Interview with Chief Su

BY: Huseyin Mermercioglu

Can you describe your role in the UN as the Chief Superintendent?

As a matter of fact Chief Superintendent is my rank at the national service. In the UN we don’t have this ranking system. Currently, my role is the Acting Senior Police Adviser which has the abbreviation the ASPA. The ASPA is the Head of the Police Component. Our mission in Cyprus is called the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus. The UN Mandate was authorised by the Security Council in 1964. So, we’ve been here for 56 years. My role in the Police Component is to facilitate, to maintain and to restore all the law and order. I’ll explain it in further details during the presentation.

What lead you to follow your career path?

          I would like to say that my career is very muchly associated with the United Nations. I’m from China. My policing experience started in 1995, from the local police station as a community police officer to the National headquarters. I’ve been continuing my contribution for the last 17 years in the UN. This includes a couple of field missions as well as UN headquarter experiences in New York. Currently I’m the police reform adviser in Brindisi, Italy.

Does that mean you constantly travel?

Yes, I do!

What has been the toughest job in a country like Cyprus with a prior conflict?

     Well, you can see the UN have been here for the past 56 years. I will say that the main challenge is still the political issues from the fact that we have two main communities. There’s several rounds of negotiations but currently we have a road map ahead of us. Still there are a lot of challenges in many terms. Even though they’re very technical issues we assume they are political matters. I see this as a challenge. If you ask me my opinions about the future, I’d like to say that the leaders and the communities have to show the true willingness to reunite. I’m also sharing the component on crime and criminal matters. I see a lot of potential and the multi-communal events have been increasing in the last 11 years. They have been quite successful. The members from both sides can sit together and exchange information. It’s for the benefit for all people on the island.

What type of events have you encountered in between the Cypriot communities?

I can give you an example just from this week. There was an art exhibition in the Ledra Palace Hotel and it’s quite impressive to be a witness for people’s reactions. It was a bi-communal event and it’s a return of these art paintings from both sides. The two leaders also attended the event and this is a quite positive action. A lot of people including the artists and their relatives were quite moved. This is an example that there’s still hope.

Do you believe that there is still hope of changing the mind-set of people with loss, trauma and anger?

          Yes.

Have you recognized any changes in the society’s viewpoints towards the issue?

          I think they have started to accept the other community. Currently, there are mandates monitored at the crossing points. You can see the movement between the two communities. I saw some fascinating statistics and how it has increased over the years. We should encourage these kind of interactions between the two communities. We should encourage them to visit each other and maybe live with the other community for a while. Especially, education for young people is needed and I recommend encouraging them to visit the other part. In my opinion you have many shared culture and background. Young people should be sharing their interest with the other community.

Do you have any suggestions for our generation from your experiences as a leader?

I was at a firm in Switzerland and I had the privilege to explore the young generation there. I saw a lot of potential for the younger generation.

As I was observing, I have recognized that young people have similar interests globally. They receive information much faster than the older generation. So more or less, they are on the same page compared to the older generation. This is the potential and recognition. They have better understanding of the world and global issues especially what we’ll be talking about in this conference about the climate crisis.

Interviewing Nicolas Berry

BY: Güzay Özverir

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

– Hi!  My name is Nicolas Mouros. I’m 19 years old.

What are your views on climate change?

– Well, we need to take action and we need to tackle the system of capitalism that only sees as profit and not really care about human beings and well beings of people.

What motivated you start getting involved into the action?

-I started it because I felt like no one was really active and if not me who will do it, I can’t really complain about anything when I’m not taking action myself.

Who is your biggest influence?

-I was influenced by many teachers, lecturers and academic staff to act. Then Greta Thunberg was the one who actually made me understand that I need to go into streets

What do you hope to achieve as you grow older?

-By the time I am 50? I mean what I want achieve in the world would be working fairer system for all including environmentally and socially. I don’t know what’s affected but like having achievement myself is to stay this passionate until I’m 50.

What was your first impression of Medimun, considering you were a delegate just a year ago?

-When I first came to Medimun, I was very terrified by the idea of creating a resolution or afraid of being the annoying one. People will talk about the resolution, and people could sometimes be mean, but overall, it felt good; I learned to speak without feeling judged.

So, as a first impression; terrifying. Also excited knowing that I could go to Security Council given with Emily that is the president of the general assembly now. The first time I saw her, I remember I was like ‘I’m scared of you’, I was afraid of her that she will destroy me during debate, but turns out she is a sweetheart. Medimun; It is a really good opportunity for young people to get out there, get educated and get out of their comfort zone because that’s what we need to be out of comfort zone.

Thank you

Interviewing Klelia Vasiliou

BY: Marilia Magnitis

“What is your favourite thing about your job?”

“The main pleasure I gain through my work is seeing the greatness of nature in the way that it imposes its rules.

as humans, we have to be better involved in what we call a natural ecosystem. The whole magic of nature could be more beneficial for human life if it harmonises with its needs.”

 “What do you want to share from your scientific analysis on the geographical heritage of Troodos?”

“Firstly, when we began working at Troodos, the people there, thought that Troodos was just a square, thus we had to find the solution to make people feel that they belonged to the same geographical place through environmental ways, because we have natural areas, like Krasohoria, which are limestone pteroma, at which our ancestors planted vines, which provided wine. At Pitsilia, they made flour and olives from the mills at the rivers. Until today, the traditional signs are those above we invested and developed tourism for the people as to feel like they are part of their land.”

“Which is your favourite project for the promotion and integration of Troodos?”

“The geo-park project. It required us to go through the procedure ourselves of exploringnatural aspects. There was a festive mood when we identified the aspects that at the end of the day it reflected our character as we saw pteromata, plants, animals and in all of the creative convergence that our products offer. What is of main importance, is that the people involved with issues concerning the people and how they are integrated into the environmental aspects, and coexist with them as to achieve economic prosperity. A new wold is created and we felt the bliss of the people who expected nothing than deprivation but instead got opportunities through which they could feel like themselves. Lots of encouragement was provided to the locals and all the conversations about our economic prosperity in reality were the euphoria of the entire planet.

The project ‘Geostars’ which unfortunately I did not stay to follow its implementation, which involves the recommendation of the observatory of Troodos which is currently happening. The paperwork of the competition are already completed for the creation of the observatory. There are many issues which concern the biodynamic agriculture because we need that that the ethos from the geology around us, which involves the celestial bodies, which we do not know about. We created a mechanism, which allowed us to incorporate all these aspects of nature as to be able to explore other agricultural practises. Thank you.”