The founding of Eoka on April 1, 1955 was “the pinnacle of modern Cypriot history”, Diko MEP Costas Mavrides said on Tuesday at a church service held to commemorate its 70th anniversary.
The service was attended by President Nikos Christodoulides and House President Annita Demetriou, among others, with Mavrides saying, “Eoka’s fight belongs not to parties or unions but to the people, because the heroes of Eoka fell for the homeland with a vision of the Parthenon and thus belong to all of us, and to future generations.
“Just as March 25, 1821 is the confirmation of the historical continuity of the nation and the revolution of 1821 is a national rebirth after centuries of slavery, so April 1, 1955 is the confirmation of the unchanging commitment of Cypriot Hellenism to the universal values of Greek culture and deep national self-awareness,” he said.
He also praised George Grivas as a “military leader”, saying Eoka “became a legend and engulfed an entire people, teachers and pupils, housewives, farmers and craftsmen, literate and illiterate, women and men, workers and peasants, children and the elderly”.
He then criticised the reaction of “supposedly civilised Britain”, which he said employed “heinous acts of collective punishment … through house arrests, fines and arrests without trial” during the liberation struggle against colonialism.
“They closed schools, murdered pupils, abused young children, and ultimately applied the most horrific methods of torture. And since the peaceful and diplomatic overtures were fruitless when the universal demand of the Enosis referendum of 1950 was ignored … on April 1, 1955, the time had come,” he said.
He added that the Republic had “flourished economically and socially until 1974”.
Today, he said, the Republic of Cyprus “remains a member of the United Nations and an equal member state of the European family despite the crime of the coup d’état and invasion of 1974.
“With half of our homeland under Turkish occupation and the Attila line next to us … the question for each of us is whether we will defend our collective national identity and our faith or will we give in to fear?”
Alongside Christodoulides and Demetriou, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas, Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis, Education Minister Athena Michaelidou, and Greece’s ambassador in Nicosia Ioannis Papameletiou all attended the service.
Elsewhere, schoolchildren and members of the military embarked on parades through towns and villages, with church services held in other locations across the island.
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