legein

Undoubtedly, the deep divisions in Cyprus, overwhelmingly wrought by the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974, resultant ethnic cleansing of Greek Cypriots, missing persons, expropriated properties in the occupied north, illegal Anatolian settlers and the destruction of Greek secular and Orthodox cultural heritage, are likely to quickly dissipate with the appointment of Australia’s worst foreign affairs minister, Liberal Party member Alexander Downer, as the United Nations special envoy. Greek and Turkish Cypriots are certain to unite in their hatred once they discover what an incompetent and blithering idiot he is. The former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating once aptly called him the “idiot son of the aristocracy”. Australian on-line magazine, Crikey has written an excellent summary of Downer’s decidedly less than spectacular political career which can be found here.

Although it is doubtful Downer even knows where the island is located, some believe Downer may be more sympathetic to Greek interests. He hails from Adelaide which has a strong and active Greek community. In addition, Australia’s Greek community dwarfs the Turkish community. However, offsetting factors are that Downer represents a very Anglo electorate in Adelaide. And he was part of the Howard government which was in cahoots with George Bush and the American neoconservatives in their Mesopotamian misadventure. These same neoconservatives tried to subvert the democratic process when Greek Cypriots were asked to vote in a referendum on the criminal Annan Plan. Since then they have also shown scant sympathy to Greek national interests on the island of Cyprus and everywhere else.

In addition, we should not forget Australia’s growing Philoturkism which most acutely manifests itself during ANZAC Day celebrations which commemorates the efforts of the Australian and New Zealand armies at the request of their English overlords at that time to defeat the Turks at Gallipoli during WWI. It was also during this time that the Ottoman Turkish campaign to exterminate the Armenian Christians went into overdrive. Their pogroms against the Greek and Assyrian Christians were also being implemented. One could argue that Australia is too closely associating itself with a criminal regime of history and a modern regime that refuses to concede its past horrors.

More broadly, Stefanos Evripidou from the Cyprus Mail writes that “a number of European leaders have reservations over Downer’s appointment, given his perceived reputation for being strongly opinionated and averse to minute details”. With Downer acting as intoculator it looks like the obstacles for Christofias and Talat will continue to mount.