On the 15th of June the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK held its biennial elections for its Secretariat and Officers. Christos Karaolis, the first third-generation Cypriot to hold the position, was re-elected as President. Reflecting on his first term, Mr Karaolis said that “whilst we’ve had a lot of successes over the last two years to advance the Cyprus Issue and the UK Cypriot community, there is still much more to do. I’m looking forward to working with our new team which has an exciting balance of young energy and experience.”
Mr Karaolis highlighted two key areas of focus for his second term. Firstly, Mr Karaolis spoke of the importance of raising awareness of the Cyprus Issue by further expanding Cyprus’ parliamentary friends, as well as building partnerships with other diasporas and organisations. Secondly, he spoke about the need to develop a comprehensive strategy to engage second- and third-generation Cypriots to further advance the community.
The Federation elected its Secretariat and, from the members of the Secretariat, elected its President, 3 Vice Presidents, General Secretary, and Treasurer. The full list of names and their positions can be found below.
A notable outcome of this year’s election was that, for the first time, a quarter of the Federation’s Secretariat are now under the age of 38. The Federation’s member associations welcomed this as a very positive sign that young, British-born Cypriots are actively engaged with the future of the UK Cypriot diaspora, as well as the Cyprus Issue. The large proportion of younger Secretariat members will bring fresh ideas and energy to the organisation and the UK Cypriot
community.
The following were elected as Officers of the Federation:
President | Christos Karaolis
Vice Presidents | Andreas Papaevripides, Bambos Charalambous, Michalis Ellinas
General Secretary | Michael Kashis
Treasurer | Ninos Koumettou
Secretariat 2017-19:
Andreas Chimonas
Andreas Georgiou
Andreas Gregoriou
Andreas Papaevripides
Antonia Michaelides (via NEPOMAK UK)
Bambos Charalambous
Caterina Fragkoulidou
Chriso Ioannou
Christina Pippas
Christos Karaolis
Christos Tuton (via NEPOMAK UK)
Costas Georgiou
Costas Sakkas
Eleni Palazidou
Evoulla Nicolaou
George Maifoshis
George Michaelides
Harry Charalambous (via NEPOMAK UK)
Ioanna Michaelidou
Katia David Harmanda
Lakis Andronikou
Mary Helen Karaolis
Menicos Kouvaros
Michael Kashis
Michael Yiakoumi
Michalakis Michael
Michalis Ellinas
Neophytos Nicolaou
Nikos Andronikou
Ninos Koumettou
Panayiotis Yiakoumi
Peter Charalambous
Savvas Hadjiphilippou
Savvas Pavlides
Stephanos Habeshis
Susie Constantinides
Theo Papapavlou
Vasilis Mavrou
Yiannis Koumettou
Yiannis Kouvaros