The new Minister of Defense, Charalambos Petridis, held a meeting with the Head of the Church of Cyprus on Wednesday, 8 July 2020.
He arrived at the Holy Archdiocese of Cyprus shortly before noon. It is the first time that, after having taken the duties of defence minister, Charalambos Petridis meets in person Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus.
The Archbishop of Cyprus welcomed the minister and congratulated him for his election and his appointment as Minister of Defense of the semi-occupied Cyprus. “We will always be in touch because we are interested in our homeland and its defensive shield against the constant provocations of Turkey, the permanent objective of which is to ‘Turkify’ our island completely. We hope that, with God’s help, we will have better days regarding our national problems,” said the Archbishop.
He added, “I have made my views crystal clear. If Cyprus has a strong economy and is equipped with modern weapons systems, Turkey will know that it will not be able to advance easily, thanks to the power of our weapons systems. Each action taken by Turkey is destined only for ‘domestic consumption’. But modern politics require co-operation. That is why Turkey must stop wreaking havoc on the Eastern Mediterranean region.”
The minister of defence thanked the Archbishop of Cyprus and said, “We will carry on our works and we will move forward to a better future for Cyprus. In our opinion, it is necessary to pay a visit to the Head of our Church and to maintain a close relationship with people on all sides because we must remain united in this battle.”