London Greek Radio

Cyprus favours a solution to keep Greece in the eurozone, Government Spokesman Nicos Christodoulides has told CNA, stressing that Finance Minister Harris Georgiades supported the Greek government`s position to restructure its debt at the Eurogroup meeting on Saturday.

Cyprus’ Presidential Mansion

He had been asked on Saturday evening by CNA to comment of a Eurogroup decision on Greece.

“The Cypriot government, the President of the Republic at the European Council and the Finance Minister at the Eurogroup meeting argued for the need to find a solution in order for Greece to remain in the eurozone”, Christodoulides told CNA on Saturday night, commenting on the Eurogroups decision on Greece.

The Finance Minister, he said replying to questions, made a special intervention in support of the Greek government`s position to restructuring its debt.

In its decision, Eurogroup said that it “recalls the significant financial transfers and support provided to Greece over the last years. The Eurogroup has been open until the very last moment to further support the Greek people through a continued growth-oriented programme.”

“The Eurogroup takes note of the decision of the Greek government to put forward a proposal to call for a referendum, which is expected to take place on Sunday July 5, which is after the expiration of the programme period. The current financial assistance arrangement with Greece will expire on 30 June 2015, as well as all agreements related to the current Greek programme including the transfer by euro area Member States of SMP and ANFA equivalent profits. The euro area authorities stand ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure financial stability of the euro area.”

The leaders of the two communities in Cyprus, President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, will hold a new meeting on Monday, in the framework of the UN- led Cyprus talks.

T/C Leader Mustafa Akinci (L)-Esper Barth Eide(M)-Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades

UNSG`s Special Advisor for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide will participate “facilitating the leaders’ meeting, as the leaders progress in the ongoing substantive negotiations on all unresolved core issues”, a press release by UNFICYP said.

In a statement after their previous meeting on the 17th of June, Eide had said that “with strong determination, and driven by their joint commitment,” the two leaders “pursued their goal of reaching a comprehensive settlement as soon as possible.”

He added that “upon completing the baseline assessment, the leaders are now entering into substantive negotiations on unresolved core issues. The leaders agreed that these negotiations will be the centerpiece of their work from now on and that they will be dealt with in a holistic and interdependent manner”.

Therefore, he added, “Mr. Anastasiades and Mr. Akıncı have tasked their negotiators to focus their work on a specific set of core issues across chapters. They will work intensively on this task and report back to the next leaders’ meeting to be held on 29 June 2015.”

Eide said that the leaders also reviewed the implementation of those confidence building measures that were previously announced and that Akıncı and Anastasiades continued their work on further confidence-building measures in parallel to the negotiation process.

Eide will remain in Cyprus until Thursday, July 2, to continue his contacts with key interlocutors. In the course of his stay on the island, he will also chair the joint negotiators’ meetings which will be held following the leaders’ meeting.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. UN-led talks, aiming to reunite the island under a federal roof, resumed on May 15, this year.

The negotiators of the two communities in Cyprus continue on Friday their discussion in the framework of the resumed UN – led peace talks.

Greek Cypriot negotiation Andreas Mavroyiannis and Turkish Cypriot negotiator Ozdil Nami began their meeting this morning continuing the discussion on issues of substance according to the guidelines they received by the leaders of the two communities on the island, President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.

Last week, President Anastasiades said that the two negotiators “have done a great job in identifying convergences and divergences on all issues”.

This, he noted, allows him and Akinci “to give further instructions for processing based on the interconnected negotiation of chapters, so that on the 29th of June we actually enter into a substantive negotiation on the chapters that will be before us”.

It is recalled that UN SG`s Special Advisor for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide was present in the negotiators` meeting on the 19th of June. In a twitter message after the meeting Eide wrote that he is “impressed by how the two Cyprus negotiation teams, led by Nami and Mavroyiannis demonstrate courage, creativity, and mutual respect”.

The next meeting of the two leaders will take place on the 29th of June. UN SG`s Special Advisor will also be present at that meeting.

The Republic of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and since then occupies 37% of this Mediterranean EU island`s territory. UN-led talks, aiming to reunite the island under a federal roof, resumed on May 15, this year.

The government has dismissed allegations of an abduction attempt of British children by a gang in Cyprus, noting that all the fuss made by British media over this issue was unnecessary and unsubstantiated.

In a written statement he made in the wake of allegations by the media that a gang attempted to abduct three British children in Protaras, a popular holiday resort, Deputy Government Spokesman Victoras Papadopoulos underlined that Cyprus has been and remains one of the safest tourist destinations all over the world, both for locals and foreigners and their children.

Papadopoulos said that British tourists staying at a hotel in Protaras had filed a complaint with the Police that an unknown man was taking pictures and approached their children. He noted that the police acted quickly and arrested a 19-year-old man of Bulgarian origin.

