Not one step back — THIS IS GREECE

Author: Geadis Geadi

July 20, 2014 faithful to our appointment with history, at the same spot again for another year. Here at Ledra Palace, which we did not lose but evacuated, this spot that was at the center of the battles of Nicosia in 74.

40 years have passed since then and to this day we still experience the horrors of the barbarians, since we find the bones of our compatriots piled up in mass graves. Only with a phrase from the famous novelist and poet Victor Hugo can we describe what our martyred island experienced “fire and death everywhere… the Turks passed through here”

But let us let the breeze from the flame and the warm sunset inflate the sails that will travel back in time our memories, to two events of that black summer that remain indelibly engraved in our memory. Let's go back almost 40 years and a few kilometers further down to the legendary battle of ELDYK. Where the few clashed with the many…

August 14. Turkish troops launch an attack on the ELDYK camp, which they wanted at all costs. Two hundred and more furious Turks attack, from a point they did not expect. Vareltzis and Simitas had the opposite opinion! Standing naked from the waist up, in their trench, they began to shoot at the herd of Turks like crazy and reload as if nothing were happening. The two heroes completely defied death…. The rattling of the two men's weapons made all the Turks run in panic, leaving behind dead and wounded. Suddenly, however, a tank shot cut Simitas in the middle.

August 16. The Turkish tanks had now reached the 2nd hill defended by the ELDYK Command Company, which was “out” of ammunition, since the supply line never worked! They came out of their trenches and attacked the raging crowd and the tanks, throwing everything they could find at them. Stones, wood, even their own helmets…

The orders of Captain Stavrianakos echoed in their ears, “to stay in their trenches and if necessary, the Turkish tanks to pass over them”. “The camp is Greece and we will defend it to the last man! These orders were given by the Captain, screaming just before he died, “Let them step on us! Not a step back!” And Stavrianakos rushes alone and unarmed against a tank, but he is shot by a tank's machine gun, which decapitates him!

However, his platoon remains faithful to his orders and falls fighting almost to the last man, since his orders are valid even after his death! "Not a step back...".

The tanks melt anything that moves! Turks and Greeks together! The aircraft also strike the now Greek-Turkish mass indiscriminately! But the Greeks continue the attack, even with their spears! Terrible hand-to-hand battles ensue! One against dozens! These were the proportions but they did not cower, repeating for the umpteenth time the story that wants the Greeks not to cower no matter how many enemies they are …

The Turks in their fury for the ELDYK, collect some dead soldiers in front of the camp, and after stripping them, they cut off their heads and photograph them.

Their blood was fermented together with the soil of our Greek Cyprus, to bring mother and daughter even closer. They watered the roots of our centuries-old Greek history with their sacrifices. They died in the most beautiful way, as our great hero Evagoras Pallikaridis says “What today? What tomorrow? We all die one day… It is a beautiful thing to die for Greece...”

However, the death of our brave heroes is not considered death, as the saying found in the imprisoned tombs says. “After all, heroes do not die but fall. And the earth, drinking their blood, reborns them.”

So, following the example of the heroes, who give us the eternal command that steels faith and the will to fight, we continue, far from a life full of boredom and boredom. We will continue to fight, like them then, even when there is no possibility of victory, because we owe it to those who came and will come. We will repeat the words of the leader of the Thespians, Demophilus “No Leonidas, we are not leaving. We will not let you take the glory of Thermopylae alone”

As our ancestors taught us in 74, about what it means to be Greek! They were never defeated but betrayed! The eternal curse! Their spirits patiently wander over Cyprus and await vindication. That is why today, from this very stage, we demand that the Cyprus file be finally opened. That ALL the real culprits be punished.

20,800 pages, in 260 files, which were placed in boxes, which were subsequently placed in the vault of history, are in the basements of the Greek parliament, with the parties covering each other up. What are they hiding?

Ecevit comes to give us the answer: “The Cyprus Problem Has Been Solved! The Greeks should be grateful to us because we restored democracy in Greece”

Clearly Cyprus was sold so that the so-called democracy and Karamanlis of “Cyprus lies far away” could come to power! It seems that for Karamanlis and his subordinates, Cyprus was far away. Fortunately, 2,500 years ago, Kimon did not have the same opinion as them…

– We demand that light be shed on the role of Karamanlis and in general all the politicians of the post-colonial era! What did those who governed or played a very important role in the Greek and Cypriot political scene do? Did they not understand where their decisions were leading us? Why did they do absolutely nothing to prevent the loss of National Territory and humiliation?

– How much did Makarios’ archomania and his notorious call cost Cyprus?

– Who is responsible for the disarmament of the National Guard, even given the Turkish danger that was lurking?

– How influential was the role of Brigadier General Georgitsis as head of the General Staff?

– What was Henry Kissinger’s role behind the scenes in the Cyprus problem and the invasion? How much did he want it to succeed in order to secure his interests?

– What was Gizikis’ role? What was the role of the Junta members Bonanou – Arapakis – Papanikolaou – Galatsanos? Did they prepare the ground for the arrival of Karamanlis, sacrificing Cyprus? Did Arapakis and Papanikolaou remain in exactly the same positions during the change of government without anyone touching them despite their responsibilities?

We demand answers to these and many other questions!

Here where the Living meet the Immortals, here where the Living commemorate the fallen, here where the Living keep the flame of Hellenism unextinguished, the Nationalist Guard swears to fight for the restoration of historical truth. It does not surrender but is ready to Fall to its last Man, so that the Greek flag may once again wave proudly in our occupied territories.

Let us keep the command as our beacon and guide “Not a step back – HERE IS GREECE …”