Interview with Giorgos Koukoumas, member of the C.C. of AKEL and AKEL C.C. Spokesperson: On the occasion of the attacks on the delivery food distributor and the Turkish Cypriot woman, AKEL’s press spokesman delves into the gangrene of xenophobia
- We must confront racism in our country
- No foreign mega-investor was attacked because he is not a “Greek Christian Orthodox”, nor did any Saudi tycoon hear that he is a “mullah who is altering our culture”
11 June 2023 HARAVGI newspaper, by Tasos Perdiou
AKEL C.C. Press Spokesperson and MP Giorgos Koukoumas says there is a legal, as well as a political dimension to incidents of violence, racism and xenophobia.
“The fact that the victims of the recent attacks that took place in Limassol and Ayia Napa were a foreign worker and a Turkish Cypriot woman, imposes on the authorities the obligation to thoroughly investigate the motives and circumstances in which the attacks were committed. In the event that racist motives are proven, this should be taken into account as an aggravating factor in delivering a sentence.
However, especially on the attack in Ayia Napa, which objectively provokes negative connotations, it is worth noting the attitude of the Turkish Cypriot woman herself, who requested that this incident must not become a cause or a reason for any tension between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots” to develop, Giorgos Koukoumas pointed out “Haravgi”.
Racist motives
The Police may not have collected any evidence that reveal racist motives behind the attack against the young Turkish Cypriot girl in Ayia Napa, but this does not mean that racism has not taken root in our country.
Over the last few weeks alone we have witnessed successive attacks with Greek Cypriots as the victims, as well as people of other ethnic origins as victims too, which cannot go unnoticed.
On the occasion of the attack on our compatriot Asya Karali, almost in succession with the attack on the delivery food distributor in Limassol, we asked for the opinion of AKEL MP and Spokesperson Giorgos Koukoumas, who made it clear that regardless of the two recent attacks, we must confront the issue of racism in our country head on.
The class dimension of xenophobia…
“The attack in Limassol against a foreign food delivery worker confirms the deeper nature of xenophobic attitudes. And the truth is that racism is class-based. The perpetrators are not just beating a foreign man, but a foreign worker, most likely a poor man, who in their eyes is the weakest in the social pyramid, the last wheel of the wagon. Besides, we have never heard of a racist incident committed against a rich foreigner, a big businessman. No foreign banker or big investor has been attacked because he is not a “Greek Christian Orthodox”, nor has any Saudi tycoon heard that he is supposedly a “mullah who is altering our culture”.
We are talking about the murders of Filipino domestic workers that we have witnessed in recent years in Cyprus, about organised beatings of Asian delivery workers, about racist behaviour against poor Africans, about foreign workers who were kept in conditions of slavery by their Cypriot employers…In fact, we have recently had a court decision on the latter”, noted the AKEL MP for Famagusta and AKEL’s Spokesperson.
434 racist incidents in 16 years
- Koukoumas also gave figures, which simply confirm the obvious, namely that there is a huge problem of racism and xenophobia in society, which we cannot ignore:
“Regardless of the two recent attacks, we have to take a hard look at the issue of racism in our country. From 2005 to 2021 the police recorded 434 racially motivated incidents. There are probably many other cases in which the victims never reach the Police, as indicated in the recent report on Cyprus by the Council of Europe’s Commission for Combating Racism and Intolerance,” he pointed out.
Asked what the institutions were doing, G.Koukoumas commented that in the case of the Turkish Cypriot woman, the Police had indeed acted swiftly, but added that unfortunately, at least to date, this was the exception and not the rule, which was also substantiated by statistics and figures.
“In the case of Ayia Napa, the police acted swiftly and the case will logically be brought to justice. But this is – at least so far – the exception and not the rule. For example, in hate rhetoric (because racism is not just a violent attack), which poisons society and prepares the ground for violence, there were two hundred hate rhetoric complaints recorded during the five-year period 2016-2021, but only six convictions. In the attack launched by hooded thugs last February at an event organised by the students of the Technical University on homophobia issues, it seems that no one will be prosecuted. These facts emerge from the answers AKEL received to our letters to the Minister of Justice, the Police and the General Prosecutor’s Office,” noted the AKEL MP.
He also recalled the unacceptable response of institutions to the fascist attack waged by far-right extremists at an event on the Cyprus problem at the Cyprus University of Culture and Arts in 2017.
“In 2017, a group of far-right extremists attacked an event on the Cyprus problem organised by a left-wing organisation. It took six years for a lawyer – a former member of the far-right party ELAM – to be convicted last week by the Limassol Court. All these years the perpetrators have been operating undisturbed in society,” he pointed out.
“There is also a different type of youth”
Amidst this depressing picture, however, there is a ray of light, which is emitted by our young people, who do not subscribe to racist and xenophobic ideology and perceptions, stresses G. Koukoumas.
“The news and social networks are usually only concerned with such episodes of violence and hatred. But there is another Cyprus, another different type of youth. In the racist incident last March at a school in Larnaca, involving a 14-year-old Congolese boy, few people bothered to notice the fact that more than a small number of his classmates ran to defend him. Young people also stepped forward four years ago when a high school principal in Strovolos expelled a student wearing a traditional headscarf from school. We have also seen on several occasions numerous marches, protests and demonstrations of support from young people, but not only that.
These young people, in some cases even children, who not only reject racism but are not afraid to stand up to help another human being, are the best asset for an alternative and different Cyprus. They may not be the majority today, but they will be,” was the message of optimism that Giorgos Koukoumas underlined in conclusion.
“Impunity breeds racism”
The main reason why racism thrives, according to the AKEL C.C. Spokesperson, is impunity, which is clearly demonstrated by the events of recent years, not only in Cyprus, but on a much larger scale, in major countries abroad.
A classic example is the USA under the presidency of Donald Trump. “Under Trump in the US there has been an increase in racist attacks and hate rhetoric, and even the emergence of many new white supremacist Ku Klux Klan-type groups. Obviously Trump neither perpetrated, nor ordered these attacks. Nor did he personally step on the throat of the African-American George Floyd until he died.
But an invisible, underlying but clear message has reached the ears of every racist – from the housewife next door to the organised fascist – that no one will punish him/her, no matter what he/she does.
This, I fear, is the message that has been transmitted for years – through the actions and omissions of state institutions – into the society of Cyprus.
For that reason, I do not believe that Cypriot society as a whole is racist, but that the racists within society have been left for years unpunished for their crimes and unhindered to impose their agenda”, the AKEL MP stressed.
