RTCYPP News 23.2.18

In honor of U.S. Religious Freedom Day, U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Doherty visited the interfaith language classes coordinated by the Office of the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process (RTCYPP) under the Auspices of the Embassy of Sweden and participated in the monthly joint session together with Swedish Ambassador Anna Olsson Vrang.
Prior to the language course Ambassadors Doherty and Olsson Vrang had the opportunity to meet and discuss the situation of religious freedom in the island and the efforts of the RTCYPP in this regard.
The United States celebrated Religious Freedom Day last month, to commemorate the legal protections it established over two centuries ago. These protections were later incorporated into the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution and allow all people to practice their faith free from persecution or fear.
The “RTCYPP Language Course” is a new initiative for the religious leaders of Cyprus, where, for the first time, priests, imams, nuns and laypersons working for religious and faith-based institutions in Cyprus come together every week to study Greek and Turkish language. The course takes place at the Home for Cooperation in the UN-controlled Buffer Zone. It includes monthly joint sessions, which provide the participants an opportunity to get to know each other, learn about each other’s traditions, and practice their new language skills.
This is the second term of the language course. The pilot phase of the program ended in December 2017 with a strong endorsement by all involved for the course to continue.