The remains of eight Greek soldiers missing in Cyprus arrived in Elefsina.

The remains of nine fallen and missing Greek soldiers who fought for the territorial integrity of the Republic of Cyprus following the 1974 Turkish invasion were repatriated today (5/31) in a special ceremony at Elefsina Air Base.

The ceremony was attended by the Minister of National Defense Nikolaos Dendias, representing the Greek government. “Our efforts to find the missing continue. May their relatives stop searching for them and honor them as heroes. I thank the Government of Cyprus for their efforts and for the return of our heroes. I salute the heroes who are returning home today. We are transferring their names to the ark national memory,” Dendias said in his speech.

The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, at a ceremony in Cyprus yesterday, mentioned the names of the 15 fallen soldiers whose remains were repatriated:

Κρατημένος Αναστάσιος,
Αναλυτής Γεώργιος,
Τσιτιρίδης Κωνσταντίνος,
Ηλιόπουλος Παναγιώτης,
Τούλης Ηλίας,
Μαρτζάκλης Γεώργιος,
Τσαγκαλίδης Κωνσταντίνος,
Ηλιόπουλος Ιωάννης,
Χριστόπουλος Αλέξιος,
Ξανθόπουλος Αθανάσιος,
Κουκουλάρης Χρίστος,
Μπινάκης Γεώργιος,
Μπουρέκας Ασημάκης,
Χίος Φράγκος,
Σαρλιάν Χαράλαμπος

The issue of missing and killed during the Turkish invasion can only be a humanitarian one, that is how we approach it, deal with it and manage it, said the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, in his speech at yesterday's ceremony for the repatriation of the remains of Greeks killed during the 1974 invasion year, for burial in Greece.

The remains of six of the fifteen missing were buried yesterday at the Makedonitissa mound, and today the remains of the remaining nine were received at Elefsina Air Base and will be buried in Greece. As Mr. Christodoulides noted, as President of the Republic of Cyprus and on behalf of the Cypriot people, he today pays tribute to the Greek soldiers who, during the Turkish invasion of 1974 and the Turkish invasion of 1963-64, “came from Greece to strengthen the defense of our territories, to to secure the sovereignty and independence of our homeland to resist the hordes of Attila, to join our brothers in Cyprus, as in every other common national imperative of history.”

“It is a fact that every time we hold funeral services for our Greek and Cypriot brothers and sisters who were considered missing and whose remains are identified even after 50-60 years, the events of the brutal Turkish invasion of that black summer of 1974 are reborn and revived. Today, here in this holy place, we pay due tribute to our heroic Greek brothers, we honor them and their families for their contribution to our homeland, for their sacrifice, for the blood they gave on the fronts of battles and conflicts, conditions of war, looting, bombing – the past becomes the present again and expands memory,” President Christodoulides noted.

Source link