Cyprus, a wall to be torn down” “

We continue our review of the ten countries that will enter the European Union on 1st May. This week we will discuss the island of Cyprus which risks still being divided by the time it enters the EU. The historical events (see fact file below) that led to the partition of the island into zones respectively under Turkish and Greek influence are well known. The frontier between the two halves of the island, called the “green line”, has been patrolled for three decades by a contingent of over a thousand UN troops; they cost 45 million euros per year. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, after Sicily and Sardinia. It’s also the only island of some size in the Med to belong to Asia. If the talks between the two delegations at the UN, which have been going on since 2002, and have reached their crux in recent days, fail to produce the hoped-for results, only the Greek-Cypriot zone will become part of the EU. (Already published in this series, Poland in SirEurope no.14/2004) DiviDED IN HALF? “Entering Europe as a divided island? I hope not!”. Father Umberto Barato, apostolic vicar of Nicosia, Cypriot capital, is sure: “Cyprus must enter the EU united. The island has always been united. From its entry into Europe the island cannot but gain, nor do I believe it will lose its own identity. Indeed this entry will extend its frontiers, help to overcome division and revive ideals of toleration”. Toleration is the real Achilles heel of the people of this island. “We live in a land where the words of Christ “love your enemies” have had little effect – explains the vicar -. Here children are taught, at home and at school, to hate and despise. Unfortunately, the idea that the Turks are nothing but barbarians is still very much alive in many sections of the population. And the Turks have a similar idea of the Greeks. It’s terrible. Our commitment as the Catholic Church must be to bring the two sides closer together. For, so long as this mentality remains rooted in the population, there will always be hatred and rancour”. THE ISLAND’S CONTRIBUTION. What has Cyprus to offer to Europe? “Perhaps its geographic position, so close to Turkey, Israel, Syria and Egypt. Europe with Cyprus will bring its frontiers closer to Asia, to the Holy Places; it will become a bridge that connects different lands and cultures”, adds Father Barato. Yet he warns: “No particular emotion about imminent EU membership can be perceived in the population, at least for the time being. I have to say, however, that those contrary to the EU are very few. For some time there has been talk of a referendum on EU membership, as happened in other countries. The hopes, however, transcend the difficulties. Businessmen, industrialists who fear they will be unable to compete with European standards, are those most apprehensive”. THE PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. “The Church here is mainly confined to the liturgy – explains the vicar – and has little impact on social life. So all we can do is pray. Prayer is the offering of the Church. We pray that entry into the EU may be positive and help heal divisions”. When necessary, the Church does not fail to speak out: she does so now “to recall the importance of the island’s re-unification on the occasion of the meeting in New York between the Greek and Turkish representatives of the island with Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General. Nor does the much-feared secularization bother the Church: “we don’t fear the de-christianization of the island, and it certainly won’t be Europe that causes it, but Christians themselves – 600,000, in comparison with some 100,000 Moslems, most of them Turks – who fail to put the Gospel into practice. We in the Catholic Church, formed in large part of immigrant workers, pray for this division to come to an end. And even more so now that the date of 1st May is approaching. Ways of dialogue, toleration and union need to be found. Even if the two communities, Greek and Turkish, remain divided, let us at least pull down the wall that divides them. May everyone be able to move about and live in freedom! Perhaps if we got to know each other better, it would be easier to dialogue”.