Cyprus in mourning for dead ex-president

[November 16, 2013]  NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus' government has declared a three-day mourning period for late former President Glafcos Clerides.

Government spokesman Christos Stylianides said after a Cabinet meeting Saturday that the respected politician's state funeral Tuesday will be held with honors befitting a sitting president and will be a public holiday.

Flags will fly at half-staff at all public buildings and schools and all public events will be cancelled over the mourning period.

Clerides' body will lie in state at the Orthodox Christian Cathedral of the Lord's Wisdom in Nicosia until his funeral.

Clerides, who died Friday, was widely regarded as a world-class statesman who guided Cyprus into the European Union.

He strove for most of his five-decade-long political career to reunify the ethnically split country, but an accord eluded him.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.