By Bejay Browne

A GRIEVING British woman who has lived in Tala for a more than a decade has been refused permission to bury her late husband in the village cemetery because the few plots left are being saved for local Cypriots.

The situation has deepened the widow’s distress, led to accusations of discrimination, and reinforced long-standing demands for cremation to be allowed in Cyprus.

The woman said she wanted her husband – who recently died unexpectedly – to be buried in Tala because the couple and their adult children felt like part of the community and regard the picturesque Paphos village as home.

“We were asked to suggest three choices,” the widow said. “Our first was Tala because we live here and know everyone, the second was the village of Anavargos and the third was the municipal cemetery in Paphos. We were told by the undertaker, ‘sorry we can’t put your husband in Tala as there is only space left for Cypriots.’”

The deceased was buried in the municipal cemetery.

“I was upset as I’ve lived here for such a long time and I thought we were part of the community,” the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Sunday Mail. “If there was a crematorium we would have chosen that option.”

John Moffat, a local council member, described the situation in Tala as disgraceful. He said that a recent extension to the existing cemetery was paid for out of taxpayers’ money and should therefore entitle everyone to the right to be interred there.

According to Moffat, the new extension was created over a year ago and 27 plots were formed. Twenty-two still remain unused, he said.

“Why is it that only Cypriots can be buried here? I have been paying tax for more than 20 years and, like many others, I’m shocked by the discrimination shown against foreign residents.”

However, Tala community leader, Areti Pieridou, rejected any charge of discrimination and said only 10 or so useable plots are left in the village’s cemetery. Priority will be given to people who were born and live in Tala, she added.

“This is a very sensitive subject and I know this lady and her family well. It distresses me that the situation arose and I didn’t know about it until afterwards,” she said. “But I would have had to decline her request anyway.”

Pieridou said that the situation highlights the urgent need for a new cemetery to be built to serve the entire community – a development she has been pressing for.

“The new cemetery will be for everyone as we will have the space. It’s a difficult situation but at the moment we have to give priority for the locals.”

She argued that with space for just a few graves left, it would be wrong for the council to tell a local from Tala they could not be buried in their home soil.

“If we had allowed everyone to be buried here, we would be full by now,” Pieridou said. “Where Cypriots are buried is a big issue for them, whereas it makes no difference to people who have come to live in Tala if they are buried here or somewhere else.”

Few would question the first part of that assertion. But many expatriates who have put down deep roots in Cyprus, such as the British widow’s family, might well find the second part offensive.

Pieridou, however, insisted she was not being insensitive. “I understand people feelings but there is nothing we can do until we obtain our permit for another cemetery,” she said, adding that the old cemetery’s title deed states that the land belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church community.

The Tala community board, Pieridou continued, will be sending out bills to help fund the new cemetery, payable by December this year. Each household will be charged €20 a year. She explained this had to be done because the government will not allow the community board to take any money from other charges and the cash has to be found somewhere.

“We have earmarked a suitable plot of six donums of land but there are a number of obstacles to overcome. The ministry of agriculture has raised objections as the area is fertile. Also, because of an old superstition, a number of residents don’t want a cemetery near their houses.”

Pieridou said that the lack of space highlights the need for a crematorium in Cyprus because it would solve many of the problems facing foreign residents.

Clive Turner, a Cyprus resident who has been campaigning for a crematorium for years, could not agree more. “Over the last ten years I have compiled a list of over 9,000 names of people supporting the building of a crematorium,” he said. “But there doesn’t seem to be any real recognition by the authorities or the Church that the community has vastly changed.”

His growing campaign urges Cyprus to join the rest of the EU (Malta is another exception) by establishing a crematorium to serve the tens of thousands of people who are not Greek Orthodox.

“Proper regard needs to be shown for other people’s faiths,” Turner said.

“Last year, the House interior committee again delayed passing the cremation bill. It has been under discussion for years and is widely supported, especially by the expatriate community in Cyprus.”

Turner said the government has procrastinated on the issue for more than a decade, during which time it had come up with countless excuses and empty assurances. That must now stop, he insists.

“The cremation bill should’ve have been passed by the end of last year, but nobody cares. I write to the President fairly regularly and the only reply I get back — if any — is from his office saying that the president wishes me good health.”