The man was questioned and his mobile phone was confiscated, however nothing inappropriate was found. The police also conducted investigations at this house, where nothing suspicious or inappropriate was found as regards this case or any related offences, Papadopoulos added.

He noted that moreover the police visited the hotel premises and took statements from the British parents that had filed the complaint as well as from their children, however nothing inappropriate came up.

“Consequently the Cyprus government considers that the fuss made by British media is unnecessary and unsubstantiated,” Papadopoulos added.

Southgate Summer Festival

Southgate Summer Festival:

Saturday 11th July 2015

Where: Chase Side, Southgate Roundabout, Ashfield Parade

Time: 11am til 5pm

Local company Little N’ Large started the Southgate Festivals 2 years ago, in order to improve community spirit in Southgate and the surrounding areas.

Transport For London reported that last year’s summer festival attracted 4,500 more people than normal to the area by tube and it is expected that this figure will increase again this year!

This is a a non profit event.

Entertainment on the day will include: Live Music, Professional Skateboard/Bike Ramp Shows, Bouncy Castle, Kids Carousel, Disney Characters, Face Painting, Horse & Carriage Ride.

This is a free festival so no tickets are needed, just turn up and enjoy!

Special Thanks

The Cypriot community is effectively a bystander in British politics, when other ethnic communities are doubling numbers in Parliament and across British politics.  This general election saw a record number of (British Minority Ethnic) BME politicians elected to Parliament, with eight new BME MPs coming from Labour, seven from the Conservatives, and one SNP.  Ten new BME female MPs have been returned to the House of Commons.  None of them Cypriots.  The number BME MP’s is up to 41 from 25 in 2010.

According to John Kaponi  National (pictured above) Chairman of  ‘Future  Cyprus’, an organisation aiming to promote Cypriots in British public life,  “It’s now time the UK Cypriot community started to look at itself very closely and understand that without political muscle the “Cypriot community” will not be able to protect its interests and issues.  We therefore call on Cypriot associations and organisations to sign up to be members of British political parties and participate in local and national British politics.”

 The General election results saw the return to Parliament by some of the Cypriot community strongest friends; but at the same time failed to bring back people like Nick De Bois, a tireless supporter of the Cypriots in London.  Cyprus Future played an active role across London and the South East of England encouraging as many Cypriots to vote in the general election. Some of the efforts worked, but on the whole the community did not play the role it should have at these very important elections.

 The biggest problem that Cyprus Future has identified, and this applies to all political parties, is the lack of Cypriots affiliated to British political parties.  This has unfortunately meant that very few, if any Cypriots are active politically at local, national and European levels, which directly affects the influence the community has in British politics. It is a known fact that some of the older generation of British Cypriots  are members of political parties from Cyprus instead of British political parties.

 An example of the lack of involvement in “main-stream” politics was seen starkly at the canvassing, leafleting, phone calling, emailing, talking to residents on the doorstep and manning stalls sessions of all the main parties in London.  With a handful of Cypriots out knocking doors, our “friends” who looked during the campaign  to see who their friends are, were clearly disappointed by the same old faces turning up.  More must be done to encourage more Cypriots to be actively involved in British politics.

 John Kaponi said, “What is more worrying is that with elections now expected in 2016 for the London Mayoralty and London Assembly, the EU referendum in 2017, “the Cypriot community” must play its role and should be looking to be players, and not spectators which is what we will be, bystanders in the democratic process.  Does the community feel comfortable with the fact that the Cypriots do not have any representatives in the House of Commons, no representatives in the House of Lords, no representatives in the European Parliament or the London Assembly?  How long can this continue?”

This petition is initiated by the Hellenic Education Coordinating Committee in the UK – ΕΦΕΠΕ (ΚΕΣ, ΟΕΣΕΚΑ,  ΑΕΣΑ) and the Greek Schools of Manor Hill and Finchley and supported by the Cyprus Educational Mission in the UK and the Education Office at the Greek Embassy in the UK, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great  Britain, the Embassy of Greece in the UK, the Cyprus High Commission in the UK, the National Federation of Cypriots  in the UK and the Association of Greek Orthodox Communities in the UK.

We strongly oppose Edexcel’s initial decision to stop the GCE AS and A-level Modern Greek examinations from 2017.

The Greek language is one of the official languages of the European Union spoken in two member states, Greece and the Republic of Cyprus. The policy of the European Union on languages is to support language learning and linguistic diversity. Stopping the examination in Modern Greek is certainly not in compliance with the above policy.

The Greek language has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning34 centuries of written records and forms the basis for a number of modern languages. Moreover, the Greek language holds an important place in the history of Europe, the Western world and Christianity. Ancient Greek literature includes works of monumental importance and influence such as Homer’s epic poems of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts of Western philosophy were written, such as the Platonic dialogues and the works of Aristotle. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also written in Greek.

