Diversity Festival took place in Nicosia

The European Commission supported a “Diversity Festival” on 10 April at Bandabuliya, Nicosia as part of European Action Week Against Racism. The event aimed to bring together various cultural groups in order to celebrate cultural diversity within the Turkish Cypriot community.  After the opening speeches by Mr.Arttu Makipaa and Mr.Mehmet Harmancı, MAGEM, Akova Women’s Association, French Cultural Association, Refugee Rights Association, German Cultural Association, Russian Speakers Association, Civic Space, SOS Children’s Village, and the Palestinian, Pakistani, Afghan and Ukrainian students groups provided an opportunity for visitors to taste various international food and experience music and dance performances. 

The event also supported the annual campaign of European Action Week Against Racism where people and groups across Europe actively engage for tolerance, equal rights and celebrating the diversity of Europe. The campaign is run by UNITED for Intercultural Action: The European Network against nationalism, racism, fascism and in support of migrants and refugees.

European Music Nights - "A City Twilight Concert" took place at Bedestan

The European Commission, as part of the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage and European Music Nights, supported "A City Twilight Concert at Bedestan" featuring the Othello Choir and Sonare Choir on Monday 16 April. Throughout 2018, diverse cultural heritage across Europe will be celebrated to encourage more people to discover and engage with Europe's cultural heritage, and to reinforce a sense of belonging to a common European space. 
Othello Choir, created in 2010 has worked on repertoires of polyphonic Turkish folk songs, choral works of various periods and polyphonic chorus works of Cyprus besides European and world choral literature. Sonare Choir was created in 2017 in Nicosia has also been working on the repertoires of polyphonic Cypriot, Turkish and European songs.
As part of the EU Aid Programme for the Turkish Cypriot community a series of activities and projects to raise awareness about arts, music and cultural heritage were supported. This includes the “Confrontation through Art Project” by EMAA and the “Cypriot Intangible Cultural Heritage” project by Folk-Der. Additionally, since 2012 the European Union, has provided €14.7 million for the preservation of Cyprus' cultural heritage in support of the work of the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage via UNDP. 

The European Commission underlined the importance of climate change and its impact on employment and the labour market during the Climate Change at Work panel on Monday 30 April at the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce in Nicosia. This event aimed to raise awareness about the enormous impact of climate change on the economy particularly on the emergence of new professions in the Turkish Cypriot community.
After the opening speech by Mr.Alessandro Bianciardi, Mr. Rifat Ünal Sayman, Regional Director at the Regional Environmental Center in Turkey, presented the EU policy and implementations on employment effects of climate change, the impact on the labour market, and examples from EU Countries and Turkey. In addition to this, Dr.Tufan Ekici and Dr.İbrahim Kahramanoğlu made presentations about the impact of climate change on the agriculture sector and on new professions in the Turkish Cypriot community.
As part of the EU Aid programme for the Turkish Cypriot community a number of projects have been supported to address climate and environmental challenges. These include environment and infrastructure projects, energy efficiency projects for SMEs and projects funded under the labour market and education sectors.

The European Commission supported school visits to the Famagusta Waste Water Treatment Plant as part of an awareness raising initiative to inform communities about the importance of treating water and preventing water pollution. The visits, organised in partnership with EU Technical Assistance Project on Capacity building to the water/wastewater and solid waste sectors - Phase 2 and the Famagusta local community took place on 27 April and science students from 3 Famagusta high schools were hosted at the visits, including Namık Kemal High School, Polatpaşa High School and Gazimağusa Turk Maarif Koleji.

With the support of the European Commission, the EU Infopoint organised a Health and Safety at Work training at LTB, in Nicosia. More than 20 employees of the local community attended the training and they had the opportunity to learn how to make work places safer and healthier.

Protect the Environment Training for Kids

A "Protect the Environment" training series, organised in cooperation with the EU-funded Capacity Building in the Solid Waste, Waste Water Sector Project, took place at Nicosia 9 Eylül İlkokulu on 4 April and at Balıkesir Meriç İlkokulu in Palaikythro/Balıkesir on 9 April with the participation of 120 primary school students. The visits aimed to raise awareness on environmental protection. The interactive trainings included a short video on marine waste and a lively Q&A session with the participants.