London Greek Radio

President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades has once again apologized on behalf of the state for everything it should have done but failed to do so, to prevent the death of 13 people five years ago during a massive explosion at the naval base “Evangelos Florakis”, at Mari, on the southern coast.

The huge blast occurred on 11 July 2011 when a number of containers, full of munitions, which Cyprus had confiscated from “Monchegorsk“, a vessel sailing from Iran to Syria in 2009 exploded. As a result of the explosion and the shock wave that followed, the nearby Vassiliko power station suffered extensive damage that led to power cuts for some time after the blast.

More than 60 people were injured during the explosion.

Speaking at a memorial event at Mari, President Anastasiades assured the state will not allow similar mistakes to occur once again.

The President said that five years after the terrible disaster at Mari “we set aside our daily routine” as “today is a day for those who have positions of responsibility on this island, to reflect on how we were led to this tragedy”.

The conclusion, he added, is that “during this tragedy we lost 13 people, 13 professionals, heroes while the state exhibited unprecedented inadequacy and committed a number of repeated mistakes. Once again, we see that the worst decision is one that you put off because you are afraid to assume responsibility”, the President said.

Expressing respect for those who died, the President apologized for “everything that we ought to have done as a state and we did not” and assured that “we will not allow again such mistakes to be repeated and our country to witness similar tragedies”.

President Anastasiades said “accountability and professionalism should constitute the fundamental conditions on which a state operates on” and in this direction “we need to work towards a state that is responsible and maintains risk prevention policies at all levels”.

Remembering the youth of the National Guard, the members of the Fire and EMAK force who died while on duty, the President said “we share the pain and sorrow of the parents, spouses, children, siblings of those who tragically died bearing on their shoulders the political and administrative responsibilities of others”.

He said the chapel that the state has erected in the area is a reminder of the obligation of the state to honour those who sacrificed their lives. The chapel`s construction was funded by the Ministry of Finance and the Church of Cyprus designed the plans. Earlier, a memorial service was held for the victims of the disaster.

Nothing can alleviate the lack of their physical presence, said the President, but hoped that “this sacred site will become a spiritual relief for the relatives”.

Declaring the 13 men heroes, the President said the state has decided to provide support on a regular basis, to the spouses, parents and children of the deceased and injured of the 11th July 2011 explosion.

He also said that the Cabinet has decided to set up a committee that will monitor the problems that the relatives of the victims of the Mari explosion face.

Outside the chapel, a column with the names of the victims was placed as well as 13 individual crosses.

In the years that followed the blast, six persons, including two Ministers, were brought to justice. Four, including the then Minister of Defence, were given jail sentences in connection with the explosion on charges of causing death due to unreasonable or dangerous acts. The Minister of Defence was also found guilty of manslaughter due to neglect. The then Minister of Foreign Affairs was acquitted.

Morphou “is not and will never become a bargaining chip” says the Mayor of the Turkish-occupied city, Charalambos Pittas, in reply to statements from the Turkish Cypriot side.

St Mamas Church Morphou

Hüseyin Özgürgün, the self-styled “prime minister” of the illegal regime in the island`s Turkish-occupied north, has said recently that the return of Morphou is not on the table.

In a statement, Pittas condemned Özgürgün`s “arrogant behavior and the unacceptable provocative statements”, noting that they put in peril the ongoing effort for a Cyprus settlement and the country`s reunification.

He says, moreover that people from Morphou will in no case abandon their inalienable right to return to their homeland. Morphou is not property of Özgürgün but the lands are illegally held by force of arms, the Mayor adds.

The fait accomplis, following the 1974 Turkish invasion in Cyprus, give no right over our land to Özgürgün, to Mustafa Akinci`s illegal regime and to Ankara, Pittas says.

It is also noted that the Municipal Council of Morphou has unanimously decided to bestow honorary citizenship upon the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, handing over to him the key to the city during an event on Monday, July 11, 2016.

A joint declaration by three Cypriot overseas organisations in the UK urges the leaderships of the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot communities in the island to work for a quick solution to the long-standing Cyprus problem.

