Easyjet owner Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou handed out cheques totalling over 300,000 euros to Cypriots from both sides of the island in recognition of their efforts to foster better relations between the two communities.
A total of 31 prizes of 10,000 euros each were awarded to the individuals by the entrepreneur’s Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, at a ceremony last Monday attended by Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades.
Winners included kitsesurfers, singers, cyclists and a mixed Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot couple, who have a two-year-old son. Michalis Michael and Sükran Özerdem met in 2004 when they both worked for the United Nations. They got married in 2013 and they now have a son called Denis who was born in 2014.
“Denis, to the best of our knowledge, is the first bicommunal baby born after 1974,” a spokesman for the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation said.
An extra award was added to the original list of 30 winners, to singing Greek Cypriot Larkos Larkou and Turkish Cypriot Hatice Ardost, who revealed that they too were married.
Speaking at the ceremony at the Bi-communal Café in South Nicosia within the walled city, Sir Stelios said: “This is a charity project, not a political one. This is my way of giving back to the island that my family comes from. Both my parents were born on the island. This project is one of my ways of repaying my debt to society. We are working over the last seven years for lasting peace on the island of Cyprus.”
Sir Stelios said that there had been four times more applications in 2015 compared to previous years, which he put down to the “positive political climate” and better promotion of the scheme.
He also announced that the pot for next year’s awards will go up to half million euros, for 50 bicommunal teams. Following the awards ceremony, Sir Stelios along with media and local dignitaries held a “walk of peace” across the border to the site of a second Bi-communal Café that will open on Ferah Sokak in Lefkoşa early next year.
