We have no choice but to work with all our forces to find a viable and workable solution to our national issue, President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides said on Sunday morning, in his speech at the annual national memorial service for the heroes of Liopetri.
We have not retreated from our obligation to liberate and reunify the country, he noted.
President Christodoulides said that “almost 70 years since the heroic epic of the EOKA struggle and exactly 50 years since the brutal Turkish invasion, our feelings are charged and our concerns are intense.”
As the State and the government of this land, he noted, “we feel a strong sense of responsibility towards our history, towards the fighters of the most glorious and selfless struggle of this land, towards today’s challenges and modern realities. Faithful to our promise and our duty to our homeland and its citizens, faithful to the example and legacy of the heroes and fighters during our liberation struggles, we cannot rest and compromise with the Turkis
h occupation.”
He stressed that “no matter how much some people try and would like to, we do not forget. We have not turned away from the obligation to liberate and reunite this land. We have no choice but to work with all our strength to find a viable and workable solution to our national issue”.
We are struggling, he noted, “in every way and by every means, despite the adverse conditions, the constant provocations and the negative attitude of the Turkish side, to reopen the road and enter the path of a solution. We cannot and must not give up the effort’.
He added that “the example of the four fighters of Liopetri leaves us no room for complacency. They judge us, guide us and require us not to turn away from the effort for the liberation and reunification of our country. They remind us and emphasise its values and the virtues of patriotism and a fighting spirit, and remind us of our obligations towards this country”.
I have the strong conviction, continued President Christodoulides, “that we have the ob
ligation and duty to tell our children and the new generation about EOKA, about Achironas of Liopetri, about the struggles and sacrifices of all those who gave their lives for the existence of the Republic of Cyprus today”.
“Because virtue and courage require deep knowledge, knowledge first and foremost of yourself, that is, of your real history. This in no way works against the efforts to resolve the Cyprus problem, since the viability of a possible solution passes to a large extent through respect for the historical identity of each individual and certainly not through self-abolition”, he concluded.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
Source: Cyprus News Agency