In the Service of Peace – Medal Parade in Cyprus

July 5, 2011 3:28 PM

On June 22 the personnel of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) lined up for a medal parade. Eighteen Hungarian and six Serbian troops received UN peacekeeping medals in recognition of their tour of duty and of promoting the esprit de corps in the mission.

By tradition, the central ceremony was held at the UNFICYP HQ in Nicosia. The preparations for the event had taken several days, since following the briefings and receiving their detailed tasks, the troops arriving from the different sectors had to go through a difficult training phase. During the training the peacekeepers took up formations and executed their tasks at the drill commands issued by the British commander.

Initially the movement of the honor guard detachments of different nations was a strange sight (let us not forget that the formation was made up of British, Argentine, Slovak, Paraguayan, Chilean, Croatian, Serbian and Hungarian troops), but everybody learnt the required drills in a very short time.

During the training the contingents of every troop contributing nation (TCN) had the right attitude and executed their tasks in an exemplary way, which earned the organizers’ praise. Many guests attended the medal parade, including ambassadors, high-ranking military leaders, attachés and of course the relatives and next of kin staying on the island. The event started with the arrival of the honor guard to different national marches.

Lisa M. Buttenheim, UNFICYP’s current Special Representative of the UN Secretary General (SRSG) and Chief of Mission delivered a speech during the ceremony, in which she talked about the most important events of the last period, also touching on some recent developments in the Middle East and Africa. In what followed, UNFICYP Force Commander Maj.-Gen. Chao Liu was given the floor. The Major-General said that this day was of special importance to him because, this was the first medal parade where he had been present in his official capacity, similarly to the other guests in attendance.

Following the speeches, Lisa M. Buttenheim and Maj.-Gen. Chao Liu as well as the ambassadors present at the event pinned the UN medals on the blue-beret soldiers’ uniforms. Endre Szabó, the Chargé d’ Affaires of the Republic of Hungary to Cyprus and Contingent Commander Lt-Col. Imre Kovács greeted the Hungarian peacekeepers.