CyprusVista

In preparation for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest to be held in November, Cyprus has voted for its favourite song to represent them. And, in true Eurovision style, Cypriots have chose a song with the most ridiculous title, “Whoopee Yia“, sung by Elena Mannouri and Charis Savva.

The two pony-tailed kids from Cyprus clearly enjoy dancing around to this energetic mix of classic Brittany pop with a solid rock beat. In fact, they may stand a very good chance. Their song is irritatingly catchy, and as the adult Eurovision Song Contest contest has proved in the past, catchy can win.

For example, who would have predicted that a song by a group representing Sweden comparing a love affair to the defeat of the great general Napoleon would sweep the board? (”Waterloo”, by Abba, of course, 1974)

Or that a little Scottish singer would win over Eurovision hearts with the noisily-titled march “Boom-bang-a-bang.”? (Lulu, 1969)

Or that Europe would sing along with a Dutch Abba sound-alike, when Teach In’s “Ding a Dong” won in 1975?

The UK have won the Eurovision Song Song contest five times (1967, 1969, 1976, 1981 and 1997), whereas Morocco were so disappointed with their poor results in 1980, they never entered again! Norway are much more resilient; having been bottom no less than ten times, they have also won the contest twice, most recently in 1995.

Not everyone who wins Eurovision enjoys instant stardom, but it was definitely better late than never for a young Canadian singing in French on behalf of Switzerland, who years later enjoyed a Titanic hit. (Celine Dion, 1988, “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi.”)

Cyprus have never won the competition (yet!), but have been in the top five four times, so maybe this year in Belgrade will be the grown-ups’ lucky night.

In the meantime, Cyprus’ Junior contenders Elena and Charis will perform their song in the 6th Junior Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Limassol in November 2008, hosted by CyBC. We wish them all the best with their song, which certainly has a more upbeat title than the Spanish winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest back in 2004, when the song title translated as “Better Dead Than Normal”…

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It’s unusual for an Australian politician to be approached about a top job by the United Nations, but then reviving the peace process in Cyprus is an unusual job.

Former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer is a strong candidate for the delicate task of bringing the Republic of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriot governments together to resume serious reunification talks. As Australia’s longest-serving foreign minister, Downer has considerable experience in international relations, as his party leader Brendan Nelson confirmed: “Alexander Downer has enormous ability… and I’m not surprised that anybody would want to engage his considerable experience and skills.”

The rumours persist that Downer is likely to become the main UN envoy of the Secretary General for Cyprus, although Downer himself was not giving much away; “I’ve just had some discussions with the United Nations, but this isn’t necessarily something that they want me to do or that I would do.”

If and when it happens, Mr Downer’s appointment would be likely to start just as the renewal of the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus is due to be discussed by the UN Security Council. At present, UN peacekeepers patrol the Green lines borders and maintain the UN-controlled buffer zone between the Republic of Cyprus in the south and the Turkish Republic of Cyprus in the north.

Meanwhile, on Cyprus itself, the momentum towards reunification talks has appeared to slow. On the plus side, Republic of Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat met on 22 May 2008 in the UN buffer zone for over three and a half hours, much longer than expected. However, a decision on the start of reunification tasks was postponed, pending further discussions at the end of June, and with an actual anticipated start date of the end of July.

Perhaps a straight-talking Aussie politician can provide the spark to get the two sides to finally sit down and get to work on their stated goal. In a joint statement by both leaders as, this goal was the establishment of a “bi-zonal and bi-communal federation based on the principle of equality.” 

With the Australian nation’s reputation for straight-talking combined with informality, the reunification of Cyprus may yet be solved by three blokes chatting over a beer. The question is, which beer - Keo or Efes - or perhaps a more diplomatic Castlemaine XXXX?!

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