Refugee angered over government’s refusal to issue him a medical card
BEING BORN in Cyprus into a Greek Cypriot family, Andreas Gregory always considered himself a citizen of the Republic. But he has recently come to realise that his homeland does not recognise him as one of its own.
Gregory was born in Ayios Sergios, Famagusta in 1948. He spent a number of years in both Cyprus and England, but his heart always belonged to Cyprus. Until recently, he thought his nationality did too.
Returning to Cyprus for good with his wife Marina in 1998, however, Gregory came to realise that the Republic now considers him an alien. The realisation hit him hard recently while he was trying to attain a medical card; something the state refuses to give him.
With an estimated 350,000 Greek Cypriots living in the UK alone, this is an issue expected to take grand dimensions.
“I don’t want to make a big thing out of this; I don’t want to harm our nation”, said Gregory yesterday.
“My mum and dad were born here and they died here. My family is ancient Cypriot.”
The matter arose when Marina Sergios fell on a badly built pavement in Aradhippou and broke both her arms. Treatment at the hospital had cost her £800 and physiotherapy was to cost £15 per session. So they decided it was best she returned to the UK.
This prompted Gregory to inquire after a medical card. “I am not a poor man; I didn’t do it to avoid paying money. It was in case of an emergency, like a heart-attack or something similar that I would need urgent treatment for”.
He was keen to point out that he was not interested in people’s pity or charity. “I had a business in the UK, I don’t need charity. I am a world-travelled man, I am not poor. I pay for my medical treatment, that isn’t the problem. The problem is why doesn’t the Cypriot Republic recognise me as a Cypriot?”
It was when he went to the Larnaca District Officer to have his medical card issued that he was told he was an “alien”.
“I asked them, do I not look Cypriot to you? Do I not sound Cypriot? And they said I did but there was nothing I could do. They told me that in order to receive a medical card I would have to apply for a voting book.”
So he did, and after six months of waiting and receiving tens of phone calls inquiring into his background, he received his voting book.
“I went back to the District officer with the book and asked for my medical card. But they told me that my voting book was for foreigners and that I could only vote in municipal elections. So they wouldn’t grant me the card because they said I wasn’t Cypriot.”
Gregory was one of seven children and his father worked in the UK in order to provide for his family.
When Gregory turned six, his mother took him and his siblings to England. At the time, Cyprus was under British rule, which meant only British passports could be issued.
“It was only when Cyprus regained its independence in 1960 that they started issuing Cypriot passports. Am I to blame that I was born in 1948 before the republic was formed and they issued me a British passport?” wondered Gregory.
Living conditions in England proved to be very difficult so in 1958, Gregory and two of his brothers returned to Cyprus and lived with their grandparents.
By 1974, his father had managed to save enough money to buy a house and some shops in Famagusta. The family returned to Cyprus and started building a new life for themselves.
But with the Turkish invasion on July of the same year, the family’s properties were lost.
They returned to the UK as refugees where Gregory worked hard and opened his own business, with the ultimate aim of someday returning to the country he rightfully considers his home.
“I have a home here and my own money. I’m a good, honest citizen. But they don’t want me here. I wasn’t in exile all the years I was in England, I was working hard”,
“I feel angry at my country, my place of birth, my democracy. We fought so many years for our democracy and now it is turning its back on me.”
“I am infuriated. I feel very, very upset with the Cypriot Republic. Seeing that the Cypriot Republic will not recognise me then I will turn to the European Union. I will go as far as the European Council and tell them my story. If the EU tells me that I am not Cypriot then I will accept it.”
When the matter was published in yesterday’s Greek language daily Politis the story reached the UK through the internet. It has caused uproar, said Gregory.
“I have received phone calls from England. It has become a big issue, because I am known by many people over there. There are radio stations, TV stations and newspapers that have read my story on the internet and are interested in the details. There are 350,000 Cypriots in the UK. What happens to them?”
Gregory is determined to receive recognition from the Republic of Cyprus.
“I am not 100 per cent Cypriot; I am 1,000 per cent Cypriot. And I am also a patriot. My only wrongdoing was living in England.”
