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Cyprus president Anastasiades wins run-off to land second term, Sargsyan sent a congratulatory message

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Anastasiades wins run-off

Anastasiades wins run-off

NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades won a second five-year term on Sunday as voters gave a thumbs-up to his record in containing an economic meltdown in 2013 and his attempts to reconcile with estranged Turkish Cypriots on the ethnically-split island.

With all votes counted, the conservative had 56 percent of the vote against 44 percent for the leftist-backed Stavros Malas.

“A new day dawns tomorrow which requires unity, because that is required to move forward,” Anastasiades told cheering crowds in downtown Nicosia. “I will continue to be a president for all Cypriots. Tonight, there are no winners or losers, there is (only) a Cyprus for all of us.”

Anastasiades, 71, steered the Cypriot economy to recovery after it was plunged into crisis in 2013, days after he was first elected, by its exposure to debt-racked Greece and by fiscal slippage under a previous left-wing administration.

Cyprus emerged from a bailout programme from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in 2016. Unlike other austerity programmes, the Cyprus model put most of the painful measures up front, including recapitalising banks by seizing uninsured deposits, a so-called ‘bail-in’ – used in the euro zone for the first time.

Malas, a geneticist who served as health minister in the former leftist administration, had also come second to Anastasiades in 2013.

Political analyst Hubert Faustmann said Anastasiades had entered the race as favourite in a field of relatively uninspiring candidates, adding: “He handled the economic crisis very well, he got a lot of credit for that.”

As leader of the island’s Greek Cypriot community, Anastasiades oversaw peace talks with the breakaway Turkish-Cypriot controlled north.

Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup, and has one of the world’s longest-serving peacekeeping forces.

Peace talks collapsed last year over the role that Turkey could play in a post-settlement Cyprus.

Anastasiades faced criticism from Greek Cypriot political rivals for either offering too many concessions to Turkish Cypriots, or for missing one of the best chances in a generation to solve the logjam – a view that Malas supported.

Despite ideological differences, however, both candidates were viewed as being more pro-settlement than adversaries eliminated in the first round of voting on Sept. 28.

“There are two narratives in the Greek Cypriot community: one that he bears responsibility for the failure of talks and the other – that Turkish intransigence is responsible. It’s apparently the second which prevailed,” Faustmann said.

Today, President Serzh Sargsyan sent a congratulatory message to Nicos Anastasiades on his re-election as President of the Republic of Cyprus, wishing him robust health and every success in the high mission of president, the press department of the office of Armenian President reported.

“Armenia is keen to continue strengthening the Armenian-Cypriot interstate relations in both bilateral and multilateral formats, based on common values and warm ties between our peoples. Of course, our relationship can be promoted through reciprocated high-level contacts and active political dialogue which have become a good tradition between our countries.

I am confident that we will continue to work in the same spirit and advance the mutually beneficial cooperation for the sake of our countries and peoples,” reads the message.

Cyprus President proud of Armenian community’s contribution

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Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has expressed pride for the contribution of the Armenian community in the political, social, and economic life of the island, Cyprus Mail reported.

Nicos Anastasiades recalled, during the event in honor of the Armenians of Cyprus that both nations have fallen victim to the same aggressor, noting that they did not surrender but fought and are continuing to struggle for the great principle of justice in order to prevail on the international scene.

“This is why Cyprus was one of the first European countries to recognise the Armenian genocide and we have jointly condemned the perpetrators of this crime,” the President said.

“As a state, we will always show off proudly the fact that your small community manages with its vigour to be present in all aspects of our country’s life – political, social and economic,” he said, referring to the Armenian community in Cyprus.

Anastasiades also spoke of his vision for a free and reunited Cyprus, where all Cypriot citizens will live in peace and prosperity: Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenians and other nations.

Stella Kyriakides of Cyprus elected new PACE president

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Stella Kyriakides (Cyprus, EPP/CD) has been elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe following the resignation of Pedro Agramunt (Spain, EPP/CD) on 6 October 2017.

She obtained a large majority over the other candidate, Emanuelis Zingeris (Lithuania, EPP/CD), in the third round of voting. She will remain in office until the opening of the next ordinary session (Strasbourg, 22-26 January 2018), the Assembly’s website reprts.

Kyriakides will be the 30th President of PACE since 1949, the first Cypriot, and the third woman to take up the post.

