The close cooperation between the Republic of Cyprus and the Hellenic Republic, which has resulted in countering Turkish revisionism, were mentioned today by the President of the Republic Mr. Nicos Anastasiades and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, at a meeting this morning at the Maximos Mansion in Athens. Mitsotakis said that "My dear Nikos (Anastasiades), today is a very touching moment for me and for our country, as I welcome you in this place - which is so familiar to you - for the last time in your capacity as President of the Republic of Cyprus.
I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart and I believe, interpreting the feelings of all Greek women, all Greeks, but also of Hellenism as a whole, for the services you have rendered to your country.
Ten years as President of the Republic of Cyprus, you came into office in the midst of a great economic crisis. We are well aware of this, moreover, because we too have gone through similar, possibly heavier, adventures than you. But you managed not only to recover the economy but also to move your country forward on many different levels, and I think you have every reason to be proud of that.
Unfortunately, there are still issues that you have not managed to resolve and that we have not managed to resolve, the most important of which is the great national wound of the Cyprus problem. I know, however, that even as a former President of the Republic, when your term of office is over, your heart will always be there on how to achieve a just, viable and workable solution to the Cyprus problem.
A goal, a cause for which you fought throughout your career and before you became President, and I am sure that it will be in your heart forever.
Again, welcome, I am sure that I will welcome you in this office many more times in the capacity, no longer just as a former President but as a personal friend and I wish you from the bottom of my heart all the best."
For his part, Mr. Anastasiades said that "My friend Prime Minister, Kyriakos, this is how we have learned to talk to each other, it is frankly a terribly sensitive moment for me too, because we are approaching the end of a political journey that has lasted 43 so many years, culminating in the last decade.
What I would like to convey is the gratitude of Cypriot Hellenism, personally to the government, to your government, my Kyriakos, but also to the Greek governments, because through close cooperation we have been called upon to face - and I think we have faced - several dangers from Turkish revisionism and through diplomacy, the good neighbourliness that we have learned to build through the trilateral, quadrilateral and multilateral alliances that we have built, I believe that we have shielded the Republic of Cyprus sufficiently to enable it to negotiate a solution from a position of strength that is workable and continuously viable, but also in line with the European acquis. Something that will safeguard not only the Greek Cypriots, but also the Turkish Cypriots, thus contributing to the prevalence of peace, but also to the well-being of all the Cypriot people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
As you well know, a second reason for my presence here today is also the minimum practical sign of solidarity with Hellenism, with Greek Hellenism, by laying the foundations of the settlements, the social housing in Mati.
I repeat, this is a simple indication, because Greece's solidarity with Cyprus, either with sacrifices, with blood, or with material actions that supported the Republic of Cyprus, was many times greater.
And having said this, I want to say one thing: I will continue to be a Greek who fights for the fate of our Cyprus, for the fate of our Greece.
I will be present not in power, but in whatever struggles we are called upon to undertake. Thank you."
Finally, President Anastasiades and Mr Mitsotakis exchanged souvenirs. Mr. Mitsotakis presented the President with a pen with a buckle depicting the Greek flag, while the President presented the Prime Minister with a silver replica of an amphora.
In the presence of the President and the Prime Minister, the Ministers of Education, Sports and Youth, Mr. Prodromos Prodromou and the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs Mrs. Niki Kerameos signed an Agreement on the academic recognition of qualifications of higher, higher and other educational institutions.
(PM/NG/SX)
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