THOUSANDS of mourners attended a funeral service yesterday for former President Tassos Papadopoulos, laid to rest amid full state honours.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyianni were among politicians, friends and admirers who paid their last respects to Papadopoulos.
The former president died on Friday from lung cancer aged 74. He served as president from 2003 until the presidential election in March this year, when he was defeated in a first round of voting.
Archbishop Chrysostomos presided over the service at the new Saint Sophia church in the Nicosia suburb of Strovolos.
President Demetris Christofias hailed Papadopoulos’ years of public service as a “contribution etched in the people’s collective consciousness.”
“He was a politician with depth and was widely respected because our society respects patriots who conscientiously serve it,” he said.
Christofias said his predecessor “never wavered” from taking a stand against prevailing public and political opinion if he believed it served the island’s best interests, and always defended the creation of the Cyprus Republic as an achievement of both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots after Britain’s colonial rule.
Papadopoulos was elected President in 2003, capping a 50-year-long career in politics.
He ushered the island into the European Union a year later after rallying Greek Cypriots to reject a UN-drafted plan to reunify the war-divided island in a referendum.
His sons Nicolas and Constandinos were among the pallbearers as the solemn funerary procession made its way toward Papadopoulos’ final resting place. At the Deftera cemetery, thousands gathered to pay their last respects. The crowd broke out in applause as the former President was interred, a National Guard detachment firing three shots in the air in salute.
Also attending the funeral service were local and Greek political leaders, including PASOK chairman George Papandreou, as well as the President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pöttering.
Across the island, flags atop public buildings and schools flew at half-mast. Government services, municipalities, public schools and the University of Cyprus were closed for the day, and all official functions cancelled.
A condolences book has been opened at the Foreign Ministry.
At 11am sharp, just as the funeral ceremony got underway, a minute’s silence was observed by staff and travelers alike at the island’s two airports.
Inside the packed cathedral, the eulogy was given by veteran politician and friend Vassos Lyssarides.
“He was a grand personality, who brightened the political life of our country, who left an indelible mark on Cyprus,” Lyssarides said of Papadopoulos.
“History shall define his role as that of the President who thwarted unacceptable [reunification] plans, as the man who effectively changed the negative climate [abroad] caused by the fully justified ‘No’ of the Cypriot people,” he added.
“Tassos Papadopoulos has left this world and passed the threshold to eternity, but he shall remain alive in the memories of an entire nation.
“There is a saying that goes: ‘Ideas do not die. To this I add: ‘Nor do those who forge ideas. Only those who leave no legacy can die. But yours is a rich legacy indeed.”
Outside the church, admirers hung banners reading “Defender of Democracy,” “Freedom Fighter,” and the words “I received a state, I delivered a state” – an allusion to Papadopoulos’ address to the nation days before the Annan plan referendum.
The funeral received wide coverage from both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot media.
Papadopoulos’ daughter Anastasia read the valedictory speech on behalf of the bereaved family.
“Farewell, dear father. Have a good journey. Do not worry about us. We shall always follow the path you have etched, a path lightened by your thoughts, actions, history and dignity,” she said, fighting back tears.
She said her father had struggled through his last difficult days with dignity and admirable inner strength.
“Over the last few weeks, we had to watch you suffer. And yet even then you did not wish for us to share your pain, you did not wish to tell us what you were going through… you chose to carry the burden on your own.
“You may have lost the fight with nature, but you have earned what I am certain is that which you wanted: to bring us all together one last time, to awaken the whole of Cyprus with your move. Perhaps you wanted to ensure that we, your family, would not be alone without you,” she said.
