Moving Makarios

I don’t understand why they are moving the statue of Makarios to the mountains. ’Oh. Because it is too big’ they rant. So? Aren’t statues always meant to be larger than life? And so now the statue, which has become a monument in our city will be taken to the mountains, where no one can see him because it doesn’t fit in with the surroundings. But it is precisely that which makes that area so special and different. It is a unique thing to be there and see this giant Archbishop/President standing to attention outside the Archbishopric. We have no great monuments in Nicosia and what we do have is being relocated. Shall I assume that the Statue of Liberty will be moved to the Great Plains of America because she’s too big for Ellis Island?

The Turks are smart and have gone in the other direction. Not only is their nation’s founder, Ataturk everywhere, but his statue is everywhere in gigantic proprotions. My friend who went to the occupied areas even told me that there is a monolithic carving of him near Pentadaktylos. They even went as far as painting a flag made up of many football pitches on the mountains for all of us to see. And that’s the way to do it is you want a national feeling and a sense of pride in your place and history.

But in Cyprus where Cypriots have no aversion to big things, such as their egos or their cars, they have decided that the statue is too big. Funny though, I never hear them complain about their salary. Maybe we should give them a ‘mountain-salary’ as well instead of the fat cheques they receive in Nicosia.

Apparently some people do not even like the statue and threw paint on it saying ‘down with idols’. In this case I’ll assume they mean role-models. And if they had any role-models they wouldn’t be throwing paint on a national monument and our nation’s first president. Or maybe they really wanted the statue to go to the mountains.