Special meeting on problems of repats

REPATRIATED Cypriots are being asked to attend a special meeting in Nicosia tomorrow to highlight their problems and help work out ways of solving them.

Monday=s gathering has been organised by the Association for Expatriate and Repatriate Cypriots of the UK, and is open to Cypriots returning from any country, not just Britain.

Association president Kikis Christofides told The Sunday Mail that the meeting had been prompted by “a lot of changes due to the efforts of presidential commissioner Manolis Christofides. There have been a lot of discussions, a lot of meetings and a lot of results.”

The post of presidential commissioner was created in response to long-standing demands by repatriates, at the start of President Glafcos Clerides’ second term.

Operating out of the Presidential Palace, th commissioner is responsible for issues concerning repatriates, overseas Cypriots and minority groups in Cyprus.

But in spite of the commissioner’s work with repatriate associations, Kikis Christofides said problems often arose when changes applied to certain repatriates and not to others. “They’d contact the government about specific assistance and then find out they were not eligible for one reason or another,” he said.

He said that the Association phone was continuously ringing with queries and that repatriates were encouraged to attend the meeting in order to have their questions answered more fully, “It=s better to talk face-to-face.”

He said that a lot of people living in various parts of the island had shown an interest in attending the meeting.

The Association also plans to use the opportunity to set up committees in towns other than Nicosia. “Then suggestions could be put down on paper and used to help us find the best possible solutions and improve the Association.”

The meeting will be at 6pm at the Aretousa tavern by the Latsia fly-over on the Limassol to Nicosia highway.

For more information contact the Association on 02-313896 / 7.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.