Piratis wrote:Being Greek/Turkish AND Cypriot is not something mutually exclusive.
Cyprus is not the only multi-ethnic country in the world. Take the USA for example. They have African Americans, Greek Americans, Italian Americans etc. There is absolutely no problem with that as long as the differences between the different ethnic groups are not used as an excuse for conflicts and discriminations.
If there are such conflicts then indeed a way to end them is to just force everybody to be the same. However forcing people to give up part of what they are is not easy and can backfire, creating even more conflicts.
A better alternative in ending such conflicts is to ensure the equality of all people regardless of their ethnic background, based on mutual respect. Also, instead of emphasizing and exploiting the few differences, what should be emphasized are the much more common things that Cypriots as a whole have regardless of their ethnic background.
Just like in the USA, what we should have in Cyprus should be equal Cypriot citizens. Beyond that, everybody is free to call himself just Cypriot, Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot, Armenian Cypriot, Latin Cypriot, Maronite Cypriot, Russian Cypriot, Martian or whatever he feels like.
And then the Native Cypriots could live in little camps and make native jewellery for the tourists to remind everyone of their forgotten 10,000 year history on the island.....which is what happened to the Native American Indians under this free-for-all banner.
Pip pip
Phoenix