The Enfield Cypriots Association, the Turkish Cypriot Association for Democracy and the Union of Cypriots in Britain state their encouragement by the continuation of the intercommunal talks between the leaders of the two communities under the auspices of the UN and “urge both of them to work harder aiming to reach an acceptable solution as quickly as possible as the passing of time only complicates things further”.

The declaration states that the message of both communities is “loud and clear: the overwhelming majority of the Cypriot people are looking forward to a peaceful solution to re-unify our country. We do not accept the continuation of the status-quo or the partition of our country`.

“We call upon the leaders of both communities and remind them of their responsibilities including during the intercommunal talks to cultivate policies and actions against the resurgence of nationalism-chauvinism and intolerance`.

Referring to the settlement itself, the three organisations note that a reunification agreement should include the “complete demilitarisation on a bi-zonal, bi-communal federal basis with political equality as set out by the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council; a solution that will safeguard a single sovereignty, a single international personality and a single citizenship, as well as the respect of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all the citizens of the united Republic of Cyprus”.

The joint declaration was handed out to visitors of the recent Wine Festival in north London and has also been sent to both leaders, President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.

This EU summit was one of the most productive meetings the EU has had, as far as the discussions among the member states are concerned, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades said here today, departing from the European Council building after the informal meeting of 27 EU leaders without British PM David Cameron.

President Anastasiades

“It was one of the most productive meetings we had as the EU. And creative. And I am talking about our discussions. Everyone was worried about the current situation in Europe: Euroscepticism, nationalist movements and other causes,” said the President of the Republic.

He said the EU heads of state discussed “the need for the new British government to notify the EU at the earliest possible, so as not to prolong the uncertainty, which creates multiple problems.”

“More importantly, however, as a result of the decision of the British people, we reflected on the actions that need to be undertaken, so that finally the people feel that Europe is theirs and not something remote or foreign to own their country,” he added.

Asked whether any specific decisions have been taken, President Anastasiadis replied that “a joint statement will be released and then there will be a specific plan in order to have what we call more Europe, or more effective European policies”

Efforts to put out a huge blaze which broke out on Sunday and destroyed large areas of a Cypriot forest in the mountainous Solea region of Nicosia District and has so far claimed the lives of two firefighters were renewed on Wednesday morning.

The ongoing effort takes place on the ground and by air.

A meeting has been underway this morning at the coordinating centre which has been set up in Galata village with the participation of Ministers of Justice and Public Order Ionas Nicolaou and Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Nicos Kouyialis, as well as Deputy Chief of Police Kypros Michaelides.

Apart from a number of Greek and Israeli firefighting and support aircraft already taking part in operations the effort is also joined today by the two firefighting Canadair 415 aircraft and one light support aircraft which arrived in Paphos yesterday from France.

In the meantime, the Department of Forests has issued through twitter an urgent call for volunteers. Those able and interested to help can contact the department on 22608535.

Cyprus High Commissioner Euripides Evriviades urged Cypriots living in the UK to vote in the upcoming EU referendum in June 23.

Euripides Evriviades

Through his twitter account Mr. Evriviades stated that all Cypriots who live in the UK can vote in the referendum if they register by 7 June through a simple online procedure in the following link https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote. The Cypriot High Commissioner called for the EU to remain strong and united.

According to the electoral procedure, all Cypriots living in the UK are eligible to vote since they are Commonwealth citizens.

During a recent official visit in the UK, Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides stated that a possible Brexit is not in the interest of Cyprus.    

“I believe that it is not in the interest of Cyprus for the UK to leave the EU for many reasons, mainly financial but other ones as well. It is neither in the interest of the Commonwealth to have a Brexit, because the Commonwealth benefits from the British presence in the EU, as the UK is in the forefront of policies such as tackling climate change, pursuing sustainable growth etc. Therefore, I call upon our compatriots in the UK to seriously support the UK remaining in the EU. The European Union which is facing so many challenges must be reinforced and not weakened by exits,” Mr. Kasoulides said.

This year’s Cypriot song ‘Alter Ego’ by the band Minus One has qualified in the first semi-final to this month’s Eurovision Song Contest, in Stockholm. This year’s entry, our favourite Cypriot rockers have certainly made Cypriots very proud with qualifying outright, very well deserved victory this was.

