It must be in our DNA – this trait isn’t something we can easily shake off. Just when you think realism has finally triumphed over sentimentality, the slightest provocation reawakens our ‘centre of the world’ syndrome.
In a small and relatively isolated place like Cyprus, it’s all too easy to nurture the belief that we’re terribly important, somehow special, superior to other nations, that our country is the best of all.
Yet we’re no longer isolated. Both technology and ease of travel have connected us with people and places of varying significance worldwide. We’ve seen beautiful countries, advanced societies, innovations, achievements, and living conditions both better and worse than our own. We’re but a tiny part of this world – a mere dot on the map, interconnected with all the other dots when it comes to major global issues.
Nevertheless, a single phone call from Biden – whom we were recently reading about confusing Putin with Zelenskyy and Kamala Harris with Trump – was enough to trigger our collective narcissism. “We’ve outsmarted Erdogan… Caught him off guard… Outmanoeuvred Turkish diplomacy… Biden values us and wants to meet our president… Our country’s regional and international footprint is growing stronger…”
This reaction reveals anything but self-confidence. It’s more akin to a provincial being invited to the big city’s party. Of course, the invitation matters – but it would carry far more weight if we showed a bit of composure rather than appearing desperately eager.
We’ve been diving into historical records to emphasise how rare it is for a Cypriot president to cross the White House threshold. We’ve learned that Nicos Christodoulides is only the third Cypriot president to receive an invitation and the fifth to meet with an American president. What we conveniently forgot to mention is that we’ve only had eight presidents in total.
Cyprus has been crudely dubbed both the “whore of the Mediterranean” and later “an unsinkable aircraft carrier in the Eastern Mediterranean” – two different phrases essentially conveying the same message. Cyprus’s geopolitical position gives it particular value during troubled times in the region, and it’s up to its leadership to navigate the invitations and challenges that come with it.
But we’re hardly the centre of the world. We’re simply a pawn on the global chessboard, one that players currently find useful. And for pawns especially, cynicism often proves more beneficial than sentimentality.