Cyprus on Saturday marks the anniversary of March 25, 1821, which signaled the start of the Greek revolution against the Ottoman rule.
The Greek Independence Day, which also is a public holiday in Cyprus, sees schoolchildren taking part in parades in all towns.
President Nikos Christodoulides took the salute outside the Greek Embassy in Nicosia around 10 in the morning.
Parallels are drawn on this day between the struggle of the Greeks who revolted against the 400-year-old Turkish oppression and the continuing occupation of part of Cyprus by Turkey which invaded the island back in 1974.
Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire since 1453. The revolt began on March 25, 1821, when Bishop Germanos of Patras raised the flag of revolution over the Monastery of Ayia Lavra in the Peloponnese and the cry “Freedom or death” became the motto of the revolution.