Surely it was nerve-wracking until we learnt their fate…

Just at the point when host Måns Zelmerlöw gave us the last couple of qualifiers ‘And the ninth finalist is Cyprus!’ The boy’s alongside the lovely Evi Papamichael Head of the Cypriot Delegation reacting with absolute euphoria, waving our flag.

”They called us second-last so we almost got a heart attack. I think if we really win this, they will probably name an airport after us in Cyprus”, Minus One jokingly reacted to the post-Semi-Final press conference, which found out their second-half draw to this Saturday’s live final night. You will see our Cyprus song, jostling with 14^th position in the running order of things…

The impressive group Minus One and the up-tempo track ‘Alter Ego’ went through the first semi-final Top 10 qualifiers (out of 18 countries competing). They will be joined by Russia’s Sergey Lezarev (his song ‘Your the Only One’ being penned by Greek Dimitris Kontopoulos) Armenia, Hungary, Netherlands, Austria, Malta, Czech Republic, Croatia, Azerbaijan).

The Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades reacting on twitter to Cyprus qualifying, congratulates group on their huge result in the competition. His tweet read as follows ‘#CYP @MinusCy you rock! Congratulations and Good Luck in the Final @Eurovision’.

The track was co-written by Minus One and Thomas G:son (he composed ‘Euphoria’ which was Swedish winning entry in 2012). The involvement of the Swedish producer highlights the Cypriot ambition to impress at this competition.

If you have yet to listen to our song… it’s a strong rocky-pop tune with a light-edgy feel to your Eurovision song but still radio-friendly appealing. With a quite good melody, really catchy chorus at first listening, it’s pretty effective, and incredibly solid type of Cypriot entry flying our flag, for our country’s performance…

The pop-rock band, which is made up of five members will be looking to lead Cyprus to their best ever finish in Eurovision history.

Vocalist, Francois Micheletto, will be assisted by fellow band members Harrys Pari, Costantinos Amerikanos, Antonis Loizides and Chris J, who will be collectively playing the drums and guitar.

The consummate professionals sold the song really very well with very slick staging, special effects and pyro fireworks adding to the song’s visually good performance. The staging, complete with cages, strobe lighting, ‘black & white’ screen shots, sharp camera angles and cuts, and digital wolfs appearing, during the song’s climatic finish… which forced you bluntly and very nicely to have this down as a very memorable song and act, at voting time.

Lead-vocalist Francois at one point is literally ‘howling’, emphasising the ‘howling in the moonlight’ parts of the song’s chorus, gave it really fun value. This performance by the band gave us a really epic and captivating feel, surely one of the most effective and exciting by far Cypriot stages in this competition for years.

The Artistic Director, Sacha Jean-Baptiste (she formerly staged Eurovision victorious winning entry ‘Euphoria’) was the very creativity behind helping to visualise the song’s concept on the stage of the Ericsson Globe Arena.

The CyBc internally selected the group last November, to be this year’s representative, clearly, impressed by the pop-rock outfit at last year’s Cypriot national stages.

These likeable Cypriot boys had taken time to visit our LGR studios before the workload of Eurovision week, telling us they felt proud to fly our flag, privileged and extremely honoured to be given the chance this year.

You can give your support to our Cyprus entry, by catching the Eurovision Song Contest Final on Saturday 14^th May, which airs on BBC 1, at 8pm. We hope to see our Cypriot flag, flying rightfully to the top parts of the scoreboard.

LGR want to wish Minus One and our Cyprus song the best of luck in the competition.

It’s the time of year again the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm with this year’s Cypriot entry Minus One, flying our Cypriot flag, with the up-tempo track ‘Alter Ego‘.

The pop-rock band, which is made up of five members will be looking to lead Cyprus to their best ever finish in Eurovision history.

Vocalist, Francois Micheletto, will be assisted by fellow band members Harrys Pari, Costantinos Amerikanos, Antonis Loizides and Chris J, who will be collectively playing the drums and guitar.

Minus One have produced their song with the help of Swedish producer Thomas G:son who helped Sweden to a Eurovision triumph in 2012 with their song ‘Euphoria’. The involvement of the Swedish producer highlights the Cypriot ambition to impress at this competition.

