Filenews 29 July 2024 - by Dora Christodoulou
Representatives of the Pontian community proceeded to the establishment of a political movement that aspires to house the Greeks of Pontus who have been living in Pafos for more than 30 years.
Speaking to "F" about this development, one of the protagonists of the initiative, Raoul Tsachides, stressed that the decision to create a political movement of the compatriots is not unrelated to the treatment these people had from the traditional parties and which, as he stressed, was positive only in the pre-election periods, when the votes of the compatriots were sought after.
For this reason, the Greeks of Pontus, who have been living here for 30 years, he said, decided to form a political Movement of the Greek Expatriates of Cyprus. Our goal is to help expatriates living in Cyprus today on issues that concern them. Our movement will gradually open offices in other cities and will take on a pancyprian character, it will not be limited to Pafos. He announced the founding congress next September, when his leadership will be elected.
Mr. Tsachides pointed out that a large number of Pontian Greeks are not only fully integrated into Cypriot society, but have completed academic studies on the island, have developed professional, business and social activities. That is why we ask the State, he stressed, to give greater importance to the compatriots who live here, to treat them in a way that shows that they are counted and the compatriots themselves can give things to my country for decades now.
In the Pontian community of Cyprus, there are still important outstanding issues, despite the many years that these people have been active here, argues Raoul Tsachides. There are elderly people who have not yet joined the NHS, there are serious issues with workers' pensions, who are forced to wait three and four years to receive what they are entitled to, while the situation regarding the acquisition of Cypriot citizenship is very serious, for which compatriots have been waiting for more than seven years and for which no Ministry answers how the situation stands. as he emphasizes.
On these issues and many more, he stresses, Pontian Greeks who have been living in Cyprus and especially in Paphos all these years, decided to organize themselves in a political movement aimed at promoting the issues that concern the community and not because there is a problem with other parties or organized groups. Already, the example of the Pontians of Pafos, he points out, is followed by compatriots residing in other districts who come into contact to promote similar movements or parts of the Movement in other cities.
Mr. Tsachides points out that primarily the attention of the initiators of the movement is to acquire organizational structures throughout Cyprus, while announcing its descent into the electoral arena in a second stage, defining the parliamentary elections of May 2026 as the first major goal.
An organized forum and an organized voice for the expatriates of Pontus are necessary, he stresses, so that all long-standing problems can be promoted in a coordinated manner and not piecemeal to be solved. Pontians have a voice and this was shown by the recent elections, with the election of expatriates to the Pafos Municipal Council, he says. As is well known, three compatriots have been elected in Pafos, and something more could have been done. Do not forget that in Pafos alone, 4,000 compatriots are registered in the electoral rolls, a very high percentage by Pafian standards.
But we don't just want parties to come to us only before the elections to reap the Pontian votes, Mr. Tsahidis observes. The reality is that during these 30 years, after the elections, there was complete silence on our issues, while before the elections everyone assured us of what they would do and how they would fight.
In conclusion, the representative of the political movement of the Pontians says that the Pontians do not want to feel equal citizens of the Republic only in the pre-election month. And he jokingly observes: Before the election, I was invited for so many coffees that I began to fear that my heart would hurt from too much caffeine. After the elections, no one asked for me.
