Loizou’s remarks are very inflammatory

I have read with alarm Mr Antonis Loizou’s increasingly inflammatory remarks in the Cyprus press over recent months. He claims to be arguing for less ‘them and us’, more sensitivity towards local Cypriot interests and avoidance of antagonising Cypriots.

Yet, his words seem to be aimed at actually creating divisions and provoking anti-foreigner resentment among Cypriots, as well as intimidating people protesting about their deeds.
I know of fellow Iranians who have been treated very badly in Cyprus by developers and lawyers. So it is not just the British and other Europeans who are suffering from the scandal.

In April (Sunday Mail, April 12), his article on Iranian investment in Cyprus stated falsely that very few of us speak English and that we share nothing in common with Cypriots, have no shared attitudes and could never have a meeting of minds with them.

This is just racial prejudice. We don’t live in tents and ride camels! Cyprus and Iran just signed a trade agreement. Was he deliberately trying to undermine it? He is entitled to dislike anyone and have opinions but not to promote his prejudices in public.

His recent letter complimenting Enoch Powell and his ‘rivers of blood’ speech and almost gloating over the anti-Arab riots in Limassol in 1988 reads more like incitement than a warning. The O’Dwyer assault case was bad enough but now he is implying that foreigners in general will be attacked if complaints about the property scandal continue.

A truly first-class gaffe! Foreign investors have regarded Cyprus as a safe and non-violent country. What now?

We should all acknowledge local sensitivities when truly warranted but surely that does not extend to property fraud? Sensitivity is also not a one-way obligation. What about our sensitivities and rights? Oh, I forgot, Mr L. argues that we should have none in Cyprus.

M. Poursorkh,
Iran

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.