The EP
elections and the ecstasy of the guardians of status-quo
The most painful outcome of the European
Parliament elections held in Cyprus on Sunday, May 25, was that it played so conveniently
into the hands of those, who never miss an opportunity to scream at the top of
their lungs that Greek Cypriots do not, and will never consider Turkish
Cypriots as their equals. The loyal guardians of the status quo in the northern
part of Cyprus - the eternal collaborators of the guardians of the status quo
in the southern part of Cyprus -were ecstatic that thousands of Turkish
Cypriots were not able to exercise their voting rights.
“I hope this will finally show you that
Greek Cypriots are not good-willed,” commented one Turkish Cypriot on social
media. “I hope this makes everyone come to their senses and see the realities.”
wrote another. Other comments followed: “What else can the Greek Cypriots do?
They have been trying to make us understand since 1963. We are still insisting
in not understanding.” “Yet another message to us from our neighbours. Those of
you, who have been pretending not to understand… do you understand now?” “Have
the Greek Cypriots treated the Turkish Cypriots unfairly? No, that is
impossible! Come on! Our neighbours would never do anything of that sort. They
are faultless. Please don’t be silly.” “The Greek Cypriots would not give us
even their sins.” “Our southern neighbours take every opportunity to do
everything they can to make us suffer.”
Such ludicrous and sarcastic comments went
on for pages and pages. Longer than I could stand to read… I honestly don’t believe
that there was a deliberate, organised, racist conspiracy carried out to
prevent so many Turkish Cypriots from voting at the European Parliament elections.
Yes, there was a problem - most probably arising from negligence, lack of
preparation or mere bureaucratic incompetence.
The Republic of Cyprus had made amendments
to its election law earlier this year to allow all Turkish Cypriots aged 18 or
over and bearing a Republic of Cyprus ID card and residing in the north, to be
automatically granted voting rights with no need to register in the electoral
roll. Therefore, the amendment made eligibility to vote conditional on the
residential address. It turns out that the residence addresses of thousands of Turkish
Cypriots living in the north were either missing or incorrect in the official
records of the Republic. As a result, they were not able to cast their votes.
Under normal circumstances, in a normal
country where sane people live, everyone would have been regretful of the fact
that so many Turkish Cypriots were prevented from exercising their voting
rights.
However, in the crazy country that we live
in, the adamant guardians of status quo were so happy to have seized yet
another opportunity to conclude that no peace can be made with Greek Cypriots, ‘who
humiliate, reject, and ignore Turkish Cypriots.’
On Sunday, May 25, the guardians of the
status-quo won. The Cypriots fighting for peace and solution were defeated once
again.
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