He expresses the wish that the Lord’s Resurrection will bring liberation and reunification to Cyprus through a lasting, sustainable and functional solution, which will truly reunite the people and where all legal residents will enjoy all their human rights and basic freedoms the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulidis.

In his televised Easter message, President Christodoulidis refers at length to the efforts to restart the talks between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides, while he points out elements of the Economy and Internal governance which are his priorities in the next period.

The following is the full message of N. Christodoulidis:

“Compatriots, Compatriots

Dear Friends, Dear Friends,

I am addressing you today, for the first time, after assuming my duties as President of the Republic of Cyprus, on the occasion of the Resurrection of the Lord and the Easter holidays. First of all, from the bottom of my heart I extend to all of you my sincere wishes for health, strength, prosperity, personal and family happiness. It is everyone’s wish that the Resurrection Light and the hopeful messages of the greatest celebration of Orthodoxy, where light overcomes darkness and faith in good is justified, bring joy and blessing to each and every one, in every household. Unfortunately, for another year, the resurrected bells tonight will not ring freely throughout our country. Many of our compatriots will once again be deprived of the joy of the holiday in their city and village. With a large part of our homeland still under the occupation of Turkish troops, our homeland de facto divided, our refugee compatriots continue to be forcibly removed from their ancestral homes, the families of the missing continue to demand justice and vindication of the fate of their loved ones, while all our captives will receive the Resurrection Light under the restrictions of the occupying regime.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dear Friends and Friends,

Since the first day of my election, I have been working on the basis of a specific plan, so that we can soon break the deadlock and resume the negotiations from where they were interrupted. Always on the basis of the agreed solution as well as the acquis of the talks from the previous years of negotiations. Under no circumstances do we compromise with possession. The current illegal status quo cannot be the solution for the Cypriot people and it is not the future we envision for our homeland, for Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latinos and all the legal residents of our island. With the aim of resuming the talks, I have already made a specific proposal on how the European Union can contribute to the efforts of the United Nations, with a more active involvement and a leading role, not only for the removal of the current impasse, but also for comprehensive solution of the Cypriot issue on the basis of the bizonal bicommunal federation, with political equality, as described in the UN resolutions, the High Level Agreements, the convergences that have been recorded to date, the European acquis and the principles and values ​​of the EU. At the same time as a Government we are working to maintain and strengthen the competitiveness of the Cypriot economy, to create conditions for further development based on a specific program with medium-term and long-term goals for a new development model that will further strengthen our homeland. We are working towards a development model that will have the ‘Human’ at its center, with an expansion of the productive base of the economy that will be based more on research and innovation, on technology, making full use of the most capable human resources of our country, so that there will be more opportunities for the new generation, with policies that consolidate social justice and the implementation of holistic policies for the well-being of all citizens, including of course our vulnerable compatriots. We are working for a balanced development in both our cities and countryside and the rapid transition to the green era. We aim to implement reforms that have already been decided and work to promote new ones, necessary for the modernization of our country. Our priority is the person, the education, the health, the work, the everyday life of all our fellow human beings, the parents, the single parents and those with many children, the people with disabilities, our pensioners. High on our priorities are the new generation of our country, the future of our country and the creation of substantial hope and perspective for a better tomorrow for the entire Cypriot people. In a difficult time, with the efforts at international and European level to deal with and contain the inflationary trends, as a Government our concern remains the protection especially of the vulnerable groups of the population. Nothing is easy, there are many challenges and everything that needs to be done. There are no magic solutions, but I want you to be sure that our every decision will be made with everyone’s support in mind, and we will make every effort for holistic development with benefits for all of our people. At this time when the Light of the Resurrection is spreading reverently throughout Orthodox Christianity, the message of Love, of the predominance of life over death, of light over darkness, our thoughts are with all those who are suffering, but also those peoples suffer from the ravages of war. We sympathize and stand with the Ukrainian people who are unfortunately still suffering the consequences of the illegal Russian invasion. I would like to take this opportunity to express my wishes for an end to the war and the restoration of justice and peace in Ukraine.

Compatriots,

In closing, I once again wish everyone health, strength, prosperity and happiness. In these bright days let us be an example of love, reaching out and celebrating, not only with our families, but also with our fellow human beings who are most in need. At the same time, let us hope, enlivening within ourselves the hope, that the Resurrection of the Lord will bring liberation and reunification to Cyprus through a lasting, viable and functional solution which will truly reunite the people and where all legal residents will enjoy all of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. May the cross of Cyprus and the long-term Calvary of our refugees find its Resurrection very soon and may the resurrected bells ring from one end to the other in our homeland.

Happy Resurrection, Happy Easter and Happy Birthday to everyone».