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Speech by the President of the Republic, Mr
Demetris Christofias
“The basic goal of the conference is to identify
the contribution of the cultural identity of Cy-
prus to the ongoing construction of European
culture. Cyprus, through this mosaic of cultural
creations we call United Europe, has played
a significant role in this construction and has
contributed in its own way to the formation of a
European cultural firmament. We draw from the
moral, intellectual and artistic routes of ancient
and Modern Greek culture; we are inspired by
the social and intellectual imperatives of our
people, as well as by the educational wealth of
our multicultural society, which unfortunately
is being tested by almost four decades of Turk-
ish military occupation. It is precisely for this
reason that from the first moment our govern-
ment was elected, we emphasised that each Eu-
ropean population has a duty to turn to a sys-
tematic examination of the sources of its own
intellectual tradition; to contribute and project
the discretional characteristics that compose its
own special physiognomy and contribution to
European culture.
“The miracle is nowhere but circulating
through man’s veins”…
The verse by (Giorgos) Seferis “[…] the mira-
cle is nowhere but circulating through man’s
veins”, is of great value to us. At the same time,
we trust and reinforce as never before any ini-
tiative by youths and intellectuals, agencies and
networks, for qualitative cultural exchanges;
we trust and reinforce as never before Cypriot
creators, such as musicians, writers, illustra-
tors, dancers, to participate in European and
international cultural events. Despite current
economic difficulties and in cooperation with
Greece, we support schools, universities and
other intellectual foundations that promote the
The President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr Demetris Christofias, during the opening ceremony