Day: January 22, 2023

Cypriot Minister of Defence Charalambos Petrides has called for unity in the face of growing provocative actions by Turkey.

“Today, as occupying Turkey proceeds with a crescendo of irrational and provocative actions and statements, which directly threaten broader Hellenism and lead regional peace and security of the Eastern Mediterranean to dangerous paths, universal unity is necessary,” Petrides said addressing in Nicosia an award ceremony for “Marcos Drakos race” organised by a youth organisation of SEK trade union.

Petrides said that this event is not only a token of respect, honour and gratitude to Marcos Drakos, a hero of the 1955 – 1959 anti-colonial struggle, but a call of responsibility for each and every one to continue striving for freedom, peace as well as security, Cyprus and its future generations deserve.

“This future would constitute the best tribute for Marcos Drakos whose example will represent an ever-lasting beacon,” he added.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, stated on Sunday that the goal is to provide citizens with fair and equal access to quality health services.

Speaking at the inauguration of projects at the Famagusta General Hospital, President Anastasiades said this demonstrates the Government’s priorities, i.e. to create the conditions for high, quality and efficient level of medical services to the wider community.

These services, he said, are included in the efforts to improve care services, upgrade existing infrastructure and create modern and advanced Units and clinical referral centers.

The projects inaugurated are the hospital’s expansion, a new modern Hemodialysis unit and the operation of the Mammography Center that will meet the needs of the population of the government-controlled areas of Famagusta.

President Anastasiades said Famagusta Hospital, which operates as the COVID-19 Reference hospital, proved to be one of the most important points in the chain set up to deal with and manage the pandemic. He expressed his gratitude to the Director and the entire medical and nursing staff for the high sense of responsibility they demonstrated, despite the difficult conditions in which they were called to perform their duties.

The hospital’s expansion, as well as the operation of the Hemodialysis Unit and the Mammography Center inaugurated today, have a total cost exceeding three million euros, the President remarked, adding they have well-equipped facilities, providing all the necessary equipment to health professionals to perform their work.

At the same time, the new health services that the hospital will provide, not only will reduce the waiting times for patients, but also significantly enhance the health services provided to patients and eligible care recipients in the free area of Famagusta and others because they also cover the visitors of one of the most important tourist areas of the country.

He also noted, “that the creation of infrastructure, was also the goal of the broader policy” his government had adopted, and described the introduction of the National Health System, the “biggest social reform in the region, providing citizens with the ability for fair and equal access to quality health services.”

The President emphasized that he acknowledges that there are problems and it is natural for any new reform, particularly the extension and adoption of a social system such as the National Health System, to have its shortcomings and deficiencies, which with the passage of time, the contribution of patients, patient associations, and different categories, will be improved.

In his speech, Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantela said that when he took over the Health Ministry about 18 months ago, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Famagusta hospital was the reference hospital and the increasing demands for beds due to the pandemic left no room for anything else. Along with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, they took the initiative to steer procedures in cooperation with the State Health Services Organisation, so that the project became a reality in a short period of time.

The expansion of the hospital took 15 weeks and consists of facilities on the second and third floors with 54 beds, while the cost came to 1.6 million euros, he said.

The Health Minister further said that the new modern Hemodialysis unit was a long-standing demand of patients in the Famagusta region and was completed in nine months.

He added that the new mammography center in Famagusta will improve the public health services provided to women in the region and he is confident that the women will respond positively to the call for screenings.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades expressed regret over the fact that Famagusta, the fenced off city since the 1974 Turkish invasion, has not been returned to its legal inhabitants according to UN Security Council resolutions 550 and 789.

“Despite tireless efforts we were faced with Turkish intransigence,” Anastasiades said, while addressing a ceremony in Deryneia to reveal a sculpture commemorating the contribution of members and athletes of Evagoras gymnastic club to the nation’s struggles, as well as the fallen and those who went missing during the 1974 Turkish invasion.

Anastasiades also expressed regret “for failure due to Turkish intransigence, to reach an acceptable solution, a functional and viable solution which would rid us of anachronistic guarantees, intervention rights and the presence of occupying forces and of Cyprus transforming into a country dependent on Turkey, through the settlement of our occupied homeland.”

The worst of all, he added, “is that Turkey’s revisionist aims, with the tolerance of the international community and many others who play a role in the world political order, have not averted developments on the ground.”

He also said that it will not be long before Turkey is called to pay the price, otherwise, he added, Europe and other countries of the region, will be called to pay it, such as the Greek islands, Syria, Iraq Libya, Armenia or Nagorno Karabakh.

“Europe is facing one challenge after the other,” he said, citing developments in Finland and Sweden who want to join NATO, which are blocked by Turkey.

“This cannot continue and it cannot leave us indifferent,” Anastasiades went on to say.

On his part Simos Ioannou, Mayor of occupied Famagusta, said the occupying regime’s moves to open the fenced-off city of Varosha “ravages the soul” of every citizen of Famagusta.

“We have the highest responsibility to keep hope and the future alive to vindicate the sacrifices of all those young men from Cyprus and Greece who have fallen in the name of freedom by bringing peace to our country,” he said.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Varosha, the fenced off section of the Turkish occupied town of Famagusta, is often described as a ‘ghost town’.

UN Security Council resolution 550 (1984) considers any attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the UN. UN Security Council resolution 789 (1992) also urges that with a view to the implementation of resolution 550 (1984), the area at present under the control of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus be extended to include Varosha.

The Turkish Cypriot leadership announced in July 2021 a partial lifting of the military status in Varosha. A few months earlier, on October 8, 2020, the Turkish side opened part of the fenced area of Varosha, following an announcement made in Ankara on October 6. The UN Security Council called for the reversal of this course of action, while the UN Secretary General, in his latest report on his mission of good offices in Cyprus, reiterated his concern over developments in the fenced-off area, noting that the position of the UN on Varosha remains unchanged. The EU also expressed grave concern.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

The government with various policies and actions has supported with great sensitivity the fisheries sector and the prospects of blue growth, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has said laying the foundation stone for the works to upgrade the Liopetri fishing shelter.

The project will be completed in the coming November with a total cost of €11 million.

Anastasiades called on the construction company to finish the project within the envisaged timeframe implementing “what has been a vision and a standing request by the region’s fishermen for decades.”

The President furthermore noted that fishing may have a small contribution to the island’s GDP but contributes decisively to the social and economic growth of the coastal regions, offering healthy and safe products to consumers.

The project features a new 112-birth harbour with upgraded surrounding areas, boasting pedestrian and cycle lanes.

“The project is expected to have direct social and economic benefit both to the fishermen themselves as well as the community of Liopetri and the inhabitants of the wider region,” he said.

Moreover, Anastasiades said the connection with the highway, which is also under construction, will render the shelter accessible to tourists which stay at the nearby tourist resort of Ayia Napa and Paralimni and Protaras as well the wider region of Famagusta.

The citizens will soon have at their disposal an area which would constitute a reference point for sport and leisure with an upgraded road network, he said.

The President said that the outgoing government leaves to the next administration which will assume duties on March 1, following the February presidential elections, a legacy of over €54 million in the operational programme Sea, Fisheries and Aquaculture for 2021-2027 which are additional to the funds allocated in the annual budgets.

Source: Cyprus News Agency