Good morning from Washington DC. I am blogging from the annual PSEKA (International Coordinating Committee for the Justice of Cyprus) conference which is being held in this city for the next few days. Greek Cypriot and Greek leaders from all over the United States (including the two ambassadors from Cyprus and Greece) have converged to talk, discuss and find solutions to one of our most important national issues: the continued occupation of northern Cyprus.
After a line up of speeches on Wed morning, I left with members of the Hellenic American Leadership Council and proceeded to the Capital building to meet with Greek American congressmen and members of the Hellenic caucus. Being it was my first time ever in the Capital building, I have to say it was pretty exciting. We first had the chance to meet with Greek American Congressman John Sarbanes (from the state of Maryland), who spoke to us with passion about getting the youth re-energized and involved in the Greek community. We then proceeded to meet with Zack Space, a Greek American congressman from the state of Ohio; who announced to us immediately "I'm a Greek American," and also re-itereated his support for our cause. And before leaving the Capital, we also made a visit to Danny Davis' office, from the state of Illinois, who is the a member of the Hellenic caucus and has been a strong supporter of the Cypriot cause for many years.
To see the think tank in Congress about the Cypriot cause, and that not only Greeks know what the word HELLENIC means, is promising and hopeful, in that maybe we can truly reunite Cyprus once again.
Wed evening we had a great dinner and cocktail reception at the Cypriot Ambassadors house. Ironically, at the home of the Cypriot Ambassador was the mayor of Kyrenia (of northern Cyprus), the only ethnic Greek elected official of the north of the island, and amongst the few that have remained in the north. The mayor, Mrs. Maria Ioannou, gave a heartfelt and emotional appeal for us not to forget Cyprus and to make sure that we CONTINUE to fight to rid the north of the occupying Turkish force. She ended her talk with an emotional statement, "Remember its KYRENIA NOT GIRNE, its KYRENIA AND NOT GIRNE."
Very moved, I approached the mayor after her speech, and spoke with her briefly about the situation in the north. I promised her that when the Cypriot flag rises again over Kyrenia, that I would come and have coffee with her in her city. She smiled at me and said, "Yes, sto limani."
Hopefully we can have that cup of coffee sooner than later. -K