“This election comes during extraordinary times for this Assembly, times that have seen our credibility and integrity questioned. Times that have led to the often wrong type of publicity for the work done in this Assembly, leading to the questioning of the principles of transparency and integrity of the institutions of the Council of Europe. These are challenges and responsibilities for us all. But mostly, for myself as a newly elected President of this Assembly,” said Ms Kyriakides.

“My decision to run for the Presidency stemmed solely from my firm belief in the Parliamentary Assembly, in democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and my passion to work tirelessly. Today you have given me the opportunity, with the trust you have placed in me, to work towards these. In the upcoming few months my priority is to bring about calmness, consensus, credibility and unity. To work tirelessly and openly against corruption. To raise the bar so that we all follow the same principles and code of ethics. To do this, I will need the support of all political groups, of the Secretary General and the staff of the Council of Europe. Because this is why we are all here,” she concluded.

Turks celebrate 1964 napalm bombing of Cyprus

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By Uzay Bulut,

Cyprus is Turkish, after all. Turks can do whatever they want there. They can even celebrate dropping napalm on Greeks and slaughtering them.

On August 8, Muslim Turkish Cypriots and illegal settlers from Turkey celebrated the 53rd anniversary of Turkey’s napalm bombing of Greek Cypriot civilians in the Turkish-occupied enclave of Kokkina in Cyprus. Mustafa Akıncı, the president of the self-styled “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” (TRNC), which is recognized only by Turkey, also participated in the celebrations.

In August 1964, Turkish warplanes dropped napalm bombs on Kokkina in the Tillyria peninsula, hitting residential areas and a hospital, and killing more than 50 people, including 19 civilians. Ten years later, in 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus and has occupied almost 40 percent of the island ever since.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece issued a note of condemnation regarding the celebrations:

“We are dismayed to note the celebrations of the Turkish Cypriot leadership, including Mr. Akinci himself, of the 53rd anniversary of the use of chemical weapons and dropping of napalm bombs by the Turkish air force on the Tillyria peninsula. This was the first use of banned chemical weapons in the history of our planet.

“Today, when the whole planet bows to the victims of wars and such hostile acts, the holding of and participation in such celebrations is an affront to international law, to the memory of the fallen, and to the whole of humanity.”

The Republic of Cyprus declared independence in 1960. Afterwards, Turkey escalated its preparations to invade the island, which included but were not limited to establishing a bridgehead at Kokkina in 1964 and smuggling arms and fighters from Turkey into the area in order to strengthen Turkish positions there.

According to the High Commission of the Republic of Cyprus in London,
“When in August 1964 the [Cypriot] Government attempted to contain the Kokkina bridgehead, Turkey’s air force bombed the National Guard and neighboring Greek villages with napalm and threatened to invade. The other major purpose served by the enclaves was the political and physical separation of the two communities.”

Another preparation for the occupation by Turkey was its disguised violent attacks against Turkish Cypriots to further escalate inter-communal conflicts and alienate Turkish-speaking Cypriots from Greek Cypriots.

General Sabri Yirmibeşoğlu, a Turkish army officer, for example, said in televised comments in 2010 that Turkey burned a ‎mosque during the Cyprus conflict “in order to foster civil resistance” against Greeks on the islandand that “The Turkish special warfare department has a rule to engage in acts of sabotage against respected values [of Turks] made to look as if they ‎were carried out by the enemy.”

The deadly military assault against Kokkina in 1964 is celebrated by many Turkish Cypriots and settlers from Turkey as the “8 August Erenköy Resistance Day.” Turks now call Kokkina “Erenköy,” Turkish for “the village of the [Islamic] saints.”

In 2014, for example, the community leader of Kato Pyrgos, Costas Michaelides, condemnedthe formal Turkish celebrations in Kokkina, describing them as a “disgrace.” “The memories are alive because the victims, those who survived, are here. The crosses [on the graves] are here. However, many years pass, 50 or 150, we will see this in our daily lives, because they remind us of this cowardly attack against the unarmed people of Tylliria,” he said.

The Turkish narrative does not deny the smuggling of arms and fighters to Cyprus in 1964; the problem is Turks do not view these acts as illegal activities or crimes against the Republic of Cyprus. They see them as “heroism.”

