Address by the General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou at the Bicommunal Photography Exhibition “Faces of Cyprus”

 

15 December 2023, Chateau Status, Nicosia

Dear friends, good evening,

I, in turn, welcome today’s Photography Exhibition, the culmination of a bi-communal photography competition which we, as AKEL, are holding for the fifth consecutive year in cooperation with the Left Group in the European Parliament.

A competition which this year again seems to have been successful with dozens of participants from both sides of the green line and with a remarkable level of quality of the photographs. We can certainly ascertain this by looking at the photographs in today’s exhibition.

An exhibition depicting the faces of Cypriots from various parts of Cyprus and a multitude of artistic approaches. Faces of people of different ages, genders and other characteristics. Faces of people whose community or language is hard to distinguish. Faces conveying different emotions and phases of life.

The whole exhibition expresses a mosaic that includes all the moments of our real life on this island we share. Life full of joy, frustration, fatigue and hope. People who sweat daily for the land that gave birth to them. The same land that raised them, made them bitter, made them mature and which they hold in their hands to cultivate a more prosperous and peaceful future.

For this hope, we too must cultivate a society that coexists in harmony despite any differences among its members. These differences, which may have been exploited in the past by nationalists to divide people behind barbed wire, let us make them a flag for the peace of tomorrow. A conception of peace that includes our ability to put ourselves in the place of anyone else and find a way to coexist with them. This is called empathy!

Such an approach is necessary in order to realize the vision of the reunification of Cyprus through the achievement of the solution as described in the relevant UN resolutions.

We as AKEL will continue to fight for the necessity of the peaceful coexistence of Cypriots and for peace in the world. A peace that is being brutally tested in our region at the moment as never before, with blood flowing unceasingly. In the midst of these tragic developments, which are a disgrace to human civilisation, we will be on that side of history that defends peace, justice, humanity and solidarity.

We will not stop expressing these positions here in Cyprus, in the European Parliament and in any other fora we participate in internationally. The upcoming European elections in June – where our Turkish Cypriot compatriots will also have the opportunity to vote – will be a battle about what kind of Cyprus, Europe and world we want. We choose the Cyprus of reunification, the Europe of its peoples and the world of solidarity and peace. Our allies in this goal are every progressive voice in the country on both sides of the green line and the Left Group in the European Parliament.

Dear friends,

In conclusion, I would like to congratulate all the award winners and participants in this year’s competition. Congratulations to all those who have worked all these months to make the competition and today’s event possible. Congratulations also to the Rapprochement Bureau of the Central Committee of AKEL which is organising the competition and to the AKEL MEPs under whose auspices the competition is being held. All the best to toy all.