Speech by the General Secretary of AKEL St. Stefanou at the event in memory and honor of Papalazaros

 

26 January 2024, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

“That’s Papalazaros. They murdered his two sons and the fascists were after him seeking to kill him too. But he isn’t afraid of them, he’s a fearless man.”

That’s how one mother explained to her child who this priest was, who had taken the podium at a mass rally to address the crowd. Papalazaros! As in Papaflesas [Note: a Greek priest Greek priest who became one of the most influential figures during the Greek War of Independence]. The Papaflesas of Cyprus! Always dressed in the cassock, which he honored with consistency and reverence like few others, and who became a flamboyant symbol of struggle and resistance.

Papalazaros had the cross in one hand and the other hand raised with his fist clenched tightly. With his eyes unblinking and clear. His speech as always sharp and swift with few and measured words. Distinct and clear. So Cypriot and so universal, so earthy and so grounded. Humble and unassuming yet huge, his imposing presence commanded both respect and admiration everywhere. A man who suffered as a priest, but who struggled and fought throughout his life with courage and dignity.

His whole life was a constant and hard struggle. A child from a poor, peasant family, he worked tirelessly to make ends meet. In the fields, on building sites and in the streets he learned life the hard and tough way. He and his seven brothers and sisters had to survive the poverty and the loansharks that took everything for six pounds and left them with only a plow.

The outbreak of World War II and the onslaught of Hitler fascism in Europe was like a rallying call to his conscience.

“I knew why I wanted to go. I wanted to fight fascism.” From then onwards he began fighting fascism. And he never stopped doing so. And today, if he were here with us, he would remind us that this is the duty of each and every one of us. The duty to fight fascism and the far right that at the same time as it is rearing its ugly head in Cyprus and Europe, certain forces and circles are in league with it. From time to time they use it as a reserve force to attain their political objectives.

So Papalazaros went off to fight fascism. When the Great War ended with the great Anti-fascist Victory of the Peoples, he returned to Cyprus. He married the late Agathoniki and together they raised their poor and wonderful family. Nine children were the fruit of their love.

Papalazaros did everything to provide the bare necessities for his family. From the fields of Paphos, to the building sites of Limassol, he worked night and day. He learned to write in the church. From childhood he found shelter there. He helped the priest and learned to psalm. In 1965 the head of the local community of his village, Choletria, invited him to take over the church. His love for the church and his village convinced him to be ordained.

“Before I became a priest, I felt it was my duty to tell them that I am a member of AKEL and a leftist and that this is not going to change,” Papalazaros would say years later. “An AKEList, a communist and a priest”, some wondered. Communism and Christianity love people, Papalazaros reminded them at every opportunity. There is no contradiction! And when asked how it was possible for a priest to take up arms against the coup plotters and EOKA B, he replied without any hesitation: “to defend democracy, my village and my family”.

Papalazaros would also say without any qualms that as a priest and a leftist he loves people, but he does not forgive betrayal, Judas and Ephialtes, even if they come from within the Church itself…

Papalazaros was a humble yet ardent servant of the Church and people and at the same time a great patriot. During the period before the tragedy of 1974 he saw the evil that was coming. He did not hide. Nor did he feel that as a priest he should not take a stand. On the contrary, as a thinking democratic man he took a stand. And he took a stand on the side of democracy and constitutional order, with what was right and just. EOKA B, which had launched a murderous manhunt against every democrat, also set Papalazaros in its sights. He received countless warnings that his “turn would come”…

They avenged him by murdering his son Kyriakos, who was a boarder in the Paphos Metropolis where he was taken to be looked after. Kyriakos was in the end found murdered, shot in the mouth, when he was just 17 years old. Kyriakos told Papalazaros: “Father, every day Panagiotakos [Note: the ambassador of the Greek Junta in Cyprus], comes every day to the Metropolis and talks to the archimandrite. Gennadios is fanatically against Makarios.” Gennadios, who, together with Anthimos and Kyprianos, carried out the ecclesiastical coup against Makarios and later swore in the 8-day coupist “president” Samson, to remind us that they were unrepentant.

“No forgiveness, no remembrance for those who by their actions brought Turkey to Cyprus, whether they are laymen or clergymen,” Papalazaros shouts from his grave.

