By ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ (GREEK) TÜRKÇE (TURKISH)
On the evening of Holy Saturday, ELAM’s candidate for the European Parliament, Geadis Geadi, carries the Holy Light to Makarios Hospital.
To his right and left are men lined up performing a Nazi salute, holding their helmets in an attempt to convince us they are just motorcyclists helping Geadis carry the Light of the Resurrection to the patients hospitalised there. None of whom (women and children), of course, were asked if they wanted this. They were used as extras in a show put on by ELAM, apparently with the blessing of the hospital administration, since entry to the hospital is controlled and people cannot come and go as they please without permission.
And while ELAM manages to enter sometimes through the cracks and sometimes through the gates of democracy with minimal effort (it has the lowest profile election campaign), DIKO, seeing its position shift on the electoral map, resurrects Makarios. “Greek Cypriot people, the voice you hear is familiar. I am Makarios”. At first, it is taken as a joke. [Editor’s note: reference to a social media post by DIKO that features the statement made by Makarios on 15 July 1974 announcing he was still alive]
Someone must have hacked the party’s account and posted the photo of the ethnarch who died 47 years ago along with the words he spoke 50 years ago when DIKO’s [current] leader was still crawling. It is not a prank though. After being mocked, the party defended its post. They said: “We honour our History. We are proud of the support from the Ethnarch Makarios, who led our people’s struggle for liberation and laid the foundations for Democracy in our country. His historical footprint is a timeless beacon of our struggles for national vindication and social justice.”
This is DIKO’s response to ELAM’s rapid ascent. Makis, that voter who was desperately trying to talk to the [then] president (Anastasiades) but couldn’t get him on the phone so he moved to DIKO to have a direct line to the presidential palace when it would come to power, seems to have switched party again [Editor’s note: reference to a fictional character called Makis, used in a political advertisement by DIKO during an election campaign]. And DIKO, “with you at the center” as its campaign slogan says, is calling on the spirit of Makarios for help. But this is 2024. With the Cyprus problem unresolved. With homeless people, people struggling to make ends meet, immigration being a huge and multifaceted issue, the outbreak of violence even in primary schools, out of control factions running everything, a whole host of problems… and the once third largest party is pinning its hopes on the late, for half a century now, ethnarch.
And the voters – every Makis, Takis, Maria and Yota – are expected to also pin their hopes on Makarios, as we did in 1974. But our hopes were dashed and we are still here, believing that with more time everything will be ours again.
