Reactions

OUR SPECIAL FEATURE
ON ARCHBISHOP
MAKARIOS OF CYPRUS

Dear Sir,
As the Honorary Consul of Cyprus to the Seychelles and a Seychellois , by choice, I would like to thank you for the coverage you gave of the first President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III. The timing coincides with the 30th Anniversary from the passing away and the 50th Anniversary from the release from his Seychelles exile.

Whilst some of the facts stated or dates given may be inaccurate, the tone of your coverage is one of respect for the Archbishop and his struggle to free Cyprus from British and Turkish occupation.
I have observed however that what is reflected, in parts, as a biased reporting, has been sourced from the internet from sites such as ‘Time/CNN’ and I am not surprised that these sources are motivated in promoting the policy of their county’s interests with Turkey and not in defence of human rights.

As most people are aware, the so called ‘Cyprus problem’ was artificially created by the British in their divide and rule policy so as to tri-partion the island under the pretext of protecting an ethic minority on the island and turning several large areas of the island to ‘British Sovereign Territory’ to this day. The latter brings to mind the ill attempt to do the same to Seychelles with the sinister plan rejected just before independence, to keep some of our islands under the so called BIOT (British Indian Ocean Territories).

Putting politics aside, over my almost forty years in Seychelles I have observed the immense affection for Archbishop Makarios by the people of Seychelles as well as the Government. This affection is mutual as Makarios before leaving Seychelles at the end of his exile in April 1957 left money for important local charities. Motivated by the fact that during the colonial times, the secondary schools such as Seychelles College and Regina Mundi were fee paying institutions, he sponsored students from the less fortunate families by paying their school fees, books, meals and uniforms. The annual assistance towards this need started by awarding one boy and one girl.

Subsequently with a generous injection of fresh funds the ‘Makarios Sholarship Fund was formally established. The Committee entrusted by the Archbishop to manage the funds is always chaired by the Chief Justice and the Prelates of the Catholic and Aglican churches as well as representatives for the Government and the Archbishop, participate on this Committee. Over the years and even after school fees were abolished by the Government this fund awarded assistance to over 2,500 students from all primary and secondary schools. This year alone about 300 students are being helped.

It is remarkable how the twist of historical events such as the exile by the British of a national leader from Cyprus turned into such strong a bond between the two island states. Several Seychellois students studied in Cyprus and Greece and in recent years, both these countries provided economic assistance from time to time. Unfortunately Cyprus is still struggling to restore its independence and territorial integrity from Turkish occupation of the northern part of the island. On the other hand a Cypriot minister Mr. Michael Sarris was the official guest of the Government for the celebrations of 30th  Anniversary of the  Seychelles independence from Britain, last year. During these celebrations the late Archbishop was gratefully depicted on two Seychelles stamps which enshrine the strong bonds of Seychelles and Cyprus.
 

Panos Papakokkinos - Turtle Bay