Archbishop: UN’s goals not always the middle ground

Cyprus’ Archbishop Georgios on Tuesday called on the UN to “take on its responsibilities” and protect the human rights of a people which has been suffering for years.

His statements were referring to Greek Cypriots and were made after a meeting at the presidential palace with President Nikos Christodoulides.

The archbishop conveyed his concerns to the president over “the long-standing plans of the Turks […] who don’t care about Turkish Cypriots, or the human rights of their population. They care for their national geopolitical interests.”

Asked if he was satisfied with the appointment of a UN envoy to Cyprus, Georgios said “the church has no say on the matter” but added that the envoy and the UN must “take its responsibilities to defend a people which has been suffering for years”.

“The goals of the UN are not always to find the middle ground between an occupier and those who are occupied.”

A reporter at the scene asked the archbishop if Christodoulides should meet with the Turkish Cypriot leader, to which he responded that the president would be the one to decide.

The archbishop described it as a “fruitful meeting” where they also discussed other matters such as the Markarios Foundation and the architecture school which will be housed in the Phaneromeni school in old Nicosia.

In his Christmas message last year, his speech was slammed by the opposition, after he said people that go to the north for anything besides prayer at churches there are “trivialising human dignity”.

Akel blasted the statement, saying that rather than discuss the war in Palestine, and the “slaughter of civilians and children” or send out messages of love and peace, the archbishop instead chose to send a political message.