Today marks 55 years since the heroic sacrifice of Fotis Pittas, Andreas Karyos, Elias Papakyriakos and Christos Samaras, who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the homeland during the liberation struggle of EOKA 1955-59, after fighting the British conquerors with unparalleled heroism and self-sacrifice.
"The intensity of the economic crisis will not bend our faith and our will for a better tomorrow," Kougialis said in his speech, adding that Turkey should not consider that "temporary tests will alienate our minds and make us vulnerable to pressure and blackmail. "
We are going through, he said, "a difficult period and it is the time when we must all stand with a high sense of national responsibility and patriotic duty in the face of the challenges facing our country."
It is a duty to our heroes, said the Minister, "to continue the resistance and the struggle and to demand the application in Cyprus of European and international law, declaring our opposition to the acceptance of the perpetrators of the invasion and occupation as the form solution to the Cyprus problem ".
Mr. Kougialis called on everyone to reflect and join forces, away from partisan and other expediencies. "As a whole, as the heroic teacher Fotis Pittas commands us in his poems, let us all, young and old, join the fight for the salvation of the homeland. "This is the most basic condition for us to ever be able to liberate our enslaved land and justify the sacrifices of our heroes," he said.
"With consistency and commitment to commonly accepted principles of solution, Government, parties and people should seize every opportunity, sending the right messages everywhere, to our partners in the European Union and to the international community," the minister said.
"With dignity and militancy, with self-sacrifice and high-mindedness, we send in every direction the message that we will not bow down and emerge victorious from another battle that our homeland is called to give," he concluded.