During the celebrations on August 8, Mehmet Kadı, the mayor of Yeni Erenköy (Yialousa), said:
“53 days ago, today, in August 1964, the villagers, students and our mujahideen [jihadists] struggled together, fought for this land and did not allow the enemy to enter here.”

The enemy that Kadı referred to is the Republic of Cyprus and Greek Cypriots, the natives of the island who still comprised the majority in the northern part of Cyprus back then.

The Turkish Cypriot Minister of Economy and Energy, Sunat Atun, also issued a statementregarding “the Erenkoy resistance” and referred to it as “an act of heroism.”

“Turkish Cypriot people engaged in powerful and honorable resistance in the face of the inhumane attacks by the dual of the Rum [ethnic Greeks] and Greece. About 500 students from Anatolia and a group of Turkish Cypriots from Britain started landing in Cyprus to defend their homeland when attacks against Turkish Cypriots escalated in 1964.”

Mustafa Arıkan, the head of the Erenköy Mujahedeen [Jihadists] Association, also announced that during the commemoration, “for the first time, family members of 28 martyrs were given plaques.”

On July 20, 1974, Turkey mounted a bloody invasion of the island. The second Turkish offensive, codenamed Attila 2, took place between August 14-18. The invasion was accompanied by the mass murder of Greek Cypriot civilians, including women, and infants, unlawful arrests and torture of Greek Cypriots, and rapes of Greek Cypriot children and women, among other atrocities.

Zenon Rossides, the then-Cyprus representative to the United Nations, sent a letter on 6 December 1974 to the UN Secretary General, which said in part that Turkey “launched a full scale aggressive attack against Cyprus, a small non-aligned and virtually defenseless country, possessing no air force, no navy and no army except for a small national guard. Thus, Turkey’s overwhelming military machine embarked upon an armed attack including napalm bombing of open towns and villages, wreaking destruction, setting forests on fire and spreading indiscriminate death and human suffering to the civilian population of the island.”

The greatest consequence of the invasion was that Turkey changed the demographic structure of the northern part of the island, terrorizing around 200,000 indigenous Greek Cypriot majority population (more than one-third of the population) into fleeing to the southern part of the island.  It is estimated that more than 100,000 Turkish settlers have been implanted in northern Cyprus since then. Lands and houses belonging to Greek Cypriots were then distributed to Turkish Cypriots and to Turks brought from Turkey to settle in those areas.

Turkish supremacists act so blatantly in Cyprus because they claim Cyprus is a Turkish island. Thus, bringing in Turkish fighters to Cyprus to kill Greek Cypriots, importing tens of thousands of settlers from Turkey, deploying around 40,000 Turkish soldiers there, forcibly changing the demographics of the island, seizing the homes and other property of Greek Cypriots, and wiping out the island’s historic Hellenic and Christian identity through the destruction of its cultural heritage are all legitimate acts according to the Turkish narrative.

Cyprus is Turkish, after

all. Turks can do whatever they want there. They can even celebrate dropping napalm on and slaughtering Greeks.
Employing Orwellian rhetoric, Turkey calls the military invasion of Cyprus “a peace operation.” In 1974, Kemalists and Islamists of all political parties supported the invasion of Cyprus. Moreover, Turkey does not recognize Cyprus as a Greek island or even as “a nation.”

According to the official website of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Cyprus has never been a Greek Island. It is both useful and important to keep in mind that there has never been in Cyprus a ‘Cypriot nation’ due to the distinct national, religious and cultural characteristics of each ethnic people who, in addition, speak different languages.”

The Turkish ministry cannot be more wrong. Never until the Turkish invasion in 1974 did the northern part of the island have a Turkish majority. Both the north and south of the island were majority-Greek and majority-Christian until 1974. “Cyprus has been a part of the Greek world as far back as can be attested by recorded history,” writes the author Constantine Tzanos.

“After the collapse of the Byzantine Empire and the defeat of the Venetians, it fell to Ottoman rule from 1571 to 1878. In 1878 it was placed under British administration, was annexed by Britain in 1914, and in 1925 became a British colony.”

However, the Cyprus question has been one of the key aspects of the Turkish foreign policy for a very long time. Actually, Cyprus has never ceased to be a “national cause” for Turks ever since the Ottomans first invaded it in 1571. A Muslim sovereign is not allowed to relinquish land once it has been conquered. And they can even celebrate their war crimes and murders.

