‘They told me she’d be allowed back into the country in December and every
week they keep telling us it’ll be next week’
SIXTEEN-year-old Irena Voitovichi, whose Moldavian mother was deported over six months ago, has still not been reunited with her parent despite government assurances that the 34-year-old would be removed from the island’s stop list over Christmas.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday from a friend’s house in Larnaca where she has been living for the past few months, Irena said she was tired of being strung along by authorities and that all she wanted was her mother’s return.
“They told me she’d be allowed back into the country in December and every week they keep telling us it’ll be next week. The week comes to an end and still nothing. Now it’s supposed to be next week. I don’t know whether I should believe them or not; whether I should be glad. I just don’t know. They’re torturing us,” Irena said.
The teenager’s mother, Svetlana, was arrested and deported in September last year after her naturalisation application was rejected in April despite legally residing on the island since 1998.
Faced with a similar fate, Irena went into hiding, moving from one friend’s house to another to avoid arrest.
In December, immigration authorities called off the manhunt following Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis’ intervention. The teenager was told she could remain in Cyprus, her home since she joined her mother here in 2001, and return to school. The minister also promised her mother’s unhindered return.
But Svetlana was only removed from the island’s stop list yesterday. In return, she was told to withdraw her lawsuit against the Immigration Department for what she claimed was her illegal deportation and told to pay a hefty sum for expenses incurred by the state during her detention and deportation.
Nevertheless Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis said the authorities had never deceived the mother and daughter about the length of time needed to reunite the duo.
“It was made clear from the beginning that she [Svetlana] couldn’t come back immediately and that certain procedures had to be followed. First the daughter’s status had to be cleared before proceedings to arrange for her mother’s return could begin. This all takes time,” the minister told the Mail.
Speaking from her home in Moldova, Svetlana said she hoped to return next week.
“[Pressing ahead with the legal proceedings] would have taken a long time. Two, three years perhaps. But my child is there and I want to be with her to make sure she is okay. What mother wouldn’t?
“I will do whatever it takes to be with her. I worry about her all the time. I just want to see her and make sure she’s okay,” she said.
The 34-year-old said when she returned it would be an uphill struggle to return to the position she’d been in when she’d left.
“I’ve lost everything I had and didn’t have. Now I have to start all over from the beginning. I was put in a position I never should have been in, but I will get over this,” she said.
Irena on the other hand has mixed feelings about meeting her mother again.
The youngster admitted she felt “kind of awkward”.
“I really miss her, but I’ve changed and so has she and I don’t just mean on the outside.”
When Svetlana left, Irena had long, blonde hair. Today she has short, black hair. “I feel as if I’m going to meet a whole new person. On the one hand I’m excited and on the other I’m nervous.”
The teen said she could no longer imagine “everyday family routine”.
“I can’t imagine relaxing and feeling safe again. Although I have a place to live, and no one is chasing me anymore, I still don’t feel like it’s a place of my own. I want to get that safe feeling back, to be able to say this is my house, where I feel right with my family and stuff.”
Although the minister gave Irena a cheque for £500, the teenager spent a good portion of it on school supplies, including a bag and books and a school uniform.
She said the social welfare services had not given her any more funds since and that her mother had been unable to send her much money after spending so much on the case.
Despite enduring insurmountable stress over the past half year the youngster still manages to put on a brave face.
However when asked whether she thought she would have benefited from psychological support, which the social welfare services did not offer, she said she didn’t know.
“Sometimes I think I need it, not just want it. I don’t know. I feel so weird sometimes. I don’t know. I just can’t explain my feelings… I’m sleeping better and eating better, but sometimes I get depressed. But I guess this will all be over when she comes back.”
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