Cyprus, however small it may be, decided to ban barbarism, because it belongs to Humanity. Cyprus’s humane enactment of criminalizing the denial of recognized genocides is a phase change in regards to the spirit of the island, since it no longer holds a neutral position between the perpetrator and the victim.
Moreover, this decision, which coincides with the centenary of the Armenian genocide, acquires an even bigger symbolism. Because, as Cyprus has recognized the Armenian genocide since 1982, this new decision directly concerns her.
The same applies in regards to the Pontian genocide.
Because the criminalization of the denial, is an act of humane justice and not just an institutional and factitious context.
Therefore, Cyprus effectively completes the process of the recognition of genocides. For the simple reason, that criminalization follows the recognition, in the process of correction. So we see that Lemkin’s vision, when he coined the word genocide, had a substance which withstood all these decades and overcame all the difficulties and traps of the continuers of genocides.
For this reason Cyprus, which has occupied territories, refugees, enclaved and missing persons, dared to say the word of righteousness, because it does not forget all other nations which suffered even more, because they have not undergone a war crime, but a crime against Humanity.