. Fotis Fotiou at a meeting held in the presence of Dr. Marios Kariolou and officials of the Office of the Commissioner of the Presidency, on the results of the identification of the remains of the heroically fallen Kostakis Pentaliotis and Kyriakos Pastidis, who were identified during the exhumations carried out in July 2022, in two burial sites in the Paphos cemetery. The two graves bore the names of the fallen, as well as the name of the heroically fallen doctor Dimitris Mavrogenis, for whom scientific tests are ongoing to identify his bones.
The heroes Kostakis Pentaliotis and Panikos Pastidis, in 1964 were members, volunteers of the Paphos Health Platoon, which staffed the makeshift Pachyammou hospital. The hospital was bombed with napalm bombs by the Turkish air force and was completely destroyed. Parts of their bodies were recovered with no possibility of identification. Some were transferred and buried in four graves in the Paphos cemetery, while others were buried in the crater created by the napalm bombs.
By decision of the Council of Ministers, the Council of Ministers instructed the Commissioner for the Presidency to exhume and identify the remains both from the crater in the village of Pachyammos and from the four graves in the Paphos cemetery.
The remains identified as belonging to the hero Pentaliotis were found in a burial site in July 2022 at the Paphos cemetery, while those of the hero Panikos Pastidis were found in three different places, in the crater created by the bombings at the Pachyammos hospital, in a grave bearing his name at the Paphos cemetery and in the grave bearing the name of Kostakis Pentaliotis.
We believe that it is a historical, moral and national duty to locate the sacred bones of our heroes so that they can be buried with dignity and respect and their struggle and sacrifice can be honoured by the state, which will contribute to the closure of a painful chapter that has been causing pain and anguish for so many decades to the families of our heroes.
The Commissioner expressed his and the state's gratitude to the families of our heroes for their sacrifice and struggle at a critical time for our country. He concluded by stressing that we are continuing our humanitarian policy which aims primarily to meet the human needs of the families, hoping that the occupying power will finally show similar sensitivity and respect for the victims of its barbaric acts against our homeland in 1964 and during the Turkish invasion 10 years later in 1974.
(MX/EXP)
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