“They didn’t manage to get me and they got my son,” Papalazaros muttered between shedding his tears. “Go to the morgue,” the family was told dryly when they went to the hospital to see what happened to Kyriakos. A thousand stabs in four words.

“I was told by Tornaritis, who was the Attorney General back then, that he couldn’t do anything about my Kyriakos’ murder because the file of the case was opened in Paphos. But he told me if I wanted to prosecute the Paphos Metropolis, I had to get several thousand pounds. But I told him: I don’t want their pounds, nor anything else, I want JUSTICE!”

How could “their pounds” cover up such a crime?

How could “their pounds” quench Papalazaros’ thirst not for revenge, but for justice?

He knew who murdered his son. And the state knew the murderer, but corroded by sworn officials, it covered up the crime. The murderer was a well-known member of EOKA B who continued to serve in the police force and was involved in other murders. Papalazaros knew what happened. But the file disappeared, destroyed by “known unknowns” and the case was subsequently closed. It was an injustice he never forgave himself for. To the very end of his life, to his dying breath, he cried out for justice.

I wonder how the killer gets any sleep every night. What could he be thinking in his tidy home, now retired, unpunished and more likely than not unrepentant?

I wonder how those who armed fascism and taken lives get by?

Where can those who opened the back door to the Turkish invading army of Attila and handed over half of Cyprus, filling our Homeland with graves, blood and grief, find peace of mind?

It doesn’t concern us and we do not care how the murderers feel. If they have a conscience – which I doubt – let them be shamed. What angers us is that the crime committed has gone unpunished. Just as other political crimes have gone unpunished too, such as the horrific murder of the four anti-fascist resistant heroes in Ayios Tychonas. There too, the murderers are known. There too, the crime went unpunished. And there too the murderers and those in the know were rewarded with promotions and posts.

Papalazaros’ family had a second bitter pain to suffer, losing a second son, this time in the Turkish invasion. Sotiris, who, although a student, ran without any second thoughts to fight first against EOKA B in the coup and subsequently against the Turkish invading army of Attila.

Sotiris! A fighter, a poet, a young man with dreams. “Hurry up and get him to a hospital because, although a communist, he fought like a lion,” the Greek junta lieutenant colonel shouted when Sotiris was wounded. The hideous lieutenant-colonel saw that the militants and members of AKEL fought for their country like lions.

While others ran to hide in the Troodos mountain range and in the rear, the Leftists and democrats fought valiantly, shedding their blood, to save Cyprus from the consequences of the crime of NATO, the Greek Junta, EOKA B, TMT and Turkey. All of them a gang that massacred our people.

Papalazaros and Agathoniki, people of goodness and humanity, drank the bitter cup. And their uphill struggle never knew resurrection. No one was ever punished for the murder of Kyriakos. The day of liberation and reunification has not yet dawned to vindicate the sacrifice of Sotiris.

Dear friends,

The life and struggles of Papalazaros constitute a chapter of the modern history of Cyprus, even if this, like other chapters of this history, is not included in the official historiography which completely ignores the struggles waged by the democratic resistance.

Half a century after 1974, the ruling official narrative talks about the crime – but does not talk about the criminals.

It talks about treason – but does not talk about the traitors.

The Pancyprian Association of Democratic Resistance fighters with events like tonight’s gives us the opportunity to recall the historical truth, to keep the historical memory alive and become a compass in our country’s struggle for survival and vindication.

Events like tonight’s are organised to remind us of our own moral and political obligation to fight with all our strength so that the sacrifice of our heroes will not have been in vain. To write the epilogue of the Cypriot tragedy with the vindication of our people.

I recall the words of a Turkish Cypriot photographer who visited Papalazaros shortly before he passed away. “He embraced and welcomed me as just another human being, I bent down and kissed his hand. As I took pictures of the vows he made in the church for the souls he lost, I could now understand all that was hidden in his amazing eyes. The Turkish Cypriots are our brothers and sisters, he would tell his grandchildren.”

Papalazaros made his wounds a consciousness and his pain a strong force by participating in the struggle for the reunification of Cyprus and for the peaceful coexistence of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. For a homeland that will be the mother of all its children.

