This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, an appalling milestone which serves as a reminder that the occupation of more than one third of Cyprus has been ongoing for far too long.
To mark this sombre occasion, the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne & Victoria has collaborated with SEKA Victoria and the Cyprus Community of Melbourne & Victoria — all three are committed members of the 50th Year Action Group — to present a group of lectures on aspects of the “Cyprus Issue.”
The “live” lecture sessions begin at 7:00 pm (program below), and are held at the Mezzanine Level of the Greek Centre (168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne). There will be two speakers at each session, and each speaker will be allotted 25 minutes. An opportunity to ask questions will follow.
The lecture by William Mallinson will only be presented online, i.e., on Facebook or YouTube.
Lecture Programme – 11 July 2024 (Online) “Cyprus and Kissinger: Killing the Myth”
Dr William Mallinson
Professor of Political Ideas & Institutions at Guglielmo Marconi University, Rome, and formerly a member of the British Diplomatic Service
This is an online-only lecture only, so please join on YouTube or Facebook. Links to the lecture will be announced soon.
You don’t need an account with either of these services to just watch the event, but you do need one if you want to participate in the Live Q&A. At the end of the lecturer’s presentation, viewers will be asked to submit written questions through the comment or chat function of Facebook or YouTube. Selected questions will then be submitted to the guest.
18 July 2024
Pavlos Andronikos
President of ΣEKA Victoria; formerly Head of Greek at Monash University will give a talk titled “The Nature of the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus in 1974.”
The Hon. Theo Theophanous
President of the Cyprus Community of Melbourne & Victoria; formerly a Minister in the Parliament of Victoria, will give a talk titled “Cyprus: The Solution Rests with Turkey, Not Greek and Turkish Cypriots.”
25 July 2024
Konstantinos Kalymnios
Lawyer and author, will give a talk titled “Pseudo State or Defacto State? The Legal Status of the Occupied Part of Cyprus.”
Γιάννης Μηλίδης
Philologist, will give a talk, in Greek only, on the literature of Cyprus and how it depicts the trauma of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
Abstracts
Dr William Mallinson, “Cyprus and Kissinger: Killing the Myth”
“As the author of a recent book on Kissinger, and how he bamboozled Greece, and even Britain, over the invasion of Cyprus, I am surprised at the mainstream media’s eulogising of one of the most cynical armchair executioners the world has ever known. We must put the record straight…”
Pavlos Andronikos, “The Nature of the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus in 1974”
Turkish sources describe what we call the “Turkish Invasion” as a “peace operation”.
What was it really? How was it conducted, and what were its aims?
Theo Theophanous, “Cyprus: The Solution Rests with Turkey, Not Greek and Turkish Cypriots”
Evidence suggests a majority of Greek and Turkish Cypriots want a free united Cyprus under a federation model. It is a mistake to think that the election of the right-wing Tatar, who is pursuing a two-country model is now the main obstacle. The diaspora has a role in showing the international community that Greek and Turkish Cypriots can coexist under a free united Cyprus Federation, and that Turkey remains the main obstacle.
Konstantinos Kalymnios, “Pseudo State or Defacto State? The Legal Status of the Occupied Part of Cyprus”
While the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is considered illegitimate in international law, this lecture looks at the various means by which some world powers seek to treat with that entity as sovereign.
Γιάννης Μηλίδης, “The literature of Cyprus and the trauma of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus”
This lecture will look at how the work of Cypriot writers who lived through the Turkish invasion, but even younger ones who did not live through it, change the course of history, giving the beauty of life and culture back to its victims.
