The Mayor Sotiras, Georgios Takkas, expressed his deepest sorrow for the death of Panagiotis Anastasis, at the age of 93, a man who associated his name with the struggles to determine the fate of our missing.
Panagiotis Anastasis was the father of one of the heroes of the Savior of the black summer of 1974, Christofi Anastasis, who fell into the Bitter Water of Kyrenia in July 1974 and was ignored until 2010, when his remains were identified by DNA and was buried on March 7, 2010.
According to the Mayor Sotira, 0 Panagiotis Anastasi, worked tirelessly for the progress of Sotira, actively participating for more than 35 years in the Ecclesiastical Committee Sotira and the Pancyprian Organization of Relatives of the Missing, while he was an active member of the Committee of Relatives of the Fallen and Missing.
His funeral will be held at the Church of the Transfiguration Sotiros on Sunday, July 25, 2021 at 11 am.
The hero Christofis Anastasis
Christofis Anastasis was born on September 20, 1954 in Sotira, Famagusta and was the third of six children of Panagiotis Anastasis and Stavrini Chr. Stavrinou.
In January 1973, when he was called up for military service, Christofis appeared at the K.E.N. Karaolou, next to Famagusta and enlisted in the National Guard. After his formal training and swearing in, he was placed in the 251st Infantry Battalion, which was enlisted in Glykiotissa, on the outskirts of Kyrenia.
20 July 1974
Lieutenant Christakis Economidis from Limassol, who served in the first battalion of 251 TP, had received instructions from Captain Stefanos Tzitzas to gather his men and leave immediately on foot for the dispersal area, which was located between the villages of Karmi and Trimithi. One of the soldiers who followed him on that course was Christofis Anastasis from Sotira, whom Economides remembers very well and mentions in his shocking story:
"We tried to reach the dispersal area, walking through the orchards, because the trees gave us some cover from the planes that were flying around us at low altitude. There in Trimithi we took a breath, until the order was given to proceed to the area "Bitter Water". A little higher was the coast "Five Miles", where from seven in the morning, the landing of Turkish forces had begun. Around noon, Christofis approached me at some point and told me:
- Sergeant, we are very thirsty…
I told him to look around, maybe he could find some water, because the thirst was torturous for all of us. I saw him and another soldier, known as "Tillyros", walking away from me, trying to find water. From that moment we lost contact, without seeing him again, because in the meantime heavy shots had started falling in our area… ".
The words of the mother
Christofis remained Akritas on the shores of Kyrenia, with his parents and siblings facing the loss of their loved one with dignity. His memory remains alive and his image is permanently imprinted in the hearts of his own people. His mother is a more tragic figure. Mrs. Stavrini whispers softly, sighing some of her own words…
"I am Stavrini, who lives in the village of Sotira,
mother of a missing person I was doomed…
Because of the son I lost, my heart burned,
we do not have, with my son, with my children.
I went to cities that are far away, Cyprus from one end to the other,
but I did not find him anywhere, I shed a black tear.
Thirty years old, let us come again,
to enter the door of the house, tall like the mast.
All I have to do is see the lessons of my life again…
After the Archangel, let him take my soul.
I am Stavrini, which is the village of Sotira…
Mother, you are crying, my Maker, for my own fate! ”
Famagusta.News