Press Releases

Dear friends,

It is a distinct honour and a great pleasure to be here online with you today to introduce Cypriot-UK Professor Kypros Nicolaides, a pioneer in the field of fetal medicine, one of the greatest honors and achievements in health and medicine worldwide.

I would like, first and foremost, to convey to you the heartfelt greetings of President Anastasiades and to express to Professor Nicolaides our collective, deepest gratitude for everything he has been doing all these years as a prominent member of Cyprus Diaspora in UK and worldwide. 

Before I move on, I would like to wholeheartedly commend the organizers (and especially the President of the National Federation of Cypriots in UK, Christos Karaolis as well as the Presidents of the Cyprus Medical Society in UK, Savvas Hadjiphilippou and Nicolas Galazis), and all contributors for this brilliant initiative and thank them for the opportunity to participate. 

I would like also to take this opportunity to thank our High Commissioner, Andreas Kakouris, and his associates for their continuous support to our Diaspora.

Christos Karaolis has already referred to Kypros incredible achievements. As him being a part of our Cypriot Community in the UK we feel really proud.

In these strange and challenging times, created by the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, I think the efforts of our doctors and medical professionals have come to mean so much more and are rightfully being recognized as truly heroic and admirable. Professor Nicolaides is both awe-inspiring and remarkable, and a fantastic role model for other Cypriots to look up to.

Dear friends,

I would like to congratulate Kypros for so deservingly being elected to the National Academy of Medicine in the USA, in recognition of his hard and successful work carried out over a number of decades. Only ten doctors outside US have been selected by the American Academy of Medicine and you being one of them, make us in Cyprus feel extremely proud of you. Your ground-breaking research in fetal and maternal medicine has saved countless lives over the years.

At this point it is important to highlight that President Anastasiades, acknowledging Professor Nicolaides’ exceptional achievement and honoring the core values and principles that he exemplifies as a Professor, most notably his long-standing commitment to public service and to the cause of his profession, awarded him during the World Conference of Cyprus Diaspora, in July 2018, the “Medal of Exceptional Services to the Republic of Cyprus”.

In this regard, Professor Nicolaides has recently been informed by President Anastasiades’ decision to present to him, when circumstances permit, with the “Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios III”, the country’s highest distinction awarded to individuals, as a token of gratitude and appreciation for his outstanding support and services to humanity, through which you made proud the Cypriot people and our Diaspora.

Dear Friends,

It would be amiss on my behalf if I did not extent my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Cypriot diaspora residing in the UK and around the world.   Your contribution has been indeed instrumental in mobilizing the interest and the involvement of key policymakers in the United Kingdom in our efforts to reach a settlement on the Cyprus Question. 

We are truly proud and grateful for the achievements of our successful diaspora.  On behalf of the Government, but also of the people of Cyprus, I thank you.

Cyprus Diaspora has many successful individuals and Kypros you are a great example of such an individual. I am sure you are motivating most of the UK’s Cypriots as well as Cypriots all over the world to follow in your footsteps. Even if it is not in the medical field but in other areas, you demonstrate that there is room for them to achieve things in their lives.

I wish you all the best both in your personal and professional life.

Before I conclude my intervention I would like to refer to Professor Nicolaides words during the Award Ceremony at the Presidential Palace in 2018 where among others he said “αυτό που με κάνει να νιώθω ιδιαίτερα περήφανος είναι διότι είμαι Έλληνας Κύπριος. Δέχομαι αυτή την τιμή εκ μέρους όλων των Κυπρίων της διασποράς. Ο κάθε Κύπριος της διασποράς, με τον δικό του τρόπο προωθεί τον αγώνα του λαού μας”.

Αυτά τα λόγια υπερηφάνειας τα λένε όλα.

Αυτός είναι ο Κύπρος Νικολαϊδης, Άνθρωπος, Πατριώτης, Επιστήμονας.

Σε ευχαριστούμε Κύπρο για όλα.

(RM/IK)