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The first meeting of the Committee for the Amendment of the Statute of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy (IPA), hosted by the House of Representatives, took place in Limassol between 14 and 16 March 2024. The meeting was chaired by the head of the Cypriot delegation to the IOA, Mr. Panicos Leonidou, and was attended by the Secretary General of the IOA, Mr. Maximos Charakopoulos and the member of the Committee, Mr. Irakli Kadagishvili. Mile Talevski from the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia, informed the Assembly in a letter of their support for the submitted proposals for the amendment of the IOA Statutes. The meeting was also attended by the member of the Cypriot delegation to the IOA, Mr Elias Myrianthous.
Welcoming the participants, Mr. Leonidou referred to the advisory role of this Committee and noted that the final decision will be taken at the IOA General Assembly in Warsaw next June, in order for the IOA to obtain the status of an international inter-parliamentary organization.
As a key point of the proposed amendment, Mr. Leonidou noted the renaming of the Organization officially in its Founding Act from "European Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy" to "Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy", in order to reflect the international scope of the Organization and the redefinition of its role in the contemporary environment of international politics. Mr Leonidou also referred to other proposed amendments concerning, inter alia, the link between the voting rights of members and the fulfilment of their financial obligations towards the Organisation, the composition of the IOOC's International Secretariat and the competences of each of its institutional bodies, as well as the more precise wording of specific provisions of the Constitutive Act. These changes, Mr Leonidou stressed, are aimed at improving the organisation and operation of the IOA and its more active contribution to international affairs.
Mr Mirianthous said that, in the current era, the proposed changes to the Statutes, including the financial aspect, are imperative in order to strengthen the presence and action of the IOA internationally.
As part of the programme, the IOA delegation was received by Archbishop George, Archbishop of Cyprus and had separate meetings with Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol, Metropolitan Nikiforos of Kykkos and Tilliria and Metropolitan Timothy of Vostron, Archbishop of the Holy Sepulchre in Cyprus. The Metropolitan of Kykkos and Tilliria hosted a lunch in honour of the delegation, in the presence of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Anita Demetriou. A meeting was also held with President Petros Karekla and members of the Committee of Occupied Municipalities.
During the meetings, information was given on the work of the Committee for the Amendment of the Statute of the IOA, the efforts made by the Assembly to coordinate the Orthodox Members of the participating Parliaments in the light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its consequences and the struggle of the Assembly for the defence and protection of human rights. Both sides highlighted the sad 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion and the painful consequences that the Cypriot people continue to experience as a result of the occupation. Special reference was made to the destruction of cultural heritage and views were exchanged on the possibility of undertaking joint initiatives and actions to demonstrate the desecration of religious monuments and the violation of religious freedoms in the occupied territories.
Present at the meeting with the Archbishop of Cyprus Mr. George, as well as at the meeting with the President and members of the Committee of Occupied Municipalities, were also the members of the Cypriot delegation to the IOA, Mr. Efthimios Diplaros and Mr. Marinos Moussiouttaş. The Cypriot MPs underlined the continued efforts of the IOA to awaken the international community to the protection of endangered Christian churches and monuments in the occupied part of Cyprus. They also noted the IOA's initiative to include Christian values in the dialogue on the Future of Europe and expressed serious concern about the fate of Christians in the Middle East and civilians in general due to the war in Gaza.
In addition, during the meeting with the delegation of the Committee of Occupied Municipalities, the IOA members were informed about the situation of churches and cemeteries, particularly in the zones designated as military zones by the occupation regime. Mr Leonidou stressed the IOA's long-standing and unwavering support to Cyprus' struggle to achieve a just solution to the Cyprus problem, which provides for the withdrawal of the occupying troops, the abolition of anachronistic guarantees, the return of all refugees to their ancestral homes and properties and the free exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms by all Cypriots.
(Text as sent by the House of Representatives)
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