Speechless European Dream

We’re ridiculously stuck in between the refugee crisis and Turkey’s accession chapters to enter the European Union.

Suddenly European Council President Donald Tusk flies in to flex his diplomatic muscles with our President Anastasiades, who is stuck between his role as a leader of an EU country (he needs all the help he can get to come closer to any solution to the Cyprus problem before his term ends) and conveying the message to Turkey that pressure will not alleviate Cyprus’ demands towards a potential agreement.

Our little island suddenly has a voice in finding a potential solution to the refugee crisis, merely because of Turkey’s gradual steps into entering a European realm that they desire.

Fair enough, every dynasty has the right to go after their desires.

Historically, it is coincidences that materialise these wants. Leaving aside the simultaneous ‘coincidences’ of the refugee crisis, war-torn Syria and the uprising of terror groups, Cyprus’ voice also comes amid the terrifying ‘coincidence’ of Turkey’s raping of freedom of speech.

Over the weekend, Turkey saw its some 75 million people being deprived of access to Facebook and Twitter, just a week after it saw the country’s biggest newspaper Zaman literally seized by the state.

How can we allow leaderships to discuss the paths of our future when our own voices are being silenced? Social media may have changed the way we live, the way we communicate and potentially has a mountain of flaws to address, but it is also one of the prime means we have to share our stories in a world that is becoming all the more globalised.

There’s a wakeup call to be had right there; one that has to be addressed even before we can begin to talk about any idealistic future, whether that of Cyprus, Turkey, Syria or the European dream as I like to refer to it nowadays. Or should I call it a nightmare?