Christodoulides in Thessaloniki to unveil bust of Eoka fighter
President Nikos Christodoulides will travel to Greece’s second city Thessaloniki on Friday to attend a series of events, among which one at the city’s Aristotle University, where he will unveil a bust of Eoka fighter Kyriakos Matsis.
Matsis was born in the village of Palaichori Morphou which, despite its name, is not near Morphou but is located in the Troodos mountains and studied agriculture at the Aristotle University after enrolling in 1946.
He had connections with the monarchist side of the Greek civil war while in the country, before joining Eoka in 1955. He was killed by a grenade during a gun battle with British forces in the Kyrenia district village of Dikomo in 1958.
In addition to unveiling Matsis’ bust, Chistodoulides will also visit the Society for Macedonian Studies, where he will speak at an event held to mark the 50th anniversary of Turkey’s invasion of the island.
He will then attend a conference at the university entitled “Cyprus and Rome” organised by the Diocese of Kalamaria, the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos, and the Central Macedonia regional government.
On Saturday, he will return to Athens to attend an event held by the Elliniko-Argyroupoli municipality and the Pontians’ Union of Argyroupoli, entitled “Ambassadors of Pontic Hellenism”.
There, Christodoulides himself will be declared an “Ambassador of Pontic Hellenism”.
His tour of Greece comes after a meeting with the country’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in which they both heralded the importance of Christodoulides’ meeting with United States President Joe Biden earlier in the week.