Austrian Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, during his official visit in Cyprus today, laid a wreath at the monument in Koshi, in honor of the Austrian peacemakers serving with UNFICYP that lost their lives in an air attack in the vicinity of the small village of Koshi n 1974. Nehammer was accompanied by the Austrian Minister of Defense, Klaudia Tanner.
The Austrian Officials were received in Koshi this afternoon, by the Cypriot Minister of Defense, Charalambos Petrides, and the Chief of the National Guard, Demokritos Zervakis.
Following a salute by the Philharmonic Orchestra of the National Guard, the Austrian Chancellor laid a wreath in honor of three Austrian members of UNFICYP that lost their lives during an attack of Turkish airplanes on August 14th 1974, during the second phase of the Turkish invasion in Cyprus.
After the ceremony, a moment of silence was held for the fallen Austrian peacekeepers.
UNFICYP, comprising over 800 military personnel from about seven troop contributing countries, arrived in Cyprus in March 1964 after inter-communal fighting broke out. The mandate of the force is renewed every six months by the Security Council. UNFICYP’s mandate is to contribute to the restoration of normal conditions and entails the facilitation of an increasingly wide range of civilian activities.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.
Source: Cyprus News Agency