What a wonderful idea by President Christodoulides to appoint his friend Nikos Tornaritis as his special political envoy on the Cyprus problem to countries in Asia and Africa. When a problem has remained unsolved for half a century, logic dictates that you expand your client base. Somewhere on the planet there must still be a few people who have not yet been briefed on the Cyprus problem.
The best part is that Nikos will offer his services unpaid. No salary. For free. For the homeland. Because there are still people willing to sacrifice themselves for our Cyprus, damn it.
Of course, "unpaid" does not necessarily mean travelling with a suitcase in hand, sandwiches from home and an economy seat from Larnaca to Nairobi with three connections. Official missions, flights, hotels and transfers have to happen somehow. Unless the Presidential Palace plans to hand him a backpack, a water bottle and a Miles & More card and tell him, "Off you go, Nikos, and good luck."
Salary: zero. Air miles: potentially millions.
And the timing is ideal. Until the long-awaited movement on the Cyprus problem materialises, we can at least make Nikos Tornaritis a mobile ambassador. If the process isn't moving, the envoy will be. If we don't get a new conference, we'll get new flights. If no window of opportunity opens in Nicosia, the departure gate will open at Larnaca Airport.
Nikos, after all, has the right CV. He has a long record in international and Asian parliamentary bodies and, above all, he knows that in foreign policy there are no faraway countries. There are only countries we have not yet visited to explain the Cyprus problem to.
First stop, Kenya
There, our envoy will be able to brief the Kikuyu and the Maasai on the Cyprus problem, Crans-Montana, convergences, divergences, guarantees, confidence-building measures, the positive agenda and the Guterres Framework. At the end of the presentation, they may well ask for an enlarged conference too, just to understand what exactly happened to them.
And because Nikos is unpaid, the trip will carry even greater national weight. It is one thing to explain the territorial chapter on a salary, and quite another to explain it without one, having travelled 5,000 kilometres so the Maasai can hear it.
Next, Nigeria
There, together with Victoras, who persuaded him to take on this emblematic post, he can look up the Anorthosis legend Mike Obiku. This column's proposal is simple: honorary consul of the Republic of Cyprus in Nigeria, with special responsibility for implementing the Guterres Framework. Nigerian, Anorthosis, Famagusta. Three qualifications rarely found on the same CV.
And if Obiku manages to explain to anyone what exactly was agreed and what exactly was not agreed at Crans-Montana, we should make him a negotiator on the spot. After Africa, vast prospects open up in Asia.
First major stop, China
There, Nikos will have the chance to take the Cyprus problem to the largest possible market. More than a billion people is an audience that not even Cypriot diplomacy can ignore. If we manage to win over even 10% of the Chinese to our positions, we will have more people informed about the Cyprus problem than there are people in Cyprus who know exactly what the Guterres Framework contains.
In Beijing, Nikos will of course lay a wreath at Mao's Mausoleum. And since everything in official diplomacy carries symbolism, the ribbon could read: "From a people waiting for a solution, to a leader who knew about long marches."
He will then brief the Chinese audience on the bizonal, bicommunal federation. The hard part is not translating it into Mandarin. The hard part is getting them to understand what we mean by it.
From China, to India
There, the mission takes on a different historical symbolism. Nikos will visit Raj Ghat, the Mahatma Gandhi memorial in New Delhi, to lay a wreath and pay tribute to the man who turned patience into a political method. At last, a place where the Cypriot experience will be understood immediately.
Because if there is one people that could give a masterclass in patience, it is us. More than 50 years of talks, conferences, free holidays in Swiss resorts, initiatives, deadlocks, restarts, dinners and "critical coming months".
Nikos could even leave a small note at Raj Ghat: "Mahatma, we carry on."
And all of it, of course, unpaid. Unpaid in Beijing, unpaid in New Delhi, unpaid in Nairobi. A man with no salary, but with a geographical remit that starts roughly at the Great Wall of China and ends at the Cape of Good Hope.
In Japan
In Japan, Nikos could give a special seminar in the valley of cherry trees where "The Last Samurai" was filmed, titled "How a process can last for decades without ever reaching the final station". Afterwards, for training purposes, he could take a ride on the Shinkansen to see up close what a process looks like when it starts on time, moves fast and actually reaches its destination. He may suffer culture shock.
Next, Mongolia
In Ulaanbaatar, he could explain the bizonal, bicommunal federation, making clear from the outset that the two zones have nothing to do with time zones.
In Tibet, the mission takes on even greater spiritual and symbolic significance. There, Nikos can raise the Cyprus problem as high as possible. If he manages to carry the convergences file all the way up Everest, we will finally have tangible proof that our national issue is being handled at a high level.
In Singapore, the Cypriot model of confidence-building measures could be presented at a special workshop. Singaporeans, used to efficiency, may ask when they will be implemented. Caution is needed there. We do not answer provocative questions.
There is also Bhutan, the country that became known worldwide for the concept of "Gross National Happiness". An excellent opportunity for us to present the great Cypriot innovation: Gross National Waiting. More than 50 years of experience, and still going.
Indonesia
And, of course, Indonesia. A country of thousands of islands is perhaps the right audience to learn how we, with just one island, managed to create so many chapters, sub-chapters, annexes, divergences, convergences and differing interpretations. The mission therefore has enormous prospects and must not be limited.
The Philippines, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand. Everyone must be briefed. From Nairobi to Tokyo and from Beijing to Jakarta.
In Sri Lanka and Nepal, of course, extensive briefings may not even be necessary. Thousands of Sri Lankan and Nepali women who have worked for years in Cypriot households may already know more about the Cyprus problem, the Green Line, our elections and halloumi than any special envoy would have time to explain to them.
And Nikos will carry on.
Unpaid.
Because it must be repeated. He will not be paid. Whether missions to two continents will produce results is another discussion. So is how much the flights, hotels, transfers, escorts and wreaths will cost. But we must not be petty. We are talking about the national issue here.
We may not yet have managed to solve the Cyprus problem.
With proper planning, however, by the end of this term we can at least make sure that there is no one, from Mao's Mausoleum to the Maasai, who does not know that we are trying. And, above all, that Nikos is trying unpaid.
