THE EDUCATION Ministry has appointed Cypriot tennis champion Marcos Baghdatis as the country’s Ambassador for 2008 which has been designated by the EU as the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
The Ministry is the national co-ordinating body responsible for submitting a strategic action plan to celebrate the year with various events and seek funding from the EU.
Education Minister Akis Cleanthous told reporters yesterday that Baghdatis had been appointed as Ambassador for Cyprus on the occasion of the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
Cleanthous said the activities planned for 2008 were based on three key categories: the intercultural dimension at school and in education in general; the promotion of the Year’s objectives, and raising peoples’ awareness of intercultural dialogue.
“These objectives are ambitious but feasible and we shall do our best to achieve them,” he said.
Celebrations will start with a special musical evening entitled “Musical Dialogue”, during which Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot musicians as well as foreign artists will take the audience on a musical trip around the globe.
Intercultural dialogue has long been a principle supported by the EU and its institutions. The year 2008 was designated ”European Year of Intercultural Dialogue” by the European Parliament and the Member States.
The appointment of Baghdatis as Ambassador may raise a few eyebrows after the Cypriot tennis ace got a lot of stick in the international press last week when a video of him chanting the national anthem and anti-Turkish slogans in Australia surfaced on the internet.
Videos circulating on the internet show the Greek Cypriot tennis star holding a flare and chanting, “Turks out of Cyprus” at a barbeque hosted by the Hellas Fan Club after he was knocked out of last year’s tournament.
In one video, the world number 16 holds a burning flare above his head and joins a chant with others condemning the 1974 Turkish invasion. The video was shot last year and surfaced on YouTube.
After the bad press it created, Baghdatis was unrepentant, saying: “In that video from 2007 I was supporting the interest of my country, Cyprus, while protesting against a situation that is not recognised by the United Nations. Now I would like to concentrate on the tournament and ask everyone to respect that.”
The Hellas Fan Club backed Baghdatis, accusing the press of misconstruing the slogans. “The Turks out of Cyprus chant is directed towards the well-documented illegal occupation of Cyprus and is not directed towards citizens of the Turkish ethnic minority,” it said in a statement.
A number of Turkish Cypriots living in Australia accused Baghdatis of a racist attack and demanded an apology, while members of the Greek Orthodox community argued that the call for Turkish troops to leave Cyprus was nothing new and was in conformity with a UN resolution.
