Cyprus President to attend Greek Independence celebrations

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades will attend Greece’s celebrations in Athens to commemorate 200 years since the 1821 Greek War of Independence.

Anastasiades will represent Cyprus at a military parade on March 25 (also a national holiday in Cyprus) in Greece’s capital and hold meetings with Greek politicians and foreign officials.

On Wednesday, President Anastasiades will have a private meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Maximos Mansion.

In the afternoon, the President will have a bilateral meeting with New Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who will be in Athens as a guest to attend the celebrations.

In the evening, Anastasiades will address an official dinner hosted, at the Presidential Mansion, in honour of the heads of state invited to participate in the 200th anniversary.

On March 25, the President will watch the military parade at Syntagma Square with other political leaders.

Reviving memories of its battle for independence from Ottoman Turkish rule 200 years ago, Greece is preparing to defy coronavirus with bicentennial celebrations on Thursday, despite lockdown.

Greece was under Ottoman rule for nearly 400 years since the Ottoman Turks invaded what was then Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine empire, in 1453.

Scattered uprisings in 1821 escalated into a full-scale war which – helped by the intervention of Britain, France and Russia – finally resulted in the establishment of an independent kingdom of Greece in 1832.

Britain’s Prince Charles is expected to attend, and French and U.S. fighter jets will take part.