Society is tired of watching this theatre of the absurd

Article by Marina Nikolaou, AKEL C.C. member and MP

Tuesday, 27 December 2022, “Haravgi” newspaper

The evidence of truth is practice itself. It is the end result that counts. A characteristic example of the government’s failure is the key chapter of policy on migration. What handling of the issue did the government ruling forces do and what were the results of their policies? Whose responsibility is it to process asylum applications in a fair, efficient and speedy manner?

During the Christofias government the number of pending applications stood at worst 2,000. The current government ruling forces were making such a storm and uproar back then, blaming the President and the Ministers for the handling of the whole issue. Today, when the number of pending asylum applications has reached 30,000, the victims of the ongoing wars are the ones being blamed. It is everyone else’s fault and it goes without saying that the government ruling forces do not take on any responsibility whatsoever for the negligence they have shown.

No one disputes that the Republic of Cyprus is called upon to manage migration flows that exceed its capacity, especially at a time when Turkey is instrumentalising in a vulgar way the drama of the refugees before the eyes and complete exoneration of their European associates.

But at the crucial moment when decisions were being taken with regards the Dublin Regulation, which traps refugees in the first country of arrival, as well as on the immoral EU-Turkey agreement, the government ruling forces did not utter a single word. On the contrary, their EU counterparts imposed them and now that we are experiencing the results of these policies the government ruling forces are suggesting that it’s anybody’s fault but theirs for supporting them.

If the government ruling forces were so proud of their handling of the issue and the policy they have implemented, they would not have taken Vice-president of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas to Athienou to watch the “green line” with binoculars. The government ruling forces would have taken him to see the Pournara reception centre for migrants where, despite all the millions in EU funds that have been allocated, people are crammed into miserable conditions, with problems inside and outside the centre, for the inhabitants of the neighbouring communities multiplying. Or are the barbed wire fences installed [by the government] in Astromeritis perhaps effective, which have cost taxpayers two million euros to make life difficult for the residents and bring us into conflict with the United Nations?

What is demanded is respect for international law, for the conventions/treaties ratified by the Republic of Cyprus, the proper use of EU funds, the adequate staffing of the Asylum Service, the rapid processing of asylum applications, the humane handling of migrants and Republic of Cyprus asserting exemptions as a small island and semi-occupied country.

These are the fundamental principles on which we must base a comprehensive immigration policy on, as correctly included in the governance programme of A. Mavroyiannis, and not the barbed wire fences that have been installed and the words in the wind that Averof Neophytou and Nikos Christodoulides are telling the people.

Cypriot society is tired of counting the familiar government “I pledge to…” It is tired of watching the theatre of the absurd, of those who for ten years have played a leading role in the Anastasiades government [Averof Neofytou and Nikos Christodoulides] and now behave as if they had just arrived in Cyprus, discovered the problems and suddenly have all the ways to solve them.

Cypriot society cannot take being mocked anymore.

It can no longer stand to see the barbed wire fences multiplying.

The Cypriot people can and will turn 2023 into a year of change, the progressive change that society wants and that Cyprus needs.