Speech by the General Secretary of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, at the unveiling of the monument dedicated to the Heroes Christakis Panayiotou and Christos Georgiou in Dromolaxia

 

21 April 2024, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Today we are unveiling the busts of two Heroes of Dromolaxia, two Heroes of our Cyprus.

Christakis Panagiotou, son of Panagiotis and Anastasia and Christos Georgiou, son of Yiannis and Chrystalla. Two young men who ran to defend Cyprus from the invasion of Turkey and fought for their homeland, giving up what is most precious to anyone, their very lives…

Christakis Panayiotou enlisted in the National Guard for his military service in 1972. During the invasion he served in the 251 Infantry Battalion. When his battalion was attacked he was ordered to retreat, but Christakis refused to abandon the front.

Christakis did not back down. He stood his ground and fought to his last breath. In the din of battle his trail was lost. In 2007 his remains were found in a mass grave in the village of Kazafani [in the occupied areas] and he was buried with the honours befitting a Hero.

Christos Georgiou enlisted in the National Guard when he was just 17 years old. When the Turkish invasion began he was serving in Bogazi, in the 399 Infantry Battalion.

On 22 July 1974 his battalion was ordered to move to a high point of the Pentadaktylos mountain range to reinforce the soldiers fighting there. There, during the fighting, Christos’ traces were lost. His remains were found in 2017 and he was buried here in Dromolaxia, the land that gave birth to him and honoured him as he deserved.

For years, the families of Christakis and Christos searched for their children. They waited for some news. They asked and searched everywhere. For many years they lived the agony of expectation and anticipation. Of the uplifting but also the exhaustion of hope.

The drama of the missing persons is one of the most important chapters of the Cyprus tragedy.

It is a chapter that is eminently humanitarian and that continues to remain unresolved.

It remains an open, bleeding and painful wound. The State must not permit it to be forgotten or closed before the fate of each and every missing persons is established.

It must insist and exert pressure at every opportunity on Turkey to cooperate in opening up its military records and providing all possible information, as is also provided for in the relevant judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

It must not give up its efforts to establish the fate of all the missing persons and to provide effective support for the victims.

We will continue to support the struggle of the relatives of the missing persons in this direction as a minimum debt to the sacrifice of our heroes.

Our Homeland is filled with the graves of heroes. The modern history of our country is written in their blood. With the blood of hundreds of common people who stood up when Cyprus was betrayed by its own Ephialtes and when the enemy entered the city.

Hundreds of young men, with dreams, with plans for the future whose lives were cut short prematurely, too prematurely. Young people who never wanted to be heroes, but were forced to be heroes because they would not accept, would not tolerate, to bow their heads to the betrayal that was committed by the coup d’etat and the subsequent destruction. Even though they knew they were going to fight almost unarmed and betrayed.

It is not only events like today’s that we must and ought to honour their sacrifice. At this point, permit me to congratulate the Mayor of Dromolaxia Kypros Andronicou, as well as the entire municipal council for their decision to erect the monument dedicated to our two Heroes.

Honouring the sacrifice of our heroes means also remembering the historical truth. It means not allowing forgetfulness to whitewash the criminal responsibilities of the traitors in Cyprus and Greece for the Cypriot tragedy.

We must remember that the lives of so many young people were taken by the treason that was committed.

We should ensure that it becomes engrained in the minds and hearts of our people that the plans of NATO imperialism would not have succeed if there were no Greeks and Greek Cypriots to cooperate with their execution.

Let us not permit forgetfulness and oblivion bury the truth. That the coup that opened the door to the Turkish invasion was deliberate and premeditated. It was prepared long before in the NATO headquarters with the participation of Turkey and the Greek Junta.

Today is the sad anniversary of the coup in Greece that put the country in a cast for seven long years. As documented by historical records, the most important task undertaken by the Greek junta was to finish off the Cyprus problem by implementing NATO’s plans. The final plan was agreed at the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Lisbon in 1971. It is this plan that was executed in 1974 by overthrowing the constitutional order and paving the way for the Turkish Attila army to invade.

But to honor our Heroes’ sacrifice also means our refusal to compromise with the ongoing Turkish occupation, our refusal to surrender to the status quo, leaving half of our Cyprus to perish and be lost.

Dear friends,

This year marks fifty years since the twin crimes of 1974, of the coup d’etat and the invasion. Our country today is at the most critical juncture in its history. The Cyprus problem has been at a complete standstill since 2017, Ankara is taking advantage of the situation and proceeds unhindered in its plans for the colonization and ‘Turkification’ of the occupied territories, for the assimilation of the Turkish Cypriot community and for the promotion of the unacceptable two state solution.

In the face of this critical situation, the Republic of Cyprus cannot remain impassive. It cannot abandon its efforts to achieve a solution that will end the Turkish occupation and reunite our land and people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, as provided for in the agreed framework for a solution.

It is imperative that initiatives are continuously taken aimed at creating momentum to break the deadlock which fully serves the plans for the permanent partition of our homeland. And we cannot settle for that. We cannot leave Cyprus exposed to these dangers.

Seriousness, consistency, collective handlings and policies based on principles and specific plans are all demanded. AKEL is trying to contribute with all its forces in confronting this dangerous situation. However, there must also be a corresponding will on the part of the government, on the part of the President who handles the Cyprus problem and has the sole responsibility.

We have submitted a specific and comprehensive proposal on how we can positively influence developments. How we can, as far as we are able to, create momentum for resuming the negotiations from where they had remained, preserving the convergences recorded and negotiating on the basis of the Guterres Framework.

It is up to the President of the Republic to discuss our proposal or to continue along the same line he has been following since the day he took office. A line which has so far failed to yield any substantial results, even though we are now entering the second year of the Christodoulides administration. Developments are threatening and no communication games can prevent them. Only policies and initiatives of substance.

Dear friends,

Events like todays are not an obligation, they are a duty. A debt to Cyprus’ children who sacrificed the most precious thing they had to save their country, so that we could be here today: their very lives.

We owe a better Cyprus to those who have left and those who are coming. A free Cyprus, without armies and barbed wires of division, a country of peace, cooperation and prosperity.

Then and only then can we be at peace with our conscience.

Then and only then will the sacrifice of our heroes be vindicated.

May the memory of Christos and Christakis live on forever!

May the memory all the heroes of our people’s struggles live on!