The Cypriot community in Canberra, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on Monday, July 22, with a number of solemn events.
The events were attended by Panayiotis Palates, Commissioner of the Citizen of the Republic of Cyprus.
Mr Palates first took part in a guided tour of the Australian War Memorial and was moved by the Hall of Memory and the wall of names detailing all those who had fought for Australia in military campaigns. He later attended a Last Post Ceremony at the Australian War Memorial. During the ceremony, Mr Palates laid a wreath on behalf of the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides.
Other wreaths were also laid by the High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus in Australia, Antonis Sammoutis; the Ambassador of Greece in Australia, Stavros Venizelos; Father Petros from St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at Kingston; President of the Greek Orthodox Community of Canberra, Pana Tsironis; President of the Cyprus Community in Canberra, Nectaria Volis; National President of AHEPA Australia, Sophia Notaras; Assistant Secretary Europe Political Branch DFAT, Geoff Bowen; and President of the Hellenic Club of Canberra, Andrew Satsias.
Later that night, guests attended a dinner held at Fillos Taverna at the Hellenic Club of Canberra hosted by the Cyprus Community of Canberra.The night featured an exchange of gifts and speeches.
In one of the speeches, Mr Satsias expressed that the 50th anniversary of the invasion was an important day to him personally as he was living in Cyprus and was only four years old when the island was occupied.
Mr Satsias stressed that he wasn’t expecting how moving the Last Post Ceremony earlier in the day would be, and thanked Mr Palates for attending as a representative of the Cyprus government.
