Energised soldiers and shiny shoes

AT LEAST one group of people looked over the moon about the UN Secretary General’s visit yesterday and they wore light blue berets. The UN soldiers seemed delighted with the fact that something was actually happening. More elbow work went into polishing shoes, uniforms were starched as the usually bored-looking UN soldiers got to work directing convoys of cars and people through the UN-controlled Nicosia airport and Ledra Palace hotel in the buffer zone.

At the Nicosia airport, dozens of journalists gathered for the joint press conference of Ban and the two leaders. Compared to the first day of the talks in September 2008, the level of relations between Greek and Turkish Cypriot media had moved up a notch to warmer ground. With little to do for two, three hours, they ended up interviewing each other.

When the leaders came out and Ban read their joint statement, one couldn’t help but focus on their shoes. Ban wore shiny black leather, had his feet apart, firmly on the ground. Mehmet Ali Talat, also in shiny black, had legs stretched forward with feet crossed while Demetris Christofias, chose matt over gloss, with shoes crossed neatly under his chair.

The highlight was last night’s reception when a senior Greek Cypriot politician approached Talat as he was saying his goodbyes, tugged on his elbow and said cheekily: “Come on Mehmet, you are going to be late for the memorial event of Tassos Papadopoulos.”

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Talat remained frozen, the epitome of ambiguity, with an ever so slight trace of Mona Lisa about his face.

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.