The unacceptable behaviour by Immigration staff at the airport.
What would officials at the Foreign and Interior Ministries, or at the Migration Department, do if they didn’t have their subordinates at airport passport control to “verify” their decisions?
Stop anyone who doesn’t look right to them—perhaps those without the “correct,” unblemished skin colour or who don’t come from the “right” countries—even when they possess all the proper documentation approved by their superiors at the aforementioned ministries.
They detain and interrogate them in what they call “interviews”—like the interviews journalists conduct, but rude and offensive—to establish that they haven’t deceived or fooled a series of colleagues to secure the coveted visa to this “paradise” (of racism), even for a week-long visit.
A young woman from Sri Lanka who lived and worked in Cyprus several years ago with her husband (he cared for my disabled father-in-law) gave birth to her daughter here. However, she made the mistake of overstaying her permitted time, was deported and placed on the stop list.
Wanting her daughter—now a 16-year-old teenager—to see the place where she was born, she managed, after spending considerable money on lawyers, to have the entry ban lifted. After much hardship for both her and us (we guaranteed with a commitment of €850+€850 in our account that we would host them and they would leave again), she secured their visas and travelled to Cyprus.
The bloodhounds at the airport, however, weren’t satisfied with the official documents from the Cypriot state. They evidently assumed that the ultimate aim of mother and minor daughter was to remain illegally. They “politely” demanded explanations and forced them to show messages on their mobile phones from up to five years ago.
They questioned not only their honesty, not only their own superiors, but us as well—all of us liars and fraudsters who must prove otherwise, defying every principle of justice.
In their minds, it wasn’t possible for a young woman from Sri Lanka to spend so much money on a week-long trip without some hidden ulterior motive, despite her proving she owns a business in her country with 10 employees.
Had my wife not contacted them to confirm what she was saying, they would likely have sent mother and daughter back where they came from.
I’m convinced that a white, blonde Indo-European woman wouldn’t have received the same treatment. Our good Theja and her daughter Navi (being born here, she’s also Cypriot, albeit without citizenship) are also Indo-Europeans—though perhaps slightly darker-skinned than many Cypriots.
This, for the Clouseaus of Immigration, is evidently an aggravating factor—no, God forbid, they’re not racists, it’s simply that those women are “black”.
Consequently, they believe they have a duty to protect their land’s racial purity from “contamination,” ignoring or overlooking the fact that so many invaders and “visitors” of every colour and race have passed through here over the centuries.
You might ask: how do I know what these people have in their minds? Come now! Perhaps I too possess some of their ability to read others’ minds when they suspect people aren’t what they claim to be.
They have the additional great responsibility of protecting the Cypriot paradise from foreign “invaders,” even if they’re like those who clean their houses or care for their elderly or children.
In their minds, they’re potential thieves and fraudsters, despite the reality that the state they serve is the one that systematically robs them, withholding their insurance contributions, which come from our money too.
So who are the fraudsters, ministers and deputy minister, Mr President? An apology would be the least we could expect!
