Speech by the General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou at the memorial service for the heroes of the democratic anti-fascist resistance murdered by EOKA B fascists

 

Sunday 16 July 2023, Fikardo village, Nicosia district

Dear compatriots,

Dear relatives of the Christofi brothers, Charalambos and Tasos,

On a day just like today, 49 years ago, the implementation of the horrific betrayal committed against our country and people began. A betrayal that was to entrap the future of Cyprus and its children. 49 years since the treacherous coup of the Greek Junta and EOKA B, which paved the way for the Turkish invasion, completed the criminal plans of sinister interests. A treason that brought destruction to our country! Death, the uprooting of our people as refugees and occupation are the words that marked with pain and blood that horrifying July of 1974.

The traitors who proceeded to execute this crime, turned their guns on the children of Cyprus. Among their victims were the Christofi brothers, Charalambos and Tasos, who, together with their fellow resistance fighters, Christakis Kombou and Pantelakis Charalambous, were brutally murdered by EOKA B gunmen who subsequently hastily buried them in a rubbish dump, while a few days later they were transferred by the coupists to a mass grave in the cemetery of Saint Nicholas in Limassol.

Almost half a century form that horrendous crime, we are here, with reverence, to honor the two heroes of democracy and universal human values. The two young men who could not realise their dreams and fulfill their aspirations in life. The two brothers who were not thrown into wells or piled into mass graves by the foreign invaders of our land, but by Cypriot inhuman fascists.

Our memory today cannot but fail to include the two parents clad in black, who passed away carrying with them the unspeakable pain of the murder of their children, without even seeing those guilty ever punished.

Dear friends,

Permit me to briefly refer to the events that led Tasos and Charalambos to their murder, which are not only based on people’s testimonies, but also on the scientific research that was completed because of the struggle waged by the heroes’ family.

The Christofi brothers and their friend Pantelakis Charalambous met here in their village, Fikardo, with the member of the Special Reserve Force (Note: set up by President Makarios to counter and fight EOKA B given that much of the police force was infiltrated by Greek junta puppets of EOKA B), Christakis Kombos, during the latter’s attempt to escape from the coupists. Defying all the dangers, they proposed to take him to Limassol and thus began their own fateful journey. On the way they were arrested by EOKA B coupists. They were brutally tortured and executed in cold blood to the celebrations of the assassins. They were then buried crudely in a garbage dump in Ayios Tychonas. Several days later, the bodies of the two brothers, Charalambos and Tasos, were found hugging each other in an embrace in a mass grave.

The testimonies and recent anthropological investigation that was carried out reveal the atrocity. The heroes were brutally tortured by the ruthless EOKA B coupists. They were shot once, but their lust for blood did not stop there. As if that wasn’t enough, they kept shooting them and crushed their skulls.

After many efforts by the families, relatives and AKEL, the killers of the four heroes were brought to court, but justice was not done. The judge, influenced by the EOKA B terror that still prevalent, proved inadequate and the criminals were acquitted on ridiculous excuses. Later, many of them were tried and imprisoned for possession of weapons, with a sentence that in no way corresponded to horrendous crime they had committed.

Dear friends,

The story of Charalambos and Tasos and the other young people is regrettably the testimony that confirms what happened in the summer of 1974.

They confirm that fascism and nationalism led to terrible crimes being committed.

Crimes that the human mind cannot conceive.

Crimes that we may have read about in history books and that involved countries far away from us, but they have also been committed right here, in our own country too.

These crimes were carried out by people who were filled with hatred and fanaticism. People who, after all they have done, have never been punished. On the contrary, most of them walk among us freely, while more than a few have climbed high up the social ladder.

They confirm that our country was betrayed.

That our country and people have fallen victim to a well-planned and organised crime, which couldn’t be defeated despite the courage and sacrifice of the children of Cyprus, the jewels of our land.

That the perpetrators of the crime here and their foreign collaborators knew very well what they were doing. They had a specific goal and plan.

They confirm that in this bloody page of our history there are not only victims. There are also criminals. People with names and addresses. It is unthinkable to denounce just the Turkish invasion, but to forget that in every village and in every district Cypriots with guns in their hands threatened, beat up and murdered citizens because they were leftists, democrats, Makarios supporters, without even though they were neighbors, friends and even relatives.

To hear the names of our heroes and the image of their families who paid such a heavy price and carried an even heavier cross must provoke shame to all those who forget the betrayal and who cover up the traitors.

Shame on those who insist that the state must honor – together with the fallen of the anti-fascist resistance, democracy and freedom – all those who turned their weapons on democracy!

Shame on all those who dare, at the same time as the Turkish flag can still be seen on the Pentadachthylos mountain range, to ask for funds to be allocated for the construction of a museum dedicated to Grivas, the murderer of Cyprus!

Shame on all those who insist that Cyprus must join NATO, the organiser of the crime against our country and people!

We are not going to follow this absurdity and fortunately the vast majority of our people agree with us. Those who lived these events, but also those who consciously pass on the events to the young generation so that the crimes and criminals are not forgotten.

They will find us opposing them in the face of the cover-up and forgetfulness campaign. This is because we owe it first and foremost to those who sacrificed their lives for their country, for the ideals of democracy and freedom. Even more so because we owe it to our children and future generations of Cypriots.

The burden, the political duty and the obligation therefore falls on us. On all of us who believe in democracy, freedom, patriotism and dignity. It is we who must fight for the liberation and reunification of our country and people.

And that’s what we promise to do! That we will remain serious, determined and focused on the efforts to resume the procedure towards a solution of the Cyprus problem. We cannot get caught up in the communication games of the Christodoulides government, nor can we sacrifice the Cyprus problem for the sake of serving any political considerations and selfish plans, especially bearing in mind that the occupying power Turkey is exploiting our every mistake.

Only if we succeed in liberating our island from the foreign armies and only if we can live peacefully in our common homeland will our dead find peace and our people’s struggles and sacrifices will be vindicated.

Honor and glory to our heroes!

May their memory live on!