In addition to Cyprus's Greek and English press, you can find the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the International Herald Tribune, the London Telegraph and many other European dailies.
But what is most striking for the newcomer from Vladivostok is the Russian press. Readers can buy everything from Argumenti i Fakti to the glossy magazines Karavan and Domashny Ochag. Taken together, they offer a glimpse of Russian literary life in exile.
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OK, but why? When I struggled to come to grips with the literary conceit, native speakers assured me it makes no sense in Russian either. Popka will disappoint those hungry for news about feathered tropical fauna or fleshy places that doctors enjoy jabbing with needles. There is nothing racy. The paper consists largely of unattributed translations stolen from the Cypriot, Moscow and international press. Popka does offer stories to help readers understand their new island home, such as a piece about the decision to poison 100 stray cats that have been multiplying in the offices of a Cypriot broadcaster (how 100 cats got inside a broadcast studio is a question Popka leaves for another day). Ads promote products that any granny outside a train depot would be proud to display: "environmentally pure Russian food: Pickled herring, dried fish, barley, sunflower seeds." And those wishing to keep up on international affairs will find updates from abroad: "Billion dollars earmarked for American bums."
Homesick Vladivostokians can turn to Popka for this astonishing scoop: "Every fifth Primorye regional Duma candidate is a bandit." The alleged crooks' names appeared on a list compiled by presidential representative Konstantin Pulikovsky and submitted to Governor Sergei Darkin. Shockingly, they all turned out to be Darkin's cronies, business associates or old school chums. "Darkin promised to use his power and influence and talk his former pals out of participating in the election," Popka added, citing a Vladivostok paper.
My able researcher, Nonna Chernyakova, phoned Popka to inquire about the name, but the editor was too busy to talk. Nonna was left to wonder: "What happens when their reporter comes up to a visiting Russian politician at a press conference and says, 'Hi, I work for the newspaper Butt?'"
For those ashamed to sip espresso in an outdoor cafe while reading a paper called Popka, a less puzzlingly titled weekly is available: Vestnik Kipra. Like Popka, it steals stories from the Cyprus Daily Mail or Cyprus Weekly -- among them a story on Gypsies who sneak over from the Turkish side of the island to collect welfare benefits, only to return. But unlike Popka, the paper also runs occasional bylined stories.
Cosmopolitans will find the Athens edition of Moskovsky Komsomolets (or is the title a rip-off?). The ads give its readership away. They promote not only Baltika beer and Russian "sausage, cheese, herring, cigarettes and vodka," but also the law firm Pavlos Sarakis & Co. Getting straight to the point, Sarakis states, "We undertake your defense in serious cases such as murder, robbery and burglary, narco-business, contraband, prostitution and organized crime."
Moskovsky Komsomolets offers Russian current events for those homesick souls basking on the beaches and lighting cigars with narco-dollars. Yet there is Greek news to help relocated businessmen understand life in a more civilized corner of the globe. Athens' electric train drivers were on strike, the paper reports, in protest of a recent incident in which 50 soccer hooligans attacked a train car with Molotov cocktails, injuring six people.
Popka also provides evidence that the Hellenic Mediterranean isn't such a bad place to hang out. The back page is covered with ads from young women in Russia who advise that their characters are "intelligent, honest and hearty" and that the man of their dreams is "businesslike, orderly, strong, cheerful." Perhaps he has occasional troubles requiring a lawyer with expertise in racketeering. No matter. The girl of his dreams would be happy to join him in Cyprus.
Russell Working is a freelance journalist based in Limassol, Cyprus.
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