Cyprus, I love you
As I sit watching the eerie clouds cover the Kyrenia mountains in their entirety, rendering them out of sight, I can’t help but think about yesterday’s horrific accident where three people lost their lives including two 16-year old school girls.
Today, students have turned up in droves to demand the resignation of the current government, holding up banners saying ‘It’s not possible to go to school in the dark’, ‘Killer state, explain yourselves’ and ‘Ankara get your hand off of our necks’. The solidarity demonstrated by these students has been immense, demanding that this wrong be righted.
The tragic accident called into question once again the fact that the north decided to join Turkey in not turning back the clock recently, primarily for practical reasons. Apart from all manner of confusion for anyone who regularly crosses the border or conducts business across the divide, it also meant that school children have had to go to school in the dark. Did anyone think of that? No.
The incident has also brought to the fore once again other issues relating to road safety such as the need for everyone to wear a seatbelt (back and front seat passengers), the state of roads in north Cyprus and whether they are well lit or not.
For me at least, it seems that everything leads back to the Cyprus problem. Unfortunately, excessive speed and the use of mobile phones while driving leading to traffic accidents are huge problems in the south too. However, if we were one country geographically we could tackle these issues so much better. Least of all, we would have the money to fix all our roads and make sure that they are well lit.
As I mentioned in this blog post I now drive on both sides too, and I must admit that one of my fears of driving in the north after dark is badly lit roads; this has always bothered me.
After the recent let down at Mont Pelerin, these are certainly trying times for the Cypriot nation. Unity is key; we must support and help each other. It doesn’t matter if you have never seen a Greek Cypriot or Turkish Cypriot in your life (yes unfortunately this exists too), we must stick together.