AKEL stands with the Maronite community

30 August 2026, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Today we attended the first Carob Festival in Kormakiti, a lovely event organised by the Association of Resettled Maronites.

Our presence at the Festival serves a dual purpose. First and foremost, we wish to send out, once again, the message that we stand shoulder to shoulder with the Maronite community and support the difficult struggle it is waging to remain rooted in Kormakiti, amidst the adverse conditions created by the ongoing occupation.

At the same time, we are here to reiterate AKEL’s long-standing position that it will continue to fight and work consistently towards achieving a solution to the Cyprus problem – a solution that will end the Turkish occupation and reunite our homeland and our people.

The Maronite community is an integral part of the Cypriot people. Our aim is a free and reunited Cyprus, with progress, prosperity, lasting peace and security for all its people.

Whilst we were in Kormakiti, we also visited another Maronite community, Karpasia. There, we had the opportunity to meet and talk with residents, together with the Representative of the Maronite Community, Petros Nakouzis, whom I would like to thank for joining us today.

During the meeting, we discussed the problems faced by the Maronite community, as well as those faced by communities in the occupied territories in general. We listened to the residents’ concerns and needs and, on our part, we will make every possible effort to ensure that the issues raised are taken up and promoted to the appropriate authorities and that substantive solutions are found.

I wish to emphasise that it is the state’s duty to support our enclaved citizens, the enclaved communities and the Maronite community.

This support is essential and must form an integral part of the effort to tackle the day-to-day problems that arise under the difficult until that blessed moment when we succeed in reaching a solution to the Cyprus problem, so that the occupation may end and the conditions for a better and safer future for all may be created.

At the same time, we reiterated our commitment to the Maronite community, and more broadly, that we will continue to do what we have always done, both inside and outside Parliament, by actively supporting the communities and promoting the issues that concern them.