With due honors and national pride, the annual National Memorial Service was held on Sunday, July 27, 2025, at the Church of the Resurrection of the Savior, for those who heroically fell during the Turkish invasion of 1974, Kyriakos Nikolettis, Kyriakos Potamos, Christofis Anastassis, Michalakis Theodoulou, Antonis Pantelis and Adamos Englezos, as well as the prayer for the finding of the five missing persons of Sotira: Efstathios Efstathios, Georgios Athanasis, Kostas Lysis, Panagiotis Paschalis and Georgios Patsis.
The memorial speech was delivered by the Member of Parliament of the Democratic Rally of Famagusta and Member of the Parliamentary Committee for Refugees - Trapped - Missing - Suffering, Mr. Nikos Georgiou.
Mr. Georgiou emphasized that the honored heroes of Sotira Famagusta stood up to defend the homeland, honor and dignity against the Turkish invasion. With their decision to “seek the miracle”, as he characteristically stated, they became heroes, symbols and Archangels, offering the supreme good – their lives, for the freedom of their country. He also emphasized that the heroes of Sotira set an irrevocable goal to appear worthy Greeks, feeling the homeland as a debt, as the highest good as “superior to all gold”, and whose memory, wherever you touch it, hurts”.
His reference to the drama of the missing persons, which he described as the most painful and inhumane aspect of the Cypriot tragedy, caused particular emotion. "For thousands of families, time has stopped. They cannot mourn because they do not know, they cannot bury because they do not have the bones, they cannot be consoled because there is no certainty. These missing persons are not numbers. They are the voice of the homeland waiting for an answer, they are our collective duty towards History, towards Mankind," he emphasized.
Concluding, he emphasized that "for the fallen, honor is not a ceremonial matter. We are here not simply to say "may their memory live forever", but to see ourselves in the mirror of History and reflect on whether we stand worthy of their sacrifice."
The memorial service was preceded by a procession by members of the Sotiras Reserve Commando Club from the Grove of the Fallen and Missing to the cemetery of the Municipal District, Sotiras carrying a flame from the lamps of the fallen heroes to the Monument.
This was followed by an invitation to the fallen and missing from the Reserve Commandos Club, a trisagion for the repose of the fallen, a prayer for the finding and ascertaining the fate of the missing of Sotira, and the laying of wreaths.
The simple but deeply moving ceremony of 51 years of Honor and Glory concluded with an artistic program by the Sotiras Municipal Choir and the singing of the National Anthem, in the presence of relatives of the fallen and missing, the Catechetical Synagogues and students of the Peace and Freedom High School - Lyceum.
