20 years since the 2004 “NO”Leaders below the Circumstances OPEK event to launch the book of Chrysostomos Pericles
The Association for Social Reform – OPEK is organizing an event to present the book by Chrysostomos Pericles “20 Years since the 2004 “NO”. Leaders below the Circumstances”.
The event will take place on Tuesday 18 June 2024, at 7.00 p.m. at the Journalists’ House, RIK Avenue, Aglantzia, Nicosia.
The book will be presented by Paul M. Pavlou, Dr, of History, and Vassilis Protopapas, Dr. of Political Science.
The speakers will be:
Christos Stylianides, Minister of Shipping and Island Policy of Greece, Takis Hadjidimitriou, former Co-Chairman of the Joint Technical Committee for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage of Cyprus and Theano Kalavana, President of OPEK.
The event will be moderated by the journalist Sotiris Paroutis.
Description
In the three historic moments in the last twenty years, when fortunate circumstances brought Cyprus to the brink of a historic compromise that would lead to a future of reconciliation and peace, the politicians that the Greek community was destined to have as leaders, Tassos Papadopoulos, Dimitris Christofias, and Nikos Anastasiades, have been below the circumstances.
The only exception is Mustafa Akinci. The leader of the Turkish Cypriots who rose to the occasion and saw Cyprus as the homeland of all Cypriots. And worked consistently for its reunification.
20 years after the 24 April 2004 “NO”, Cyprus is still living in the deadlocks in which it found itself the day after the referendum and the day after Crans Montana.
After each impasse, our leaders are reduced to inexpensive patriotic rhetoric and a one-dimensional denunciation policy that no longer convinces the domestic audience. Morfou and Famagusta, keys to the solution both in the Annan Plan and in Crans-Montana, are lost in the mire of time, tragic figures, first of a narrow-hearted policy anchored in the past, and then of a criminally irresponsible attitude at the leadership level.
They follow us, like remorse of conscience, to remind us that year after year the hope of returning and reconnecting people with their history is lost. The sense of loss weighs on us like a black sky. “The world grows ever staler, a dirt heap”.
Author
Chrysostomos Pericles has published two books on the Cyprus problem: Solution Plans 1948-1978 (1986), and The 2004 Referendum (2007). He also published three collections of poetry: Endochora (2007), Apo Ktisos (2009), and Return to the Sun (2013). He edited a special edition on the Cyprus problem (2008) and a collective volume on the 50th anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus (2010). In 2022 he published the book Odioporikos, which includes the three poetry collections, chronicles published in the press, and unpublished short stories.
