Government Spokesman Nicos Christodoulides highlighted the need for unity and collectiveness among the political parties and the people of Cyprus in order to achieve the common goal of ending the occupation of the island.
During a speech at an event to celebrate and commemorate the national anniversaries of 25th March and 1st April at north London’s Ashmole Academy on Sunday afternoon, Christodoulides noted that “the national liberation struggles give us the message of the importance and necessity of unity; the revolution of 1821 in Greece and EOKA’s liberation struggle in Cyprus were successful because the goal was shared by all Greeks: to get rid of the ruler, to abolish servitude, to liberate the motherland.”
The Government Spokesman added: “Without any excesses, which bear no relation to pure patriotism, we will carry on projecting the right of our efforts and we will continue to fight until the final vindication.”
“Within this respect,” Christodoulides continued, “the message to all parties and to all the people of Cyprus is that a settlement within the framework in which the current dialogue is taking place would be a success for all of us, while a failure would be something negative for all of us.
“That is why the call to everyone from here, our London diaspora that has been serving Cyprus selflessly, is for all of us to work together, collectively, so that we end up with a positive result which will at last terminate the occupation of our motherland. A settlement plan that will correspond to the expectations of the Cypriot people, so that it produces a positive result at a referendum. Besides, in no case would the President of the Republic put before the people a plan with which he would not agree and which therefore would not correspond to the expectations of the Cypriot people, expectations he is aware of and shares completely.”
He added that “in this framework, it is a wrong choice to state one’s position from now -possibly to serve expediency of other purposes- with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ to a plan that is yet before us.”
Referring to the prospect of reaching a settlement to the Cyprus issue, Christodoulides said that there are currently situations which could potentially create the condition for a positive outcome. “There are motives for a rationally thinking Turkey to comprehend the benefits for herself too of a possible settlement of the Cyprus issue. At the same time, there is no doubt that the problems we’ve been coming across and will come across will be large. On our side we remain serious, cautiously optimistic and consistent as to the need for hard work and hard negotiating towards the termination of the occupation, towards achieving the goal of delivering to the new generation a country free from occupation armies and division lines,” said the Government Spokesman, adding that “no one wishes or should wish more than us” for the occupation termination and the reunification of Cyprus.
Speaking about the twin anniversaries, Christodoulides said that they are being celebrated with a mix of admiration and pride, as they marked a new course for Greece and Cyprus allowing them to gain their national independence and freedom.
He also praised the Greek Cypriot community in the UK and conveyed the “gratitude” of the Cypriot state and people. As he commented, the Cypriots living in the UK are distinguished by their commitment to one single aim, how to best serve their motherland.
On behalf of the organised diaspora, the President of the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK Christos Karaolis pledged to continue utilising the contacts and links established in Britain in order to promote the rights of the Cypriot people and to passionately defend the interests of the Republic of Cyprus.
Turning his attention to the current settlement efforts in Cyprus, Mr Karaois commented that “despite the positive signals coming out of the talks between President Anastasiades and the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, Turkey and Erdogan are sending their own messages, they undermine the talks and seek to upgrade the pseudostate and establish faits accomplis on our island.”
The Federation President also urged members of the Greek Cypriot community to get more involved in the British parties, in order to have a bigger say in the decision making centres. He then stressed that the Federation believes that Cyprus’s and the diaspora’s interests are best served by the UK remaining in the EU, so he urged UK Cypriots to vote against ‘Brexit’ in June’s referendum.
On Saturday evening the Government Spokesman attended a dinner organised by the Secretariat of the National Federation at north London’s Greek Cypriot Brotherhood. There he had the chance to update guests on the latest developments regarding the Cyprus issue and the outcome of the recent European Council, as well as exchange views on a matter of issues.
