Katerina Theodoulou

“The reality is that we are talking about human beings that are seeking something better. If we can help, why don’t we?”

Although Katerina studied Law, she has dedicated her career to promoting peace on the Island. Since 2019, she’s been working with an NGO called The Religious Track for the Cyprus Peace Process (RTCYPP), which functions under the auspice of the Swedish embassy on the island. The organization aims to facilitate dialogue between the multiple religious leaders in Cyprus as a means to promote reunification. 

“Our values are based on human rights and the right to religion or lack thereof,” Katerina explains. In the last decade, the RTCYPP has made it its mission to avoid having the fought political state of affairs in Cyprus have religion dragged into it. “Because a religious problem, it never was.”

The island’s diverse character has brought about a diverse mix of religions; the two biggest religious groups being Greek-Orthodox Christianity and Sunni Islam. But many forget that Cyprus has always been home to many other faiths as well, including Armenian-Orthodoxy, Maronite Christianity, and the Roman Catholic Church (the so called Latin-Cypriot community.) 

“Religious groups exist just as social groups do,” she explains. “And together, we live on this fascinating island, and we try to create something better for it.”

Although the intercommunal conflict in Cyprus never officially had a religious character, faith has had a tremendous impact on allegiances among the various ethnic groups on the island. Following the events of 1974, Christian groups such as the Armenians and Latins followed the Greek-speaking community to the south, where they have since remained. In the north, many churches have either been converted into mosques or abandoned — much to the dismay of the Greek-Orthodox community. 

Hence, religion has become another aspect of life on the island overshadowed by the Cypriot Problem. That’s something that Katerina hopes to mitigate with her activism.

“Because I like Cyprus,” she says. “Because I love her; and because I believe that whatever religion one might be part of — or not —, it’s part of our cultural heritage.”

“I believe that it is better to know what is happening with the several religious leaders and groups. Especially when they participate in politics at the level they do in Cyprus.”

“Furthermore, I believe that you may not be religious, but by deciding that ‘because I am personally not religious I am rejecting them’ — you are not helping at all.”

As an activist, Katerina spends much of her time in the UN-run Buffer zone dividing the south and the north. The section has become a hotspot for migrants to attempt entry into the Republic of Cyprus in the south — which is under the jurisdiction of the EU. Most of these migrants are seeking to claim asylum and then move on to other European countries.

Like many of its European counterparts, the Republic of Cyprus has grown more and more hostile towards the recent influx of migrants entering the continent. Katerina believes that the government has smeared these migrants as dubious troublemakers to use them as scapegoats for much more profound issues on the island.

“The reality is that we don’t have independent media in Cyprus,” she says. 

“They are all politically affiliated with their relevant donors to keep running. Any given governmental authority, political party, any agent that has to do with the government is related to the media. Therefore, the media touts the government’s narrative, which has given names to ‘immigrants’ or the ‘migration problem’ — in any case random definitions — without pinpointing specific individuals in particular.”

“Because if one doesn’t see [these people as individuals], what is left is a faceless group which can be scapegoated for anything that goes wrong in this country.”

As Katerina puts it, high-profile politicians have been using the migration influx as a means to deter the focus on the Cypriot government’s shortcomings. In the last decades, economic hardship, blatant corruption scandals, and a still-unsolved Cyprus Problem has led to many Cypriots growing discontent and distrustful of the political elite. Instead of addressing these very real issues and promoting positive change, Katerina says politicians have found a convenient group at which to point their finger. 

“The migrants are to blame. They came to steal our resources, to take our jobs, to take advantage of EU funds,” Katerina says, imitating the narrative she believes to be dominant in local media. “[They say] that Cyprus cannot take in so many migrants, [or that] migrants will change the island’s demographics. In general, they portray these people, who come here in search for a better life, as ‘monsters.’”

“So if the government portrays this narrative and then the media perpetuates it –— how are the people supposed to get a different perspective?”

“How many people do you know to have gone there to see these ‘demon migrants,’ these asylum seekers who are [supposedly] here to take advantage of us? The majority doesn’t have a clue. They only know what the media and the government wants them to believe, which I don’t believe represents reality.”

“The reality is that we are talking about human beings that are seeking something better. If we can help, why don’t we?”

Katerina tells the story of three Cameroonian migrants residing in the Buffer Zone. The migrants first entered the island from the north, which because of its status as an internationally unrecognized state, does not grant asylum. In the Spring of 2021, the migrants decided to cross over to the south through the crossing points in Nicosia, but had their entry blocked by Republic of Cyprus (RoC) authorities.

Because the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is considered to be territory of the RoC under foreign occupation, individuals who reach the island from the north are deemed to have entered the country ‘illegally.’ The crossing points are not considered to be official state borders, and therefore cannot be used as a spot to leave or enter the country. These complex circumstances have created something of a gray area for migrants crossing the buffer zone. 

As a result, Katerina says the three Cameroonians have been stuck in a “limbo situation.” Authorities in the south are adamant about not letting them through, while their counterparts in the north have threatened to deport them back to their home country if they return. Following the trio’s failed attempt to enter the south in May 2021, they were forced to live in tents in the UN’s territory.

For more than half a year, Katerina says these individuals were stuck. They didn’t hold “appropriate documents” and lacked reliable access to “medical support, food, and a toilet”

“For a while, all three had been living in one tent, until someone donated one more for them so, at the very least, the men and women could sleep separately.” For other necessities like food and water, the migrants relied on the help of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus and locals.

According to the spokesperson for the UN refugee agency in Cyprus Emilia Strovolidou, the RoC was obligated under national law (as well as EU and international law) to grant the trio access to the asylum-seeking process. For Katerina, this has made her even more frustrated with the authorities’ inaction. 

“I don’t understand why they deny acting. I am yet to understand how they’ve gotten away with denying action until now. And I don’t know what we as individuals that are active within the buffer zone can do to help.”

“Because, while we are there, facilitating various events, running the several projects we need to run because of the nature of our work; next to us people are living in tents in miserable conditions.”

“How can we perceive this as peace building, or fair, or make me feel okay with myself, within my field and within the general environment I am part of?”

One of the migrants succeeded in crossing to the south in October 2021. The remaining two left in December, when Pope Francis visited the island and took them and another 48 migrants with him to the Vatican.