Cypriot communities around Australia are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Cyprus’ independence with a range of community events this weekend and beyond.
In Perth, the Cypriot Community of Western Australia (CCWA) is having their annual dinner dance tonight.

CCWA President Demetri Demosthenous said he expected around 250 people at the event, including the High Commissioner of Cyprus in Australia, His Excellency Yiannis Iacovou, Greek consul of Perth Sofia Choli, and several local councilors including Eleni Evangelou and James Limnios.

Mr Demosthenous said the CCWA had gone all-out this year, with live music, imported Cypriot alcohol and “more food than anyone can eat, in normal Greek standard ways.”
“We’ve made this quite a big event, and we’ve kind of blown the budget in a big way,” he said.

“But at the same time, our focus has been to bring in the Hellenic community, and their brotherhoods, towards the Cypriot community.”
He said over the years, Perth’s twenty Hellenic communities had become “quite distant from each other,” and the CCWA was keen to see this end.

“What we’re starting to do is bring them together, to say, ‘we’re all Hellenic in a sense,’ and we need to come together to promote Hellenism,” he said.
The Cypriot Community of NSW (CCNSW) has a full schedule of events to celebrate 50 years of the Republic of Cyprus over the next 12 months.

CCNSW President Michael Christodoulou said the extensive program, including a reception tomorrow night, a theatre group touring from Cyprus and soccer matches, was worth it.
“We do think it’s a milestone for the Republic of Cyprus and I think it deserves to be publicised as much as possible,” he said.

The program will include a number of events with Turkish Cypriots in Sydney, as part of a series of bi-communal events the CCNSW has been running.
“You know, that’s going to be a bit of a difficult one when you mention the Independence Day,” said Christodoulou.

In Victoria, the anniversary gala event was held at the Cyprus Community Centre last night, but Cypriots keen to join in the celebrations can head to the Church Service and Festival in West Sunshine tomorrow morning, from 8am – 12noon.

For more information on events in WA, go to www.cypriotcommunitywa.com
For events in NSW contact the CCNSW on (02) 95571256.
For events in Victoria go to
www.cyprus.com.au