The Republic of Cyprus and the European elections

Focus today on the Republic of Cyprus, on the eve of the European elections, with Evagoras Mavrommatis, president of the Cypriot community in Europe.

On the eve of these European elections on June 9, 2024, the Republic of Cyprus is the only member state of the European Union to be occupied, again and again… Details from Evagoras Mavrommatis, president of the Cypriot community in Europe.

franceinfo: Cyprus has been cut in two since July 20, 74…

Evagoras Mavrommatis: Turkey intervened in Cyprus and has occupied it for almost 50 years. You should know, however, that it is the most militarized part in the world, with 25,000 soldiers and more than 300 tanks in this small occupied part.

And we don’t say it enough, it was the first ethnic cleansing in 1974, 200,000 Greek Cypriots were expelled from their homes, those who managed to leave. The others were massacred, killed, executed, there are still three-year-old children in mass graves, an entire family with a bullet to their heads, etc. Where are we today ?

Yes because in addition, the Republic of Cyprus, something completely abnormal, you have two sovereign English bases?

Quite. And at the time, the bases were neither Cypriot nor European, but British. And the paradox, the United Kingdom was part, like the Republic of Cyprus, of the European Union.

But the military bases, do you know what they were? This arrangement was made because the English set conditions so as not to obstruct the entry of the Republic of Cyprus into the European Union, it is clear, this is the source of the problem.

Today, on the eve of the European elections, there are more migrants than Cypriots from the Republic of Cyprus. And the third Cypriot party today is ELAM, a far-right party. This party is against migrants. But where is Cyprus going today in the face of these European elections, will it not be a trivial vote?

For Cyprus, no, I would even say that in Europe, it is the same. You know, this ELAM party was an ultra-minority. Since we have had this migration problem, you should know that we are the first European country where there are the most migrants in relation to the total population.

In the occupied part, Turkey is sending migrants en masse to the Republic of Cyprus. And so ELAM, this party, is playing this card, and we see that it is gaining more and more ground, because it is asking questions, there are problems with migrants, and there it is winning. votes, and I fear that it will be the third party in Cyprus.

He is for the moment, but who are the other two parties facing him?

There is the right-wing, center-right party, which is the leading party, closely followed by the Communist Party in Cyprus, and the Socialist Party is well, well behind. There is also an environmentalist party etc… But what is really at stake in the political scene is the right and the Cypriot communist party.

Faced with these European elections of June 9, how are the Cypriots reacting?

They are deeply pro-European. Cypriots have sacrificed a lot to enter the European Union. You know, before entering the European Union we had the second strongest currency in Europe, and we are the only country in the world that paid to enter the European Union, because we were considered a rich country.

So we can say that on the economic level, the Cypriots have made sacrifices. Despite everything, they remain very pro-European. For Cypriots, Europe is a guarantee compared to Turkey. Because we must not forget that Turkey does not just want half of Cyprus, it is targeting the entire island of Cyprus. Europe is therefore the bulwark, Europe will prevent Turkey, this is one more reason for the Cypriots to be deeply pro-European.