The study of the Greek texts is a very important discipline of Classics in many world class universities. The terms that originate from Greek can be found in abundance in all scientific fields and the humanities. Therefore the importance of the Greek language is tremendous.

Keeping the GCE AS and A-level Modern Greek examinations will secure the general familiarity with the Greek language. Furthermore, it will help not only the local Greek population but also everyone who wants to study Greek develop a lifelong appreciation for the richness of the Greek culture. This will also help to establish strong links between the Greek and the British societies.

There is a significant number of people of Greek origin living in England and Wales. Being able to obtain a qualification in the Greek language is one of the biggest motivations of young people of Greek origin to learn their “mother tongue”. We believe we have every right to have our language skills recognised and accredited through the education system. Moreover, keeping the connection with the language and culture of our origin, as British residents and citizens, will ensure a more dynamic and functional role in the multicultural British society. Greek supplementary schools serve a very important role towards community cohesion, children’s self-development and resilience.

Lastly but of crucial importance is the impact of maintaining and supporting a multilingual environment in the UK for social cohesion and for economic recovery of the country, as it can increase the levels of trade. Languages can bring enormous benefits in these two areas. The importance of languages is emphasised, among others, by the British Academy, the UK’s national body which champions and supports the humanities and social sciences.

IF you want to sign this petition click on the link below:

KEEP THE MODERN GREEK LANGUAGE A-LEVEL EXAM

Greece has made it through to the Grand Final of the Eurovision song contest after Maria-Elena Kyriakou’s dynamic and at the same time emotional performance of ‘One Last breath’, a song she co-wrote with Efthyvoulos Theoharous, during last night’s first semi-final impressed the crowd attending Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle  arena and won the vote of both the TV viewers and that of the professional juries.

The 31-year old, mother of the three, Cypriot-born singer will be joined in this Saturday’s final  by nine other acts from Serbia, Armenia, Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, Russia, Albania, Romania and Georgia.

Finland, Moldova, Netherlands,FYROM, Belarus and Denmark failed to qualify for the final

As one of the ‘Big Five’ countries, the UK has gained automatic qualification to the Grand Final alongside Spain, Germany, France, Italy and current title holders Austria.

Last year’s winner Conchita Wurst opened the show with a performance of ‘Rise Like A Phoenix’, a song penned by Charlie Μason, who has also written Serbia’s entry this year- Beauty Never Lies, performed by Bojana Stamenov.

The second live  semi final, which you can watch on BBC 3 again from 8pm until 10 pm, takes place on Thursday where Cyprus’  John Karayiannis will try his best to secure a place in the final with his melodic  ballad ‘One Thing I Should Have Done’.

For those of you who missed it, this is Maria Elena Kyriakou performing One Last Breath live at the 2015 Eurovision semi-final:

Mayor of Famagusta, Alexis Galanos and members of the Municipal Council were received today by President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades, who briefed them on the latest developments regarding the Cyprus issue, including the Famagusta issue and the Confidence Building Measures.

In statements to journalists after the meeting, the Mayor of Famagusta, which is under Turkish military occupation since 1974, expressed cautious optimism as regards the Cyprus issue, saying that there is a better climate but noted that one must wait and see the stance of the Turkish side at the negotiating table.

Replying to questions he said that the Famagusta issue is included in the overall measures under discussion and added that under discussion is also the issue concerning the entrance of UN experts to the city.

The return of Famagusta can not take place in just one day, he said, adding that the Municipal Council is satisfied that the issue is on the right track.

“But I want to stress that apart from the Famagusta issue, we are interested of course in the overall solution of the Cyprus problem, the withdrawal of Turkish troops, the creation of conditions of peace so that our children can have a better future”, he went on to say.

He added that Famagusta can serve as one more tool that would contribute to the effort to reach a solution and recalled numerous UNSC resolutions calling for the return of Famagusta.

Referring to the Confidence Building Measures he said that their goal is to create a positive climate that would enable the achievement of an overall solution. In order to achieve that, Turkey must show the necessary political will, he concluded.

Cyprus has been divided since the Turkish invasion in 1974. A new round of talks under UN auspices recommenced this month.

British police said on Saturday that they are investigating new leads after the family of Ben Needham, the toddler who disappeared on the Greek island of Kos 24 years ago, appeared on Greek TV on Friday night.

South Yorkshire police said they received “a number of calls” after the Fos sto Tounel (Light at the End of the Tunnel) show on Alpha TV.

The Daily Telegraph claimed that one man called in and suggested that he may be Ben.

Previous sightings or DNA tests on possible matches have proved fruitless.

Ben’s mother, Kerry Needham, his grandmother Christine and sister Leighanna took part in the three-hour TV show.

“Please end the pain that my family is suffering,” said Kerry during the program. “I know he’s out there somewhere.

Please call the police and please put an end to this.”

The UK Home Office granted South Yorkshire police 700,000 pounds (970,000 euros) to support Greek authorities in the continued search for Ben, who would currently be 25.