In Dasaki of Achnas, today, Sunday 01 September, the residents marched for another year to the dead zone of Achnas, opposite the occupied church of Agia Marina, where with prayers, speeches, recitations of poems, anti-occupation songs they demonstrated their unwavering will to return, on the occasion of on the 50th anniversary of the capture of Achna on August 28, 1974 by the Turkish invaders.
Crowds gathered in the morning on the road Dhekelia - Famagusta, where in the presence of the icon of Agia Marina, the priests of the Community prayed for the return to Achna and the withdrawal of Turkish troops.
In his greeting, the Deputy Mayor of the Achnas Municipal District, Mr. Nikos Vasilas, said that "we have gathered here for another year, 50 years after we left Achna to show that we have not forgotten her, that we have not forgotten the sacrifice of so many heroes of 1974 We gathered here because we owe it to our fellow villagers Kyriakos Kkolou, Lambros Vardakis, Adonis Christoforou, Panagiotis Konstantinou and Georgios Ioakeim who fell heroically so that we could have as much freedom as we had left, as well as to our missing Giorgos Sokratis, Giannakis Kokkinos, Andreas Kontou. and Adoullis Senekki as well as to our fellow villagers Theodosis Giannakis, Nikolas and Androulla Liggis and Efstathios and Giannakis Efstathiou killed by Attila Anandra".
He added that today's meeting is being watched by the Turks, they will watch the gathering here until we go back, until we are watched from elsewhere and we are somewhere in Achna making celebrations, not commemorative days when we are freed.
The only way to free ourselves, he noted, is not to forget, and that's what we're doing today. We come here so that we don't forget, but so that even the smallest ones can learn that this is where our Community is, this is where our ancestors are buried and one day we will come here to live.
In his speech, the Mayor of Ayia Napa Mr. Christos Zannettou said that "today is a day of remembrance for the place that was tested and continues to endure the consequences of the Turkish invasion, the looted Achna with its ruined houses, the silent church of Agia Marina where the profane they set up a lookout, the barbed wire that still remains here, bleeds our soul and also the sacred lands of our suffering homeland".
No matter how many years have passed, added Mr. Zannettou, "our wounds are still fresh and our debt to the homeland, but also to those who fought for our freedom and national dignity, is heavy and unrepayable. Half a century is a long time, time is an inexorable enemy of national memory, but not irreversible."
Confronting the occupied Achna, he continued "we revived the memory, we revived the hope and we keep the flame of return to what was taken from us unquenchable, as all Greek Cypriots fervently ask for justice. The long-suffering Achna eagerly awaits the day of her own resurrection. She is waiting for the day when she will receive her children in her arms, the day when the school bell will ring again, the church bell will ring again calling her faithful and the houses will open their windows again to let the light of freedom enter".
"I am absolutely convinced that together we will manage to take this place forward and we assure you that we are always by your side, because our desire and struggle was and will be common. Our pain and burning desire for vindication could in no way be softened by the passage of years. We owe it to those who sacrificed everything, to us, but also to the next generations, to deliver a free Cyprus from end to end."
Finally, the Mayor of Ayia Napa warmly congratulated the Achnas Forest Municipal Apartment of the Municipality of Ayia Napa and Deputy Mayor Nikos Vasilas who, since 2017, have been carrying out this action, this memorial march towards the looted and ruined town and who undauntedly continue their fighting action achieving with their initiatives to reconnect the Achniotes by keeping unquenched the desire to return to their ancestral lands. He expressed his warm congratulations and heartfelt thanks to all those involved in this great action which, as he said, further strengthens the sacred and indestructible ties with our ancestral homes. The Mayor of Ayia Napa concluded that the remembrance of our sufferings and the preservation of historical memory unscathed, crystalline and untarnished is the supreme duty of all of us.
This was followed by a recitation of poems about Achna by Hampis Achniotis, Dina Skaya and Kyriakos Aristides, all from the occupied village of Achna.
The Commemoration Day of Occupied Achnas was organized by the Municipal District of ΄Achnas - Municipality of Agia Napa and the organized groups of the district.
