Archbishop to Greece: Don't close your issues with Türkiye by leaving Cyprus out

Greece
Wed, 25 Oct 2023 13:01 GMT
Archbishop to Greece: Don't close your issues with Türkiye by leaving Cyprus out

Greek Orthodox Church Archbishop Georgios Papahrisostomou argued that "Cyprus is the last outpost of Hellenism, and if Cyprus is lost, Greece will begin to unravel, and the turn will come to the Aegean, Thrace and Macedonia". He called on Greece not to close the open issues with Türkiye by leaving Cyprus out and to activate the Greek-Greek Joint Defence Area Doctrine.

Kathimerini reported that Georgios, the "New Justinian and Archbishop of Cyprus", was born in 1949 in "Athienu" (Kiracıköy), was arrested during an "anti-occupation demonstration" and took Türkiye to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for alleged ill-treatment.

The newspaper pointed out that the election of Georgios as the new Archbishop in December 2022 was welcomed by Cyprus, Greece and the Greek Patriarchate of Constantinople, as his insistence on strengthening relations with the Greek Church and the Greek Patriarchate of Istanbul is known.

When reminded that the Greek Orthodox Church had requested that the struggle for freedom from British colonisation be celebrated in Greek schools, and asked why, Georgios said that "as part of Hellenism, Greece believes that it has the right to ask Greece to allocate a few pages in the history books taught in schools" and summarised as follows:

"Since we have learnt the history of Northern Epirus (Macedonia) and Asia Minor (Anatolia), why not learn the history of Cyprus? Our liberation struggle was a very important page in the history of Cyprus.  This struggle was a demonstration of Cyprus' Hellenic roots that go back centuries. We have always considered the Hellenic centre as our homeland and this struggle was fought for the unification of Cyprus with Greece. It would be good for all Hellenism to know this."

1. Georgios said that he saw Makarios as "the new Moses who led his people from slavery to freedom" and added: "Everything he did was for the good of his people. For this reason, today we are following the values and heritage he left us to save our country. For example, when he saw that Türkiye was using negotiations after the invasion to buy time and consolidate its occupation positions, he declared a long-term struggle. He ordered us to 'continue it to save the country'."

"WE ARE NOT RACIST, BUT THE VAST MAJORITY ARE MUSLIMS"

When asked about the racist attacks that took place in the village of Hloraka in Paphos and in Limassol, and what the Church is doing to "isolate the far-right discourse of hatred and racism", Georgios began by saying, "I cannot say that what took place were racist incidents":

"We can see this as a continuation of what happened in Hloraka. Many asylum seekers and illegal refugees are causing problems for the local population there. There were incidents there and the answer was given in Limassol. We are not racist. We accept really needy people fleeing from war situations and we can provide assistance. However, the overwhelming majority of them come from Türkiye and are sent to disrupt the demographic structure of the free areas. Because the majority of them are Muslims, when the time comes, they will use them as a fifth column. Therefore, we should see the issue as a matter of the existence of our people, not as a humanitarian issue, but as Türkiye's effort to change our character."

"WE ARE HELLENIC, WE MUST REMAIN HELLENIC, WE MUST COPE TOGETHER WITH TÜRKİYE"

Georgios was reminded that he called for the activation of the Greek-Greek Joint Defence Area Doctrine at the coronation ceremony and asked the reason for this.

"We are Hellenes and we must remain Hellenes. We must jointly deal with Türkiye in the whole area of Greece and Cyprus. Cyprus is the last outpost of Greece. If Cyprus falls, Greece will begin to unravel. If Turkey succeeds in convincing Greece to solve other problems between them and leave the Cyprus problem out, then the Aegean will be next, Thrace will be next, Macedonia will be next, then the problems will start. Greece and Cyprus are members of the UN and the EU and if we use our power we can work miracles. For example, we can stand up in front of our partners and say that if similar sanctions are imposed on Türkiye for its invasion of Cyprus, we will authorise sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. In Cyprus, too, the defence shield must be unitary so that we can repel Turkish expansionism."

Georgios stated that they have received some information that the Greek government is closing its issues with Türkiye by excluding the Cyprus problem and that they are concerned about this and said: "I call on the Greek government and the political world not to exclude Cyprus from other Turkish-Greek issues. Cyprus and Greece should deal with Türkiye jointly."

Source: TAK

Related News

MILLET MEDIA OE.
BİLAL BUDUR & CENGİZ ÖMER KOLLEKTİF ŞİRKETİ.
Address: Miaouli 7-9, Xanthi 67100, GREECE.
Tel: +30 25410 77968.
Email: info@milletgazetesi.gr.