Showing no regard for the sufferings of Greek Cypriots, many Turkish Cypriots and their leaders – including Mustafa Akıncı – have celebrated the deadly assaults on their Greek neighbors. But a community leader who genuinely aims for a peaceful resolution and coexistence in Cyprus would condemn the use of napalm bombs on unarmed civilians and the destruction of that part of the island, and would commemorate the Greek Cypriot victims as well.

Sadly, Turkish Cypriots’ celebrations of the brutal warfare against Greek Cypriot civilians have discredited all of their erstwhile statements that they support a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the island and justice for all its inhabitants.

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/20882

 

 

Race for Cyprus gas and oil sparks tensions in the Mediterranean

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Race for Cyprus gasAfter years of fiscal gloom, Cyprus’ government is pressing ahead with its drilling plans. But potential instability looms as Turkey talks tough and sends battleships to the region

It’s deja-vu all over again. Just six years after Turkey threatened Cyprus to pull the plug on a controversial energy project, Ankara is now warning of new reprisals, and has sent warships to shadow drilling vessels exploring for oil and gas off the coast of the war-divided Mediterranean island.

Turkey doesn’t want the drilling to proceed before securing a deal that would give the island’s Turkish Cypriot community an equal share of the revenue. Yet faced with such prospects, a potential agreement went amiss this month as United Nations-sponsored talks to reunite the island’s Greek and Turkish sides collapsed amid anger and recriminations, marking the end of a process seen as the most promising in recent years to resolve one of Europe’s most intractable ethnic conflicts.

Countless attempts to stitch Cyprus back together have failed since 1974 when Turkey invaded the island in the wake of a coup staged by nationalists supporting union with Greece. Since then Ankara has retained a 30,000-strong standing army on the island. How it will react to Cyprus’ new drilling project following the latest breakdown in peace talks remains unclear.

A divided island

So what’s different in this latest energy showdown in the eastern Mediterranean? For starters, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Back in 2011, when Ankara made similar military threats in the wake of Cyprus’ first major attempts at oil drilling, concerns ran much deeper for Greece and its ethnic kin on Cyprus. The then Turkish prime minister was seen as a darling of the West; Turkey, a cherished ally of Washington. But since then, Mr. Erdogan – now the president of Turkey – has abandoned democracy, and built a strongman cult of personality.

What’s more, his increasingly aggressive behavior has put him on a collision course with key allies including Israel, Egypt and the European Union. And, his somewhat mercurial role in the conflict in neighboring Syria has seriously diminished the clout he once held in Washington.

While Western officials concede they cannot entirely ignore the populist and popular Turkish leader because of his country’s geostrategic importance, Washington has waded into the emerging energy standoff, supporting the right of the recognized government of Cyprus – a member of the European Union – to drill in its water.

That backing risks emboldening Greek Cypriot unwillingness to share oodles of cash that untapped oil and gas reserves may potentially yield. It could also enflame Turkey’s displeasure, sparking a regional crisis. But don’t bet on it.

Playing tough

For now at least many experts are dismissing Turkey’s latest sabre rattling as nothing more than theatrics.

“For years, Turkey and Mr. Erdogan have been building up the image of a regional superpower,” says Professor Contantinos Filis, Director of Research at the Institute of International Relations in Athens. “By not being engaged in this key project, Turkey feels upset, isolated and rejected. And while it knows that it only has itself to blame, Mr. Erdogan is trying to save face before his domestic audience by flexing his muscle and playing tough with Cyprus.”

Although both are members of NATO, Greece and Turkey have been at odds over airspace and sea rights for decades.

In 1996, the age-old foes came to the brink of war with the US pulling both sides back from conflicting claims to a remote Aegean outcrop inhabited only by goats, rabbits and sheep.

Turkey strikes a fire every time it feels secure enough to do so,” says Filis. “Nowadays it has no solid alliances to fall back on.”

However reassuring this may seem, Athens isn’t taking any chances. The country’s military is already on alert, watching two warships and a submarine which Turkey has dispatched to Cyprus to monitor drilling operations at the Onesiphoros West 1 well, and Block 11, off the island’s southern shore. The EU and Washington have warned Ankara to refrain from any hostile actions.

