Hungarian–Cypriot Relations

The exhibition opened in May 2011, during the Hungarian presidency of the European Union, but the book has just recently been published. Because the Hungarian troops have been serving with the mission of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for 15 years as a integral part of the bilateral relations between Hungary and Cyprus, at the opening of the exhibition Nicholas Emiliou, the Permanent Secretary of the Cyprus MFA made a promise about presenting every soldier of the Hungarian contingent in UNFICYP with a copy of the book following the publication.

The handing over of the presents took place on September 16, the day when during a brief ceremony held in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, in the presence of Dr. Balázs Botos, Hungary’s new ambassador to Cyprus Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis handed over the books to the representatives of the Hungarian contingent, including Contingent Commander Lt.-Col. Imre Kovács. The rest of the personnel of the Hungarian contingent received the books from them.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus sent a number of further books, donating two copies of each title to the holdings of the libraries in Camp Athienou and Camp Famagusta respectively, so that the Hungarian troops arriving with the incoming rotations to serve with UNFICYP can learn about the points of connection between the histories of Hungary and Cyprus.