Of course, our borders are in Kyrenia. At least for those of us born before ’74, who lived to see a Cyprus where you could travel from Paphos to Karpasia, from Limassol to Kyrenia, from Larnaca to Morphou, from Nicosia to Famagusta, from Troodos to Pentadaktylos… without having to cross checkpoints and show travel documents.
So, our borders, at least emotionally, are in Kyrenia, as that old illusion and everlasting hope used to say. This is a sentiment the Deputy Minister of Migration keeps reminding us of when he repeatedly states, “We will not allow the Green Line to become a border.” But what does he mean when he allows people who have arrived in Cyprus, seeking -European- asylum from the state, to camp there?
By forbidding them from moving beyond the Buffer Zone (or Green Line), it’s as if we’re accepting that another state begins beyond that point. By leaving them there, refusing them entry into the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, we are doing the opposite of what we claim. We are acknowledging dividing lines and two states.
Now, we are going to assign experts to study whether the barbed wire fence set up by the previous government should remain or be removed. As if this is a matter of scientific assessment rather than a political decision.
And that political decision does exist, even if, in an attempt to differentiate from Nouris, the current Minister of Interior, Konstantinos Ioannou, announced about a year ago that the barbed wire would be removed, describing it as an “insufficient measure and politically damaging to our country.”
Despite this statement—or perhaps because of it—the government needs an excuse to maintain and perhaps extend the barbed wire. So, they’ve tasked the police with drafting a report to justify its retention, so no one can cite Ioannou’s spontaneous statement.
Naturally, the burden falls more on the communication strategists than the police, to use the right words so that it doesn’t appear that the Minister said one thing last year and the Deputy Minister of the same government says another this year.
Regardless of what one believes—whether we should throw migrants into the sea to go back where they came from, or whether we should accept them and examine their requests as international conventions dictate—can anyone explain the logic of a border that isn’t a border if you prevent someone from crossing it?
If the migrants remain in the Buffer Zone, how does that ensure that our borders aren’t in Peristerona and Aronas, but in Kyrenia?
Read more: