Athens, 13 March 2023

Meeting of President of Parliament with President of Republic of Cyprus

The newly elected President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides was received today at the Hellenic Parliament by the President of the Hellenic Parliament Constantine Tassoulas.

The President of the Parliament presented the President of the Republic of Cyprus with the gold medal of the Hellenic Parliament "LIBERTY SEAL 1821", with the accompanying scroll, expressing the wish that "in his hands Cyprus will obtain its own "liberty seal", liberating itself from the occupiers, from occupation and from the past, to become a single country, prosperous for all its inhabitants". 

Mr Tassoulas, addressing Mr Christodoulides, noted: "You symbolise a hopeful new beginning for the long-suffering national issue of Cyprus, which is still the leading issue of Greek foreign policy." He also expressed the certainty that "with the support of the Cypriot people, we will decisively be led to what we desire, i.e. to a solution in line with the Security Council resolutions, the European acquis, the reunification." 

For his part Mr Christodoulides conveyed the thanks of the Cypriot people for the "catalytic role played by the Hellenic Parliament in the most important success of Cypriot foreign policy since its establishment in 1960, which was nothing other than the Republic of Cyprus' accession to the European Union in 2004". As he emphasised, "it is this integration into the big European family that we are investing in today, in order to achieve our number one priority which is non other than the liberation, the end of the occupation and the reunification of our homeland. Cyprus cannot be the last divided country, an EU member state". The President of the Republic of Cyprus pointed out that "we will do our utmost in coordination with Greece and with other member states in the EU, so as to break the impasse and finally find a solution to the Cyprus problem". 

Tempi tragedy

The President of the Parliament made reference to the "depressive shadow of the unbearable Tempi tragedy, by which Hellenism was gravely affected". He emphasised the need "to shed light on, but mainly eradicate, the causes of this unbelievable tragedy and allow the country, the people, that is devastated, to move forward, and be able to leave behind similar tragedies that ground us, in psychological, but also practical terms".  

"The condolences on behalf of the people of Cyprus for the unspeakable tragedy in Tempi" were offered by the President of the Republic of Cyprus, who emphasised that this tragedy "must remind all of us in positions of power, all of us chosen by the people, through electoral processes, to lead our country -and, if you will, that would be the best commemoration- to do the utmost to never witness such tragedies again". 

The President of the Republic of Cyprus was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Constantinos Cobos, Government Spokesperson Constantinos Letymbiotis, Deputy Minister to the President Irini Piki and the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to Athens Kyriakos Kenevezos. 

Present at the meeting were also the Secretary General of the Parliament George Mylonakis and the Special Secretary of the Parliament Vasileios Bagiokos, as well as the Diplomatic Advisor of the Parliament Ambassador Constantine Economides. 

 

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