It is truly with great joy and emotion that I am here today with all of you, the fans and friends of the refugee club Doxa THOI Katokopia, to inaugurate the Regional Sports Stadium, Katokopia - Return - Glafkos Clerides.
Today can only be described as a milestone day for the modern history of the Association, since now Doxa implements the long-standing demand for the creation of a high standard stadium.
A truly jewel of a stadium for Cypriot sport, which will also serve the needs of other clubs competing in the A' and B' divisions.
Request, which was able to be satisfied thanks to the funding, amounting to about two and a half million euros, from the State, which embraced and supported from the beginning as a common vision the creation of the stadium, recognizing, in addition to the development of sport, the multiplier economic benefits for the wider region.
Our intention, as far as the financial possibilities of the state always allow, is to support projects that give a special impetus to the development of sport in all sectors, including mass social sport.
This is the dual objective of the organised plan for the support and development of Cypriot sport that we as a government have adopted:
Firstly, to motivate our young people to get involved in sport.
Second, to offer all talented athletes, at team and individual level, substantial and continuous support and all the necessary guarantees to bring out their potential.
I take this opportunity to express the pride of all of us for the excellent results of the track and field athletes who recently achieved at the Mediterranean Games. Cyprus managed to distinguish itself with 15 medals. I also congratulate the coaches and especially the athletes who through their personal sacrifices made our Cyprus so proud.
The present stadium is worthy of the history of your refugee club.
It is, at the same time, the State's debt to the rich contribution of Doxas Katokopias over the years.
Undoubtedly, the founding of the Association in 1954 by Papachristophoros Papasozomenos, setting as a priority the establishment of a football team and the cultivation of a sporting and friendly spirit, was of decisive importance with regard to the healthy activity of the young people of Katokopia.
Since then, it has succeeded in becoming a pole of rallying, education, education and entertainment for all its inhabitants.
At the same time, thanks to the zeal of its members, it has managed to go beyond the narrow boundaries of the sports club, to establish itself as a spirit of intellectual activity and to stamp equally on the national and social life of the place.
Since 1974, Doxa has continued its activities in its temporary headquarters in the hospitable neighbour Peristerona, recording a creative activity that upgrades and honours its presence in Peristerona.
Despite the difficulties and any problems it had to face due to the refugees created by the Turkish invasion, Doxa emerged as a symbol. The symbol that succeeded in keeping the memory of Katokopia unquenched and in instilling in the new generation the hope and faith of returning to their ancestral homes.
And I want to assure you that we have exhausted every effort in order to achieve a solution that allows the dignified survival of Cypriot Hellenism, that allows a state worthy of its status as an EU member state to function. Unfortunately, Turkish planning, Turkish intransigence, Turkish ambitions did not allow us to achieve what, according to the Secretary-General, was just short of an agreement.
And we did not achieve a solution, not because we left the negotiating table, but because some people wanted it through their own claims, through their own proposals - and I am glad because the publication of the minutes shows how honest, honest and truthful we have been. It was not possible for the Secretary-General to consider on 4 July 2017 that the system of anachronistic guarantees should be abolished and on the evening of 6-7 July, Turkey insists that it can only tolerate abolition, not accept the limitation of its military forces to the 1960s army, but to a much larger number, while encouraged by Turkey, the Turkish Cypriot leadership demanded that it should have a say or a positive vote on every decision of the Council of Ministers otherwise the state could not function.
Who among all those who truly desire a viable solution could accept to have their homeland turned into a protectorate of Ankara.
The failure, unfortunately, was due and demonstrated every day by the goals they have set since 1956, that goal was none other, unfortunately, than the creation of the rights they are trying to acquire through the occupied land.
Until the last day and hour of my term of office I will continue to try and fight so that we achieve an honest, sincere solution that serves not only the Greek Cypriots but also the Turkish Cypriots. Not to serve third parties, but to serve our compatriots, whether Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Latins or Armenians.
The shining example of Glory highlights and proves how stubbornness, how faith, how principles can create miracles and give courage to maintain a struggle that is as just as international law.
The bright example of Glory highlights and proves how stubbornness, how faith, how principles can create miracles and give courage to maintain a struggle that is as just as international law.
Doxa, through the zeal and dedication of the management as well as the competitive action of the players and the coaching team, has managed in the last decade and more to establish itself in the first division of the Cypriot league. Success for which I would like to congratulate the Presidents and members of the previous and current Board of Directors.
Because Doxa was lucky to be surrounded by worthy Presidents, such as our dear friends Fotos Giannakas, Andreas Fragoulidis, Nikos Hadjicharalambous, Charalambos Argyrou, but also the current President Kostas Christodoulou. Community leaders like our friend Nikos Constantinou who supported it, succeeding, all together, through personal sacrifices, not only to keep it alive, but also to make it a formidable opponent. Glory to the name but also to the actions and the promotion of sport.
I want to thank the Commune Chief of Peristerona for so warmly hosting the neighbours, the dear friends of Katokopia, with the wish that one day we will achieve a return.
The wish and expectation of all of us is that one day we will be able to watch matches of Doxa in the now occupied Katokopia.
I wish all the best and every progress to the Doxas team, for the glory of Cypriot sport and for the pride of the residents and friends of Katokopia and those who now host them.
(PM/MB)
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