Shame on you Cyprus

Sir,

I wrote to your paper a few months ago regarding a terribly tragic story of a young girl who had been sexually abused by her father, and her incredibly heroic mother who was struggling to keep her cherished daughter away from this sick animal of a man.

Having wondered since then what had become of the girl and her mother, I made a point to check back on your website periodically for any updates. Imagine my shock and horror today when I clicked on the news items only to have “Mother of sexually abused girl fined for refusing access to father” appear before my eyes. 

Please, please tell me this is some sort of misprint? Please tell me that this is not true? Surely in this day and age, in a country that fancies itself as advanced and European as Cyprus does, this sort of situation can’t actually occur.  As sickened as I was by the first chapter of the tale a few months ago, I am disgusted beyond all belief by the current update in this saga, and I can honestly say that I view the Cypriot government as poorly as I view the little girl’s father, for neither has the best interest of the girl in mind and both seem to want to insure that she is abused again.

How DARE the Cypriot government fine this poor, struggling mother whose only goal in life, it seems, is to protect her daughter from being hurt again? How DARE Cyprus not do everything in its power to protect its children? This story is beyond incomprehensible, and the fact that the entire country is not outraged is just further proof that Cyprus is nowhere near the “European” modern society that it claims to be. 

To read this horrible tale and not shed tears of frustration and pity for this poor little girl and her mother is to not be a humane, rational, and caring human being.  Apparently these traits are sorely lacking in the Cypriot government.

Shame on you Cyprus.

Athena Ioannou

Washington DC

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.