The band’s mini-tour taken them to London and to our LGR studios, we found out that the band was definitely enthusiastic about their entry. Our likeable and really approachable lot of band-mates, felt proud to fly the Cypriot flag, extremely privileged, to be representing our island this year.

The group directly sent over to us the mp3 master straightaway, sharing it with our listeners on LGR.

The boys thanking our listeners & fans for the support they have been receiving, since the release of the song.

Jokingly, the boy’s responded to potentially Cyprus hosting next year’s Eurovision in Nicosia, if they actually won it, saying this is likely to concentrate their time, straight after Eurovision finishes.

The radio friendly song is a ‘competitive well-made song’, surely helping qualifying chances in the song’s semi-final performance of our Cypriot tune. If you have yet to fully listen to our song, well it’s a solid modern pop-rock up-tempo track.

The really good melody to the track and chorus which is catchy at first listening, that’s incredibly useful improving the band’s qualifying goal to the Eurovision final… and looking to secure one of the Top 10 qualifying spaces from the first semi-heat.

It’s professional and very slick, in terms of the staging performance and concept, makes use of cages (!) and the hi-tech digital wolf (!), definitely referencing the ‘howling in the moonlight’ chorus part of the song. This review believes this could be shaping up to be the epic performance, with the tune #AlterEgo giving us one of the more effective Cypriot entries in years.

It’s all looking alright; it’s a loud up-beat song, very fast, the quick camera cuts, is adding to the faster, lively track’s feel. There you have lead-vocalist Francois ‘howling’ just like in the song’s audio file, giving it really fun value, as the song is progressing.

They have indeed safe pair of hands, Artistic Director, Sacha Jean-Baptiste (she’s previously put her hand to Eurovision’s  victorious winning entry ‘Euphoria’) in terms of staging concept.

The official video to the track has 917,106+ hits on the band site surpassed in weeks of its release; this represents a good start to the group’s campaign already.

The video is pretty slick and well-directed by Cypriot Emilios Avram. There is a proper wolf, he’s called ‘Ares’ (we are reliably informed), and this fits really well, with the song’s concept, ‘howling’ (like-a-Wolf!). You have this video entirely being filmed on the outskirts of Nicosia, you have an intriguing, twisted reality, or living space, with sofa, doors, luggage, 1980’s iconic phone hand-set, stair-ways. Also the mysterious lady, with her ‘gothic’ black outfit, is adding a little rocky edgy atmosphere.

The CyBc internally selected the group last November, to be this year’s representative, clearly, impressed by the pop-rock outfit at last year’s Cypriot national stages.

The UK won’t be tele-voting at the first qualifying, instead are voting in the second semi-heat.

But you can vote if you are watching, in the countries which make-up semi-final including Greece, which competes with Argo, and the song ‘Utopian Land‘.

You can give your support to our Cyprus tune, by catching the Eurovision first Semi-Final on Tuesday 10th May, which airs on BBC 4, at 8pm. The final is on Saturday 14th May, we all hope to see the Cypriot flag, flying rightfully high, on the scoreboard.

LGR want to wish Minus One and our Cyprus song the best of luck in the competition.

Argo fly the Greek flag at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm with this year’s entry ‘Utopian Land‘, which has a very positive message to the song’s concept, which represents Hellas, at the annual music competition.

The new group from Thessaloniki is made up of six members with vocalists Cristina Lachana, Maria Elbrus, Hip-Hop artist/song-writer Vladimiros Sofianides, Kostas Topouzis, Elias Kesides and Alekos Papadopoulos, who collectively are playing Pontic Lyra, percussion and tabor. Argo was quickly assembled by a few members of another group ‘Europond’, to specifically write and perform this entry.

Dancer Vasilis Roxenos will step in for Elias, and beefs up the songs live staging concept, this full quota of six people therefore, will give us the Greek feel and identity and style, to our song.

Maria Lyrakaki, will choreograph the song’s staging concept, with lots dancing and movement, which fuses Pontiaka elements and modern dance, it’s quite effective and very Greek obviously, that’s something which this ‘LGR jury’ review, approves.

