Welcome Address
Dr . Petros Kareklas President of the Occupied Municipalities of Cyprus & Mayor of Kythrea
Excellencies , Honourable Guests , Ladies and Gentlemen !
Although my present duties and activities as Mayor of one of the occupied by turkish troops cities of Cyprus , Kythrea , and also President of the Committee of Occupied Municipalities , do not directly coincide with your Conference today , I gladly accepted the invitation to attend the opening of " CYPSEC 2021 ", having previously held for many years the position of Permanent Secretary of the Cyprus Ministry of Defence .
During that period of my service , I always encouraged the close studying of defence and security issues for Cyprus and the whole region and the development of activities which aimed at promoting the strengthening of capabilities , collaborations and networking . ZOMIDEA , represented by its very active partner Vasilis Zomenos , was since then actively engaged in this field . With great pleasure and personal interest , I still follow related activities and encourage their continuation .
I very much welcome this year ’ s Conference and I congratulate the Organisers , the Sponsors and the Participants . I am confident that it will be a very successful and productive event , after the difficult period we went through because of the pandemic . In addition , we had to contend with the tense and challenging situation prevailing around Cyprus . As you surely know , our imposing neighbour , namely Turkey , is acting like a regional police officer , who ironically , doesn ’ t respect international law , as it is consistently undertaking a lot of illegal activities at land and sea in Cyprus and in the whole region .
I wish you every success in your deliberations !