“The act of October 5, 1944 was heroic, not only because it broke centuries of enslavement, centuries of distance from Hellenism, from the Metropolis. It was heroic, because it came at a time when the rest of the Dodecanese were still under the yoke of slavery,” said Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis in his speech on the first day of the celebrations for the 80th anniversary of the Revolutionary Liberation Movement of Karpathos .

In the Dodecanese, as he recalled, there was an Italian rule which, “was particularly cruel. He followed the example of the Young Turks of 1909, imposing a strategy of exandrapodization of the Greeks of the Dodecanese, which was intended precisely to benefit the Dodecanese, so that they could become genuine Italian possessions and in the minds of the citizens.”

“For this reason Italian sovereignty was consolidated, where required, with very harsh violence,” he noted.

Mr. Gerapetritis mentioned that Italy twice after the First World War and the predominance of the Allies, among which was Greece, signed to give up the sovereignty of the Dodecanese: In 1919 with the Venizelos-Tittoni agreement and in 1920 with the Treaty of Sèvres.

“However, in both cases he withdrew from this agreement, because for Italy it was a strategic choice to have control over the Dodecanese. And this highlights even more how complex an exercise it was to have this uprising,” he said and added:

“And in fact during the Second World War, even when it was a question of history whether Italy would continue to rule, there was Turkey, which watched over our islands. I just want to remind you that Stalin himself had declared that Turkey has rights over the Dodecanese, while even Winston Churchill, when he visited Turkey, had declared that it is not impossible that the Dodecanese will eventually come under Turkish occupation.”

For this reason, “the value of the act of October 5, 1944 was unparalleled.”

The revolution starts from Menetes, as “the geographical position was absolutely offered, with strong fortifications, which the conquerors had built with heights, which made access extremely difficult, with large storage areas, with access to the wider geographical area, in ports and at the airport”.

“It was almost legal to start from here. But it was also an act of heroism of this particular village, which, like the whole of Karpathos, isolated from the rest of Greece, an island which is far from any other island cluster, showed in this way how we should perceive peace and freedom”.

“Starting from here, from the Revolutionary Committee, the message of the revolution is spread to the rest of the villages, to the neighboring Arkasa, to Pyles and of course to the then diplomatic island, Aperi, where all the discussions regarding the succession took place and where in the end it was signed and the Declaration”, he noted.

“Proclamation, which for the first time in the Dodecanese refers to the independent integration of the island of Karpathos, with the rest of Greece, until power is finally and officially assumed with the two British warships, which come to the port of Karpathos on October 17 to certify the miracle. Because everyone thought it was a miracle”

As he reported, on the evening of October 5, “the BBC in an abhorrence, which has remained historical, refers to the event of the Carpathian revolution with the words that there is no historical precedent in world history, where such a small place by its own means expels the conqueror and for this reason he praises the island for this feat.”

“In this holy place, on this island, thousands of Dodecanese found refuge, who wanted to escape from the yoke of the conqueror and find their freedom.”

Karpathos, as he pointed out, “welcomed a very large number of our compatriots. Until, at the Paris Conference in 1946, we officially had the inclusion and integration of the Dodecanese islands into Greek territory, which was completed with the Paris Treaty of 1947”.

“The model of the Karpathos Revolution is what guides us”, he noted and added:

“The example left us by the revolutionaries of October 5, 1944 remains alive and is the one that guides us and will guide us forever.”

“In the midst of an international situation, which is extremely complex, extremely difficult, extremely fluid, from a place that is a few hundred miles from where today is the epicenter of a conflict that our region has never seen before. The Greek state takes care of the security of the islands and will always take care of their well-being”.

“Here the heart of Greece beats stronger. In all the Dodecanese, in all the critical locations of our country, the Greek heart and soul beats even stronger.”

“October 5th is a great moment in local and Greek history,” he noted.

By decision and initiative of the Minister of the Interior and by a decree to be signed by the President of the Hellenic Republic, from next year the 5th of October will be officially considered a local holiday, so as to give those due to the freedom fighters, “but let us learn and perpetuate an even stronger message, that the Greek soul never retreats”, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“Our heroic compatriots from the neighboring village of Arkasa undertook an almost suicidal mission. To carry the message of the revolution to the Allied Headquarters in Cairo, embarking in a boat of very doubtful integrity and capability, sailing at a minimum speed of almost 2.5 miles, aware of the dangers and yet accepting the risk of life to enable the message to be conveyed and that there should be a complete takeover of power by the Allied command”

There, he said, there were weather conditions and phenomena which were extremely adverse and a real danger to life.

“Nevertheless, the heroes in that boat continued on their way. They did not cower, they never thought of turning back. And then one of the passengers, Lazaros Kosmas, said a long speech: “Forward, only forward is our purpose.” And this is our model, but it is also our promise for today and for future generations of Greeks”, he concluded.