AKEL meeting with the Deputy Minister of Culture
Statement by the General Secretary of AKEL Stefanos Stefanou
22 July 2022, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia
I have welcomed the Deputy Minister of Culture, Mr. Yiannis Toumazi, to the offices of the Central Committee of AKEL and on the occasion of his assuming office in a new Deputy Ministry, I wished him all the best in his work.
Mr. Toumazis himself is taking on a very important duty as Deputy Minister of Culture, bearing in mind the critical role of culture for the survival of a country and the development of any given society.
This task becomes even heavier and more important because in recent years, culture has not in fact been considered to be among the key priorities as culture should be. In addition, objective conditions such as the coronavirus have caused additional problems to cultural activity and for the people of culture, too many of whom are under pressure, primarily from an economic point of view. Cultural artists are fighting to survive, so for that reason they need practical and continuous support from the state.
To have culture, first of all, there needs to be the appropriate political will in place. The correct priorities need to be set for the promotion of culture, so it can have substantial support and for the work and creation of cultural artists to be recognised. We have exchanged views with Mr. Toumazi on these and many other issues and have agreed to keep in touch.
AKEL has a very close relationship with culture. One of the central elements of the Party’s history is culture, the creation and support of culture, so we are interested in this new development with the establishment of the Deputy Ministry of Culture which should be for the benefit of culture.
AKEL will responsibly and creatively support and continue to support every positive decision and action in this direction, regardless of where AKEL is – whether in opposition or in coalition, whether in government or not – what counts for us is how we support, promote and further cultivate culture, which is an immense asset for our people and country.