A lot of energy at stake

After years of financial gloom, Cyprus now has the potential of becoming a key energy player in the eastern Mediterranean. The size of potential gas and oil exports remain unclear. Still, the promising prospects alone have global energy and production companies abuzz.

Earlier this year as exploration got underway, Graham Bliss, senior energy analyst with IHS Markit billed the Block 11 well as “one of the most critical drillings” to be made this year. The Cyprus government has commissioned French energy giant Total and Italy’s ENI to help with the project.

While gas is the primary target of the drilling, experts hope to hit oil, too – a discovery that would rocket Total into the ranks of the leading exploration and production players including BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell and ENI in the greater region.

Drilling, which is due to be completed by September, is expected to reach a maximum depth of around 4.25 kilometers (2.6 miles) below sea level, or 1.6 kilometers beneath the sea bed.

“Ultimately,” says Professor Filis, “Mr. Erdogan may have to prove more predictable than the unpredictable force he is perceived to be. If he wants a piece of the action, he will have to find a way into the action.”

“It’s not simple and it won’t happen overnight, but it’s the only realistic option left for him in this energy race.”

Cyprus to continue gas exploration despite Ankara’s warning

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Nicosia, 14 Jul 2017 (AFP) – Cyprus said on Thursday it will continue exploration of gas deposits off the island despite Ankara’s warning this week against carrying out projects in this area.

Yesterday, earlier in the day, the Turkish Foreign Minister said that his country would take action against the exploration of gas by the Cypriot authorities, without giving further details.

Monday, a few days after the failure of the last round of negotiations on the reunification of the Mediterranean island, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had warned international companies against possible gas projects in Cyprus.

The following day, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had supported him “the sovereign rights” of Cyprus to the exploitation of its gas fields. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 and the invasion of the Turkish army of the northern third of the island in reaction to a nationalist coup aimed at linking it to Greece. The Turkish Cypriot entity installed in the north is recognized only by Ankara.

In 2011, the American firm Noble Energy was the first to discover gas off the coast of Cyprus, in the Aphrodite field, whose reserves are estimated at 127.4 billion cubic meters of gas. Its operation has not yet begun.

Cyprus hopes to eventually become a major energy player in the eastern Mediterranean and build a terminal on land to export gas to Europe and Asia by 2022. But it needs to find more gas reserves.

Greek Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis said on Thursday that he remained unmoved by Turkey’s position. “We are prepared for different scenarios,” he told public radio. “Our perception is that Turkey will continue to challenge us in one way or another.”

This rise in tensions comes as the French and Italian energy giants, Total and ENI, could start Friday a drilling test off Cyprus. The two companies signed a hydrocarbon exploration contract in April.

Friday, July 14, 2017,
Ara © armenews.co

Cyprus reunification talks collapse

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The latest round of talks to reunify the two Cypruses has collapsed, as the conflicting sides failed to narrow their differences and reach a compromise.

“The conference on Cyprus was closed without an agreement being reached,” United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres said after a stormy final session in the early hours of Friday.

Reunification talks between Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to end the 40-year split were halted by Guterres, who had flown in from New York for the negotiations in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana, after the sides started yelling and making violent gestures at each other, a source close to the negotiations said.

There are currently two Cypruses, the Turkish Cyprus and the Greek Cyprus, and the two are being ruled separately. Numerous rounds of talks and generations of diplomats have attempted but failed to resolve the matter, and Cyprus has earned the nickname “the diplomatic graveyard” as a result.

Guterres, however, did not close the door on any resolution of the matter.

“Unfortunately… an agreement was not possible, and the conference was closed without the possibility to bring a solution to this dramatic and long-lasting problem,” Guterres said, adding, however, “That doesn’t mean that other initiatives cannot be developed in order to address the Cyprus problem.” He did not explain.

The latest round of the reunification negotiations had begun in 2015. It was not clear if a new round would be arranged. Guterres’ press conference only lasted three and a half minutes.

Cyprus is also a former British colony, and the UK still retains its military bases and installations on the island. Back in 1974, Greek-allied forces staged a failed coup to annex the island, but Turkey responded militarily, and the territory has been partitioned ever since.

Anastasiades has said the withdrawal of the 30,000 Turkish troops currently deployed in Cyprus is a precondition for any agreement to reunify the Mediterranean island.

Offshore gas drilling has been a more recent bone of contention between the sides.

