Ceremony venue and security
The event unfolded against divided Nicosia, Europe’s last occupied capital, with police controls, body scanners, rooftop snipers, and drone bans.
President Nikos Christodoulides and First Lady Philippa Karsera welcomed Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Moldova’s Maia Sandu, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU Council President António Costa, Iraq’s Abdul Latif Rashid, Lebanon’s Joseph Aoun, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Albudaiwi.
Artistic program structure
Over 100 Cypriot artists from diverse generations performed Memory – Present – Meta, directed by Kostas Silvestros.
This triptych blended poetry, music, visuals, dance, choirs, and digital traces tracing Cyprus’s history within European civilization.
Broadcast live by RIK, it opened with EU accession footage, Cypriot National Anthem, and EU Ode to Joy by soprano Mariza Anastasiadi with Cyprus Symphony Orchestra.
Deputy Minister Marilena Raouna declared culture the EU’s “common language,” Europe’s heart beating in divided Nicosia.
Memory act: Invasion trauma and resilience
The “Memory” segment carried heaviest political weight. Teukros Anthias’s Cypriot Rhapsody recitation accompanied sculptor Nikos Kourousios’s live Aphrodite creation onstage, symbolizing cultural continuity amid invasion scars.
A theatrical timeline spanned antiquity to Republic founding via idols and symbolic images. Peak emotion arrived with Kostas Montis’s Turkish Invasion II poem: young Ioli entered holding a book, joined onstage by enclaved teacher Eleni Foka, evoking ongoing division’s human cost before EU leaders witnessing Cyprus’s pain.
Present and future symbolism
Amalgamation Choir under Vasiliki Anastasiou sang traditional songs with “peace” echoing in multiple languages, reinforcing multilingual unity.
Nine foreign nationals declared “present” against grey backdrop, transitioning to live orchestra, symbolizing Cyprus’s multicultural bridge role.
Archival footage projected Archbishop Makarios proclaiming the Republic.
Despoina Bempelti recited Kyriakos Charalambides’s “E adrope“; Ioli closed with hope messages, leaving audiences with reintegration anticipation.
Leaders’ aligned political messages
Art amplified leaders’ sovereignty calls linking Cyprus/Ukraine divisions. Christodoulides positioned Cyprus as EU-regional bridge for autonomous, outward-looking Europe prioritizing reunification. Zelensky praised Cyprus’s equal voice despite size, hoped war ends this Presidency via shadow fleet sanctions, prioritized Ukraine-Moldova accession thanking invasion-shared solidarity.
Von der Leyen deemed reunification “absolute priority,” appointed Johannes Hahn Cyprus envoy, extended law-over-violence principles to Greenland. Costa stressed international law for Cyprus, Ukraine, Gaza, Greenland.
Post-ceremony, Christodoulides hosted dinner at Leventis Gallery.
Source: Cyprus Mail
Featured photos: CNA
Also read: EU Presidency Opening Ceremony sends sovereignty messages
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