The President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades honoured last Wednesday evening four members of the diaspora for their important service to their country, during a reception held at the garden of the Presidential Palace, in Nicosia. Moreover, he assured those present about the willingness of the government to further strengthen the mutually beneficial cooperation between the diaspora and Cyprus.
The reception was hosted by President Anastasiades and his wife, Andri, honouring the participants of the 20th World Conference of Overseas Cypriots POMAK-PSEKA-NEPOMAK. The four recipients are the former Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain Gregorios, the Metropolitan of Kenya Makarios, the former President of the Women’s division of the Pancyprian Association Doctor Florentia Christodoulidou and the former President of the Cyprus Community of South Australia Christos Ioannou.
In his speech, the President praised their internationally recognised and outstanding contribution, for the benefit of the diaspora, in the realms of culture, education, philanthropy. Their work also played a decisive role for the progress and development of our country, their country of residence and the society in general, he added.
“There is no doubt that by honouring your origins, keeping your religion, language, the traditions of our country, you turned yourselves into ambassadors of culture, history and, primarily, of the proper display of our positions and just national causes abroad” he added.

The President also noted the remarkable, as he said, increase of young members who enter each year NEPOMAK, the Youth of the World Federation of Overseas Cypriots.
During the event, the organizations of Overseas Cypriots presented a bust of Alexander the Great as a symbolic gift to the President of Cyprus, who in turn remarked that “we ought to learn from his fighting spirit, his patriotism and his resolve.”
Presidential Commissioner Photis Photiou also referred to the exceptional and timeless contribution of those who received the distinctions by the President, noting their efforts for the benefit of their fellow citizens and of their country.
The members of the Central Council were briefed earlier by the President of Cyprus on the latest developments regarding the Cyprus issue. Photiou, together with the Presidents of POMAK, PSEKA and NEPOMAK also laid a wreath at the statue of Archbishop Makarios, at the entrance of the Presidential Palace.

Former POMAK/PSEKA Officers and retired Cyprus High Commissioner also honoured

During the course of the conference, Christodoulos Sylianou and Hambis Nicolaou (both Honorary Members of the POMAK/PSEKA Central Council) and retired Cyprus High Commissioner to the UK, Euripides Evriviades, were honoured for their services and dedication to Cyprus and the diaspora movement.
Mr Evriviades was born in Larnaca, Cyprus, on 6 August 1954. He was High Commissioner for the Republic of Cyprus to the UK from November 2013 until his retirement at the end of last month. Before assuming this post, he was Deputy Permanent Secretary/Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Jan 2012-Nov 2013) serving intermittently as Ag. Permanent Secretary. Prior, he served as Ambassador / Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe (Nov 2008-Jan 2012), having also chaired its Rapporteur Group on External Relations (2011). Previously, he was Political Director of the Ministry (2006-2008), having concurrent accreditation to the State of Kuwait, pro tem Nicosia.
Mr Evriviades was Ambassador to the United States of America and non-resident High Commissioner to Canada, serving concomitantly as: the Permanent Representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization; the Permanent Observer to the Organization of American States; and Representative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (2003-2006). He also served as Ambassador to the Netherlands (2000-2003) and to Israel (1997-2000). Earlier in his career, he held positions at Cypriot embassies in Bonn, Germany (1986-1988); Moscow, USSR/Russia (1988-1993); and Tripoli, Libya (1995).
He started his diplomatic career in 1976 at the Cyprus Consulate General in New York as Vice-Consul (1976-78) and later as Consul (1978-1982). He also held the position of First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations (1980-1982). From 1976 to 1980, he was a member of the Cyprus Delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (4th–10th sessions). He has published articles on the subject, as well as on the Cyprus question; on security issues of the eastern Mediterranean; and on diplomacy.
On 20 April 2015 he was voted by his peers in London as Diplomat of Year from Europe, an award of The Diplomat Magazine (est. 1947). On 15 January 2006, he received in Washington, DC, the King Legacy Award for International Service, bestowed upon him by the Committee on the International Salute to the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., A Man for All Nations. He was honoured in The Hague as the “Ambassador of the Year” by the Stichting Vrienden van Saur (“Friends of Saur”) Foundation, a Dutch social and philanthropic society (October 2003). Other decorations include the Great Commander of the Order of the Orthodox Knights of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Jerusalem, February 2000); and the Order of Merit (First Class) of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bonn, March 1989).
Mr Evriviades holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA-policy area of concentration: International Affairs and Security) from the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (1984) which he attended as a Fulbright Fellow. He graduated (cum laude, 1976) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire. He received a Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, from his alma mater, the University of New Hampshire (21 May 2005). He is married to Anastasia Iacovidou-Evriviades, an attorney-at-law. He has an avid interest in the arts, especially music, as well as in antiquities, cartography and motorcycling.
Accepting the award on behalf of Christodoulos Stylianou for his services to the Cypriot community in the UK and Cyprus, was his grandson Christos Tuton, President of NEPOMAK.
Mr Stylianou was born in Avgorou, Cyprus on 21st January 1943. He is married to Nina and has two daughters, Maria and Eleni, and two grandsons.
He came to England at a very young age and was active in trying to help his fellow Cypriots and trying to help solve the Cyprus problem.
For many years he was helping our community Greek schools thrive as Chair of Bowes Greek School and Chair of OESEKA (The Federation of Educational Societies of Greek Cypriots in England).
He was the Vice President and now Honorary Vice President of the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK.
He was the General Secretary of AKEL in Britain for several years.
Mr Stylianou was also a co-founder and General manager of the Cypriot Community Centre in Wood Green, north London, that is the home to many Cypriot associations and a place where many Cypriots congregate.

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