Turkey opposes a Greek Cypriot plan to launch a gas drill off the island in the coming weeks. The Turks pursue their own oil and gas development plans, which the Greeks are against.

“Tonight’s development is in no way positive,” said Nicos Christodoulides, a spokesman for the Greek Cypriot government, after the collapse of the talks. “But it is not the end of the road either.”

Greek Cyprus is a member of the European Union.

Turkey: Cyprus talks last chance, no troop pullout

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Cyprus talks no troop pullout Turkey’s foreign minister on Thursday scolded Greece and Greek Cypriots to “wake up from their dream” that Ankara will withdraw all of its troops from Cyprus and give up military rights there as part of any deal to reunify the ethnically-divided island.

Turkish troops and security “guarantees” are at the core of United Nations-sponsored negotiations between Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci now underway in Switzerland.

The top diplomats from the island’s ‘guarantors’ — Turkey, Greece and Britain — are also participating in the talks, which Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned Thursday were the last chance for Cyprus’ reunification.

“This is the final conference. We cannot be negotiating these issues in this way forever,” Cavusoglu told reporters at his hotel in the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana.

At the same time, he strongly rejected one of the top terms sought by Anastasiades and Greece: complete removal of the more than 35,000 troops Turkey keeps in the island’s breakaway northern third.”

“That is their dream. They should wake up from this dream and they should abandon this dream,” said Cavusoglu, adding that Greek and Greek Cypriot negotiators should come up with “more reasonable proposals.”

Anastasiades said the second day of meetings on Thursday had made no real progress and that the talks were procedurally log-jammed.

But he said that Cavusoglu indicated he would soften his proposals on security to make them more palatable to Greek Cypriots if there was progress on other key issues that remain to be sorted out in parallel negotiations.

A key issue on which Turkish Cypriots are insisting is a rotating presidency that would have them sharing power with Greek Cypriots — an arrangement they consider to be the truest test of their acceptance as equal partners in a federal Cyprus.

Officials are hoping the presence of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres at the negotiations on Friday will help break the logjam and bring the sides closer to agreement.

Turkey has kept its soldiers deployed to the Turkish Cypriot’s north since 1974, when it invaded after a coup led by supporters of union with Greece. Ankara invoked military intervention rights accorded to the ‘guarantors’ under Cyprus’ 1960 constitution to initiate the military action.

Anastasiades has renewed a proposal for an international police force backed up by the UN Security Council to keep the peace. He says outside military forces have no place on Cyprus, arguing that European Union statutes guarantee ample security measures.

Cyprus is an EU member, but only the Greek Cypriot southern part that is the seat of the island’s internationally recognized government enjoys full benefits.

(Source: AP)

Armenia and Cyprus sign Agreement on Bilateral Military Cooperation Programme

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Cyprus Armenia Armenia and Cyprus on Monday signed agreements on Exchange and Mutual Protection of Classified Information, as well as on Bilateral Military Cooperation Programme.

The agreements were signed during the visit of Armenian FM Vigen Sargsyan to Cyprus, in-cyprus.com reports.

The talks between the Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan and his Cypriot counterpart Christoforos Fokaides were followed by a meeting in an extended format.

Sargsyan will also be received by President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades. Apart from this, he will hold meetings with House President Demetris Syllouris, Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs Ioannis Kasoulides, and Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus Chrysostomos II.

Park in Cyprus in memory of genocide victims

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In Paphos city of Cyprus, Armenian Genocide Park will be opened.

The park project, that will be opened with a ceremony on April 30, was launched with the initiation of Vartkes Mahtesian, representative of Armenian society in Cypriot Parliament.

Speaking to Agos, Mahtesian said that Armenian Genocide Park was suggested in 2016 and then turned into a project. Accepted unanimously by Paphos Municipal Council, the project was launched with the approval of Mayor of Paphos Phedonas Phedonos. Deputy Mahtesian said, “This green area crossing the streets of Charalambos Mouskos and Evagoras Pllikarides is named as ‘Armenian Genocide Park” for commemorating and honoring 1.5 million innocent people who were killed in 1915 Genocide.” Also, a cross-stone (khachkar), which is in UNESCO cultural heritage list and considered as a symbol of Armenian land, will be put in the park. Mahtesian also said, “This park will also be the symbol of friendship and mutual respect of Armenian and Greek societies in Cyprus.”