‘Who’s the naked lady on your passport?’

BIOMETRIC passports have been criticised on many counts, including impinging on civil liberties, but in the case of Cyprus they apparently may offend sensibilities of an altogether different nature.

Local press reports yesterday said the sketch of a nude Aphrodite on Cypriot biometric passports may offend authorities in Islamic countries and cause problems for the new passport holders, prompting Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis yesterday to downplay the concerns.

According to an article in Phileleftheros, diplomats have expressed reservations and fears as to the reactions that may be provoked by the sketch of the naked goddess.

“They are worried that civilians and diplomats could get into trouble, particularly travelling to very conservative Islamic countries,” the daily claimed.

The Interior Ministry said it was too late to change the passports.

Sylikiotis commented that he did not share the Foreign Ministry’s concerns on this issue.

“There is no problem whatsoever, the biometric passports have already been issued and are being used by citizens,” he said.

And the Interior Ministry’s permanent secretary Lazaros Savvides likewise said that “up until now no one has said that they have had a problem, be they a diplomat or Cypriot citizen.”

Savvides mentioned also that the sketch is one of many in the passport that symbolise the island, also citing the mouflon among the symbols used.

Nevertheless, he pledged that the Interior Ministry would look further into the matter next week to determine whether diplomats’ concerns were founded.

Local legend has it that Aphrodite emerged from the sea on a crest of foam just off the island. The Greek Goddess of Love, who is said to have seduced many a mortal man, is widely recognised as a national symbol.

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.