I follow the pre-election appearances, the signs, the slogans. I hear about the CoLA [Editor's note: Cost of Living Allowance] that 80% of the workers get, about livestock farming that is in danger, about photovoltaics for everyone – except for those who are in apartments or have no shelter and money, about migration. Migration that all the polls in the last three years have placed as the biggest problem of society.
There are two main elements of the polls. First, that the current government has the worst acceptance of any other – even that of Mari [Editor's note: The Evangelos Florakis Naval Base explosion in 11 July 2011 during former president Demetris Christofias’s administration]. And second, that the main problem that concerns the modern Greeks [Editor’s note: literally means modern greek, but here it is used as the derogative term for the stereotypical modern Greek with a mentality deemed as problematic and selfish] of the island is migration. At the same time, the government boasts that it has significantly reduced illegal arrivals and also significantly increased returns. And ELAM boasts, but the achievement belongs to two ministers who are not… Elamites.
We are worried about the presence of migrants. Those who harvest our potatoes, who bring our deliveries, who feed our pigs, who work our factories, that wipe our parents’ and grandparents’ bottoms? Those who operate 50% of our economy.
Migration is the “first priority” of the modern Greeks [Editor’s note: literally means modern greek, but here it is used as the derogative term for the stereotypical modern Greek with a mentality deemed as problematic and selfish] of the island. The fear is that migrants will occupy half of free Cyprus. At the same time, the Turks have already occupied the other half, the occupied one, which no one talks about when we are in the midst of an election campaign. Cyprus is not what the map shows, from Apostolos Andreas to Paphos and from Kyrenia to Limassol. Cyprus for the modern Greek Cypriot is from Nicosia to Limassol, with a little Ayia Napa and a little Paphos. Kyrenia, Morphou, Famagusta? Non-existent.
These were not included in the pre-election agenda. No party came out to say: “You don’t care about half of our land”. No candidate will accuse voters of shrinking their homeland to the Nicosia-Limassol corridor.
Why? Because voters hold the vote and voters who hold the vote are not worried about half of their homeland.
The problem of Cyprus, therefore, is not the migrants. It is what does not concern the pre-election dialogue. It is the shrinking of political and national consciousness. The erasure of occupied Cyprus. Fifty-two years after the Turkish invasion, no one wants to remember. And this oblivion, this voluntary blindness, is much more dangerous than any migrant. Because migrants come and go. The loss of half of our homeland, however, does not go away. We simply adapted. We even advertise it by proclaiming that we are a pillar of stability and security. Under conditions of Turkish occupation.
This article was first published on 08.05.2026
Source: IS SOMETHING MISSING FROM THE PRE-ELECTION DIALOGUE?
