The small island nation of Cyprus announced a new plan to protect Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East. Cyprus’ president also said he hopes to work with President Trump to partner with America and “fully safeguard Christians’ rights.”

From Breitbart. The president of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides told Breitbart News exclusively on Sunday that he is appointing a new “Special Representative” of his government for religious freedoms to focus on protecting Christians and other religious minorities throughout the Middle East.

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“Recognizing the critical importance of protecting religious freedoms and supporting minorities in the Middle East, I decided to proceed with this appointment,” Christodoulides said in a phone interview on Sunday. “We aim to work for the protection of Christians and other minorities through dialogue with states in the region and neighboring countries to strengthen their rights and promote sustainable solutions to the challenges they face but also to raise awareness in the European Union of this issue and to support the European Union’s efforts on taking under consideration the rights of these religious groups in our region.”

The appointment, per an announcement the government will release on Monday, is for Thessalia Salina Shambos — currently the political director of Cyprus’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the nation’s former ambassador to Israel — to serve as Special Representative of the Republic of Cyprus for Religious Freedoms and Protection of Minorities in the Middle East. …

Both Christodoulides and Cyprus’s Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos told Breitbart News they look forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance, and Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio on religious freedom matters next year when they take office. …

“I will tell you what I mentioned to President Trump when I talked on the phone with him: Cyprus is a predictable, reliable partner of the United States in this region,” Christodoulides told Breitbart News. “If we work together, I think we can fully safeguard Christians’ rights in the region.”

The forthcoming Cypriot government release, provided to Breitbart News exclusively ahead of its public release, reads as follows:

Thessalia Salina Shambos, with proven diplomatic skills and experience, will work for the protection of Christian and other minorities through dialogue with states in the region, to strengthen their rights and promote sustainable solutions to the challenges they face, while her mission will assist the EU’s efforts to support religious groups in the region.

At the same time, the appointee will promote multilateral dialogue and inter-religious meetings to enhance the inclusion of Christian minorities in the region’s political processes.

The Special Representative of the Republic of Cyprus will also promote humanitarian and development assistance to religious minority communities, with a focus on health, education and victim reintegration projects. The protection of cultural heritage will also be a key priority, with the strengthening of actions for the restoration and protection of religious and cultural monuments. In addition, the Special Representative will highlight the diplomatic role of the Republic of Cyprus as a bridge between the European Union and the Middle East, building on its geographical, cultural and historical position, while strengthening European efforts to promote peace, tolerance and sustainable development.

With the appointment of Ms Thessalia Salina Shambos, the Republic of Cyprus reaffirms its commitment to support the religious communities of the Middle East, to promote regional stability and to showcase the richness of the region’s cultural and religious heritage.

Kombos, in an interview with Breitbart News ahead of the announcement, called Shambos an “amazing professional” who “has so much respect in Israel” and has been “very, very active and has been the driving force behind” Cyprus working with the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden to deliver humanitarian aid to the Middle East. …

Cyprus’s geographic proximity to key Middle Eastern nations, even though it is more culturally European, makes it strategically important for the West — both the European Union and the United States — in standing up to adversaries and engaging with this part of the world. Cyprus is just about 60 nautical miles from Syria and Lebanon, and similarly close to Israel. With the Islamic group HTS’s takeover of Syria and the fall of the Assad regime, Kombos said he has been “very active” the past several days including submitting detailed plans to Brussels to try to secure protections for religious minorities particularly Christians. …

Interestingly, Trump — the president-elect in the United States — has called the new leadership in Syria an “unfriendly takeover” by Turkey’s Islamic government led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan’s government has denied Trump’s assertions. While Trump seems to deeply understand what is going on, there is rising concern that maybe others in the West who are celebrating the fall of Assad’s regime have not yet figured out these deep fears for Christians in Syria that Cyprus is bringing attention to.

Kombos emphasized Cyprus’s importance as the only majority Christian nation in the region as key to this announcement. Cyprus has deep roots in the Christian faith. An island nation in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, Cyprus is where Paul the Apostle went on his first missionary which many consider the first Christian mission in the Bible. Lazarus, who according to the Bible, Jesus raised from the dead to live another 30 years, spent the remainder of his life in Cyprus as the first bishop of Kition and is buried there per the Eastern Orthodox Church. Throughout the history of the spread of Christianity, Cyprus has played a key role including being under the control of the Knights Templar during the Crusades.

In the modern-era, the island is divided in two with Turkish Cypriots controlling the northern part and Greek Cypriots controlling the south even though the entire world except Turkey recognized the Greek Cypriot-controlled Republic of Cyprus as the legitimate government of the island. Cyprus is also a member of the European Union, but Turkey’s opposition blocks even the consideration of Cyprus for NATO membership. …

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(Excerpt from Breitbart. Photo Credit: European People’s Party – https://www.flickr.com/photos/eppofficial/53797404658/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=149684532)