“It is the duty of all of us to do everything for the truth to come to light, for there to be justice,” emphasized Alexis Tsipras about the train accident in Tempi, during the meeting he had this morning in Athens with the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulidisduring his first visit to Greece after his election.

In particular, the president of SYRIZA PS wished good success to the new President. He emphasized that the cold war cost Hellenism dearly and the need for coordination and cooperation between Greece and the Republic of Cyprus, as pillars of peace and stability, today when the world is once again facing a new cold war, is more important than ever.

At the same time, he welcomed the support of the new President of Cyprus in the restart of talks for a fair and sustainable solution of the Cyprus issue on the basis of the UN Resolutions, from the point where they were interrupted in Crans Montana.

He expressed the belief that Mr. Christodoulidis’ proposal for active participation of the European Union in the Cypriot negotiation process can work positively, underlining that thanks to the joint efforts of the Republic of Cyprus with the then SYRIZA government, this participation was secured in the Crans Montana negotiations.

Nikos Christodoulidis noted that his first visit to Athens as President of the Republic of Cyprus is not just symbolic but essential, as he said “we have no time to waste in trying to break the deadlock and start talks in general on the Cyprus issue, taking into account the international context and past experiences’.

He added that “our goal is a more leading involvement from the European Union”, emphasizing the decisive involvement that the EU had, not only in the International Conference but also with technocrats, in the negotiations from 2015 to 2017 so that, as he said, “there will be convergences that had not been achieved before and were clearly better than previous plans for the solution of the Cyprus issue.

Finally, Messrs. Tsipras and Christodoulidis spoke about the tragic accident in Tempi with Mr. Tsipras expressing his sympathy to the families of the two Cypriot students who were killed in the accident.

“It is important, in these difficult times, to have each other next to each other” noted the president of SYRIZA, stressing that “it is the obligation of all of us to do everything for the truth to come to light, for there to be justice”.

Mr. Christodoulidis, for his part, conveyed the condolences of the Cypriot people and underlined that those politicians in positions of responsibility must work so that societies do not experience similar tragedies again.