The thread of the road of return and the history of their own family as a refugee was drawn in the framework of the Action of the Deputy Ministry #THREADS located at the "Sea" Museum by the Deputy Minister of European Affairs Mrs. Marilena Rauna, the President of EOA Famagusta Mr. Yiannis Karousos and the Mayor of Agia Napa Mr. Christos Zannettos.
With a thread in her hand, the Deputy Minister of European Affairs Ms. Marilena Rauna, the President of the Provincial Organization of Famagusta, Mr. Yiannis Karousos, and the Mayor of Ayia Napa, Mr. Christos Zannettos, carved in the context of the Action of the Deputy Ministry of European Affairs #THREADS, which has been located since the afternoon of Thursday, July 18, in the forecourt of Municipal Museum "Talassa", the way back but also the story of their own family in the refugee.
In her statements Mrs. Rauna, after congratulating the Deputy Ministry of Culture and the Deputy Minister of Culture Ms. Lina Kassianidou for this symbolic action for the sad anniversary of the 50th anniversary of the Turkish Invasion and continued occupation of Cyprus said that she joined the thread of her own return to these occupied villages and cities "to which I also want to return, me and my children."
Fifty years of division, fifty years of occupation of European territory is too much and it is for this reason, he added, that the government, the President of the Republic, Mr. Nikos Christodoulidis, is working for the reunification of the country through a fair and sustainable solution to the Cyprus issue, which it is above all a European issue so that all residents of Cyprus can live in a reunited homeland, enjoy all the rights enjoyed by all other European citizens in conditions of security and prosperity. "We owe it to the refugees, we owe it to our heroes, the trapped, the missing to continue the fight for the reunification of our country."
"I was born in 1983, just nine years after the Turkish Invasion, to two refugee parents originally from Famagusta, Gialousa, Genagra, and Asomatos. I may not have lived in these villages, in these cities but it is as if I lived there through the stories of my parents and grandparents. The desire to return was unquenchable for all of them, but also the belief that one day they will return to their occupied villages. "They left like so many others of this generation with an unquenchable desire and faith to return".
In his own statements, the Mayor of Ayia Napa, Mr. Christos Zannettou, stated that we all have the obligation to promote and highlight together this innovative action of the Deputy Ministry of Culture on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion and occupation of our country.
This initiative, he added, keeps the flame for return unquenched and at the same time honors those who gave their lives so that we can live today and fight for a reunited and Free Cyprus. He also expressed his heartfelt thanks to both the Government and the Deputy Minister of European Affairs who through this initiative supports these efforts and our burning desire to return and reunify our homeland will always be in our hearts.
The participatory artwork will remain at the Thalassa Municipal Museum until Saturday 20 July at 9.00am, so all refugees are invited to enter the space and join a thread between their place of origin and the place that is today the their place of residence.