This is what Papalazaros believed in, this is what he fought for, steeled and raised within the ranks of his Party, AKEL.

We in AKEL are proud to have our Papalazaros among us, as well as so many other people’s fighters who are at the forefront of the struggles for our Cyprus and people. It is a sign of the greatness of our Party that priests also join AKEL’s ranks.

We too must continue the struggle that Papalazaros served with consistency. We must continue to work consistently to reach a solution to the Cyprus problem. Either we will proceed courageously to achieve an honorable compromise or we will be left with partition. We must be honest. Partition does not mean what we are living today, a situation in limbo. Partition means that we ourselves will accept to hand over half of our country to Turkey. Partition means a border with the occupying power Turkey in our own country. So there is only one way forward.

The solution that we have agreed with the Turkish Cypriot community since 1977, supported by the international community, the UN and the EU and is included in its Resolutions. The IHL solution, has been abandoned by Turkey. Those on the Greek Cypriot side who take issue with the solution of Bizonal, Bicommunal Federation and reject it are unconsciously going along with Turkey’s attitude and approach. In politics, however, intentions are not so important. What matters is the end result. We must therefore be consistent to what we have agreed to and not copy Turkey by undoing it.

We are in our seventh year without any negotiation procedure, but not without side effects. Turkey is imposing new occupational fait accomplis by exploiting the deadlock on the Cyprus problem and the stalemate to promote a two state solution.

There is no more room for manoeuvre, time is running out. We as the Greek Cypriot side must do everything in our power to create the prospect of resuming the talks, to restart the effort to reach an agreement. It is not enough to declare that “we are ready to talk, but the Turkish side is negative”, which is indeed negative. We must constantly take substantive initiatives that create momentum for the resumption of negotiations. Initiatives that put the Republic of Cyprus forward, without, of course, abandoning the principles of a solution to the Cyprus problem by testing Turkey.

AKEL has put forward a specific proposal on how this can be done. Some people pose the following question: but how can the Cyprus problem be solved if Turkey is comfortable with this state of affairs? The answer is simple: But since Turkey is comfortable with the de facto partition, we must constantly be trying to change it. If we do not act, no third party will do it for us – especially if the international community is not convinced of the Greek Cypriot side’s will with regards the resumption of the negotiations and the solution of the Cyprus problem.

What is certain is that the Cyprus problem will not be solved by proclaiming good intentions that hide behind Turkish intransigence. Nor will it be solved by nationalist frenzy and empty talk that put people to sleep until the nightmare wakes them up. That is what happened in 1974. Empty talk, irredentism, fanaticism and the exploitation of patriotic sentiments. That’s how they opened the back door to the Turkish invading army and those who posed as “super-patriots” with Kalashnikov machine guns ready to “throw the invader into the sea”, hid in the rear and ordered thousands of unarmed and betrayed patriots to war.

Dear friends,

This year marks fifty years – half a century – since the twin crimes of the treasonous coup and the brutal Turkish invasion of 1974. The wounds are still open, the sacrifices and struggles of our people, the struggles of all of you, the fighters of the Resistance against fascism, EOKA B and the extreme right have still not been vindicated.

We continue the struggle to vindicate them. An integral part of this struggle is the defence of the historical truth and the nourishment of historical memory so that everything is not covered by forgetfulness.

We have not stopped serving the slogan “I do not forget” and to do so in practice. But the slogan “I do not forget” does not only include the memory of our occupied towns and villages, which feeds the will to return. The “I do not forget” also includes the preservation of the memory of the monstrous protagonists of the Cyprus tragedy.

We will continue to tell the truth and nothing but the truth – as it actually is. We shall continue to combat any attempts to alter or distort the historical truth. Proper knowledge of the past helps us to proceed in the right direction.

This year will mark four years since the day Papalazaros passed away. But his memory will always be here with us all.

We will talk about him to our children and grandchildren.

About a humble priest whose life exuded “love thy neighbor”.

About the tireless people’s fighter whose life cried “blessed are the hungry and thirsty for justice”.

About an enduring symbol, who made his bitterness, his struggle endless and his rage, a battle for justice, for peace, for the fraternity of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, for the vindication of Cyprus.

Your memory, your struggles, your while life will continue to inspire us.

Immortal!

26.1.2024