“JUMPSTART” Youth Peace Campaign in Cyprus Kicks Off an Island-wide Peace Bus Tour and Public Campaign

The “JUMPSTART” Youth Peace Campaign in Cyprus will hold a Kick Off event that will mark the starting point of an island-wide peace bus tour that will conduct a diverse set of positive youthful activities both in the cities and villages of Cyprus until March 2010.

The Kick Off event will begin Friday 23 October 2009 at 17:00 in the Lokmaci pedestrian area near Al Divan restaurant. The celebration will begin with a cocktail reception and the crowd will hear welcoming words from “JUMPSTART” youth leaders and European Union representatives. Local representatives including Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou will also be present.

Following the opening ceremony, celebration street events will take place until 23:00 and be held in the Lokmaci pedestrian area and in Faneromeni Square and will include live music, drum circles, DJs and fire juggling / dancing. The “JUMPSTART” Youth Peace Campaign in Cyprus Kick Off event is open to the public and the media.

“JUMPSTART” Youth Peace Campaign in Cyprus is a European Commission funded joint action put forward by Youth Center Union (Genclik Merkezi Birligi), a Turkish Cypriot NGO, which is the leader of the project, and its partner Future Worlds Center, an NGO in the Greek Cypriot Community.

“JUMPSTART” Youth Peace Campaign in Cyprus aims to:

“Jumpstart” and re-invigorate the peace process;

Transcend the current trend of apathy and pessimistic mood to an optimistic and creative attitude, that will empower and encourage Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot youth to take positive action;

Create spaces which support positive and constructive dialogue between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots;

Facilitate youth to envision and implement new youth bi-communal projects LED by a network of youth leaders from both communities who will serve as agents of change.

Since March 2009 the “JUMPSTART” Youth Peace Campaign in Cyprus has been focusing on creating a core group of youth aged 16-30 from both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities and developing their leadership, communication and conflict resolution skills through trainings.

For more details contact Project Coordinators:
Huseyin Kursat at +90 533 830 0744 or huseyin.kursat@gmail.com
Nicolina Markidou at +357 99 358 442 or nicolina.markidou@gmail.com