Email Your MP
On Sunday 14th July 14, the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK and the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain organised a memorial service at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in memory of those who lost their lives defending Cyprus in 1974 and those who are still missing. The service was officiated by His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain. Memorial services were held in all the Churches of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, following an encyclical by Archbishop Nikitas.
The main speaker was the High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus in the UK, Dr Kyriacos Kouros. In the High Commissioner’s address, he spoke about the disasters caused in Cyprus by the Turkish invasion in 1974, highlighting the lives lost, families torn apart, the human rights that were violated as well as the lasting wounds, both psychological and physical, left on all Cypriots by the war. The Republic of Cyprus itself, he added, has still not healed from its national wound – the occupation.
The High Commissioner highlighted the duty and vital role of everyone to the persons who remain missing, and to ensure that our campaign for the freedom and reunification of Cyprus is not lost and forgotten in the next generations. It is an “inalienable promise”, the High Commissioner said, to try to “rectify the injustice of the occupation and to ensure a solution to the Cyprus problem, on the basis of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with one sovereignty, one citizenship, one international personality.”
Mr Kouros also referred to the intransigence of Turkey, which demands the illegal partition of Cyprus as a precondition for the resumption of negotiations. He said that the occupation regime, supported by Turkey, is attempting to achieve this through outreach to Islamic and Turkic countries as well as non-governmental organisations. Illegal permanent partition, he added, cannot be acceptable either to the Republic of Cyprus or to the international community. Comparing Turkey’s illegal invasion to that of Russia’s, he stated that “we expect a corresponding mobilisation of the international community, which rejects and opposes Russia’s expansionist actions in Ukraine […] Invasion is invasion. Occupation is occupation.”
In his address, Federation President Christos Karaolis condemned the tragic 50th anniversary of the coup d’état of the Greek military junta and the illegal invasion and continued occupation of Cyprus by Turkey. He said that “our diaspora here in the UK, and across the globe, continues to work tirelessly to cast off any attempts to normalise and recognise the illegal occupation regime” and that “we wholeheartedly support the efforts of President Christodoulides to restart talks so that the island can be reunited as a bizonal, bicommunal federation.”
Also in attendance was the Ambassador of Greece, Ioannis Tsaousis; Bambos Charalambous MP; Deputy Head of Mission, Iphigenia Kanara; Deputy High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus, Spyros Miltiadis; Consul of Greece, Christos Goulas; political and military attachés from the diplomatic missions of Greece and Cyprus; Mayor of Barnet, Cllr Tony Vourou; President of the Organisation of Relatives of Missing Persons UK, Neoklis Neokleous; representatives of political parties and members of the Federation secretariat.