The up-tempo track fusing Modern and traditional Pontiaka music elements, definitely stands out as a very Greek, Eurovision song. The instrumental intro of the song, sounds really, really good and sort of mysterious, introduces Christina to give us a solo ‘amane’. There’s also the bridge part 2:01 to 2:20 which gives us the very loud beating of the drum, its intensity only works to emphasis the raw ethnicity of the track’s feel.

It feels very brave as an effort and entry, mostly, because it tries to fuse a lot of things, rap, hip-hop, ethnic, linguistic switches, with the meaty hip-hop parts sung in Greek and Pontiac dialect, to English chorus changes…

The song’s positive message fights for an optimistic future or, ‘utopia’, and calls on our collective will really, to battle amongst other things, the refugee crisis.

Those Hip-Hop verses are sung entirely in Greek & Pontiac dialect, they have a purpose, to give us that message and the rapper certainly, believes in his song. The English chorus feeds the optimistic line of the song’s ‘fight for a utopian land’ and asks you to go with them on the ‘fun’ adventure.

Interestingly, the band’s members are refugee descendents of Pontus, Sukhumi, Abkhazia, and Georgia.

The official video which accompanies our song embodies the full ethnic Pontiac costume and dance, helping to emphasise music roots to our ‘Elliniki simmetoxi’.

We are the rise of the rising sun, dance with us and have some fun.

We are the rise of the rising sun, fight with us for a utopian land (Chorus)

The video’s positive message is of looking only to the future with optimism, and constantly moving forward. This concept, sees, athlete type aka Apostolos Lazaridis running, he gives his glance back and continues his forward movement, to the ‘rising sun’, which is the groups’ ultimate route with this song’s theme.

The powers that be ERT Greek Television and the channel President Dionysis Tsaknis internally picked Argo, which favoured local produced Greek song, to represent the nation this year.

The UK will not be voting in the first semi-final but instead will be voting, in the second of the semi-finals. Only the host Sweden, France, Spain and other first semi-final nations will get to vote including Cyprus, which also competes alongside the Greek song for those qualifying spaces.

Argo competes at the Eurovision First Semi-Final which airs on Tuesday 10th May, performing early in the 2nd slot at the incredible Ericcson Globe Arena.

Το συγκρότημα που εκπροσωπεί την Κύπρο φέτος στη Eurovision, είχαν την χαρά να υποδεχτούν στο Ελληνικό Ραδιόφωνο του Λονδίνου LGR 103.3 FM και να τους γνωρίσουμε όλοι απο κοντά.

Οι Minus One, βρέθηκαν ζωντανά στο στούντιο και μίλησαν για τις προετοιμασίες, τα στοιχήματα που τους παίζουν ψηλά, αλλά και γενικά το τι ετοιμάζουν για την Στοκχόλμη και πως θα παρουσιαστεί το τραγούδι ‘Alter Ego‘, ζωντανά.

Το συγκρότημα αποτελείται από τους Francois Micheletto (τραγούδι), Χάρη Πάρη (κιθάρα), Κωνσταντίνο Αμερικάνο (κιθάρα), Αντώνη Λοϊζίδη (μπάσο) και Χριστόφορο Ιωαννίδη (Chris J) στα ντραμς.

Κεφάτοι, ευγενικοί και με πολύ ενέργεια και χιούμορ έδωσαν στην παρόικια μια γεύση, για ποιο λόγο επέλεξαν αυτο το up-tempo κομμάτι και για ποιο λόγο ελπίζουνε η επόμενη Γιουροβίζιον να γίνει στη Λευκωσία.

“Έχουμε όρεξη και χαρά και αυτό θα βγάλουμε προς τα έξω.

Το τραγούδι αρεσει πολυ στη νεολαία και εμείς εισπράτουμε πολυ ενέργεια.”

Το τραγούδι διαγωνίζεται μαζί με το Ελληνικό στον πρώτο ημιτελικό στις 10 Μαΐου.

Ο τελικός που είμαστε πολυ θετική οτι θα εχει την Κύπρο μεσα γίνεται το Σαββατο 14 Μαΐου.

Καλη επιτύχια στους Minus One και στην Κύπρο μας.