Annual Conference Regarding Cypriot Issue Held in Washington, D.C.

The Annual Conference on the Cypriot issue and issues concerning Hellenism has been held in Washington, D.C. for the 27th consecutive year. As every year, the Conference was organised in common by the International Coordinating Committee ”Justice for Cyprus” (PSEKA) and the Coordinated Effort of Hellenes.
The conference took place in the historical hotel Willard, which is very close to the White House and was attended by homogeneous leaders from the USA, Greece, and Cyprus, all welcomed by PSEKA’s President Philip Christopher.

A good number of American legislators attended the Conference as well.  Greek-American Deputy Member, John Sarbanes from Maryland, explained to American Voice how important it is to gather every year and examine important issues concerning Cyprus, Greece and the USA. He stressed that topics such as the reunification of Cyprus, the strengthening of the Greek state as well as the promotion of a stronger relationship between Greece and the USA, are of great interest. That’s the reason why so many members of the Congress take part in this annual Conference.

Among others, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, President of the Advisory Committee of Foreign Affairs attended the Conference and was awarded with the ”Giorgos Paraskeuaidis” award. Nancy Pelosi, Ex-President of the American Parliament and currently, Minority Leader of the Congress gave a talk at the Conference.

Greek-American Deputy Member Kostas Mpilarakis from Florida as well as the awarded Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, Ambassador of the USA in Hungary, were also in attendance.

The Conference was a great success due to the fact that important topics were discussed, such as the problems that Greek Orthodox churches face in the occupied part of Cyprus. The meeting with 27 leading members of the Parliament and another 9 of the Senate was significant, because they showed great interest in the Cypriot issue, especially after the tightening of Cypriot-Israeli relations.