Cyprus marks Ochi Day (Updated)

Cyprus celebrated ‘Ochi Day’ on Wednesday with school parades, church services and other events.

President Nicos Anastasiades attended a morning liturgy led by Archbishop Chrysostomos at the St John Cathedral in Nicosia, where the Greek ambassador in Cyprus Elias Fotopoulos delivered a speech to commemorate the day.

Later on, Anastasiades and Fotopoulos, accompanied by the Greek Foreign Minister Nicos Kotzias who is on an official three-day visit, took the salute at the school parade, which in Nicosia passes in front of the Greek embassy.

“Today we honour the day of the ‘No’ to fascism, ‘No’ to Nazism, ‘No’ to war. We honour a day that for Greece is one of glory, of resistance and of heroism,” Anastasiades said after the parade.

He added that the heroism, principles and values symbolised by the Greeks’ resistance against the Axis forces in 1940, which signalled Greece’s direct involvement in the Second World War, paved the way for the creation of the European Union.

“We must follow these principles but also the values of peace and prosperity to create the prospects for a peaceful and creative future,” he said.

Fotopoulos said that this year’s anniversary was celebrated yet again in a divided island, but that Cyprus and Greece were working together to reach a just, viable and functional solution to the Cyprus problem. He added that the two countries were “a pole of stability in this sensitive region of the Mediterranean”.

House speaker Yiannakis Omirou attended celebrations in Paphos.

Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis and Communications and Works Minister Marios Demetriades attended the parades in Limassol and Larnaca respectively. Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou attended the liturgy in Paralimni.

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