Cyprus-Forum.com

by **Des** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:38 pm

I suppose being a foriegner I have to be careful what I say.I don't want to unintentionally inflame passions. I obviously don't know as much about Cyprus as you guys. Just my little slice of life between 1960 and 1963 as I observed it from the perspective of a 12 to 15 year old boy.

I'm sure kids in adjoining areas must have mixed and there was probably the usual gang fights that kids have. As far as tension goes, we did get some sour looks from the occasional nationalist Greek and no doubt they had plenty reasons to be bitter towards the British After all it wasn't that long after the EOKA struggle.

I remember going to the museum and reading all about the resistance fighters and reading about the ones that were hung. They even had the very rope that was used to hang so many of them. All a bit morbid but not that different from what one would see in Kilmainham Prison museum in Dublin, Ireland where all the heroes of the 1916 uprising against the British were executed.

Not wishing to sound biased but we always felt the Turks were more friendly towards us. I can understand why to a point. There was no nationalistic graffiti on the Turkish side of town though we did see Turkish flags everywhere and there seemed to be a very smartly uniformed contingent of Turkish troops stationed in Nicosia. I presume they were mainland Turks. They always looked much smarter than the Greek soldiers that we saw who tended to wear winkle picker , fashionable shoes and Tony Curtis hairstyles with their rather shabby uniform. The Turks looked very American with their helmets and white gaiters and proper army boots and jeeps. We were impressed.

I really don't know who were the better or braver soldiers. The Turks just looked more professional.

There always seemed to be a lot of nightclubs and glamourous nightlife on the Greek side. There were lots of international singers and artistes doing the rounds of the hotels and clubs.
I also recall a lot of Egyptian shopkeepers too.

Maybe some of the older Greeks will remember this song. It was very popular at the time. The chorus sounded like this, phonetically......"Vasilo, verika vasilo da da da."... we used to hear that all the time and it stuck in my memory. Any ideas?

by **BC Numismatics** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:57 pm

Des wrote:I suppose being a foriegner I have to be careful what I say.I don't want to unintentionally inflame passions. I obviously don't know as much about Cyprus as you guys. Just my little slice of life between 1960 and 1963 as I observed it from the perspective of a 12 to 15 year old boy.

I'm sure kids in adjoining areas must have mixed and there was probably the usual gang fights that kids have. As far as tension goes, we did get some sour looks from the occasional nationalist Greek and no doubt they had plenty reasons to be bitter towards the British After all it wasn't that long after the EOKA struggle.

I remember going to the museum and reading all about the resistance fighters and reading about the ones that were hung. They even had the very rope that was used to hang so many of them. All a bit morbid but not that different from what one would see in Kilmainham Prison museum in Dublin, Ireland where all the heroes of the 1916 uprising against the British were executed.

Not wishing to sound biased but we always felt the Turks were more friendly towards us. I can understand why to a point. There was no nationalistic graffiti on the Turkish side of town though we did see Turkish flags everywhere and there seemed to be a very smartly uniformed contingent of Turkish troops stationed in Nicosia. I presume they were mainland Turks. They always looked much smarter than the Greek soldiers that we saw who tended to wear winkle picker , fashionable shoes and Tony Curtis hairstyles with their rather shabby uniform. The Turks looked very American with their helmets and white gaiters and proper army boots and jeeps. We were impressed.

I really don't know who were the better or braver soldiers. The Turks just looked more professional.

There always seemed to be a lot of nightclubs and glamourous nightlife on the Greek side. There were lots of international singers and artistes doing the rounds of the hotels and clubs.
I also recall a lot of Egyptian shopkeepers too.

Maybe some of the older Greeks will remember this song. It was very popular at the time. The chorus sounded like this, phonetically......"Vasilo, verika vasilo da da da."... we used to hear that all the time and it stuck in my memory. Any ideas?

Des,those who led the so-called 'Easter Rising' in 1916 were not heroes at all,but scumbags who deserved nothing but their executions.It's a shame that the isle of Ireland's equivilant of Adolf Hitler (Gerry Adams) & Josef Goebbels (Martin MacGuinness) didn't get put to death though.They've had thousands of innocent people killed.There's only one good member of Sinn Fein/I.R.A. - a dead one,which has been shot,blown up,or given the Saddam Hussein treatment! The same thing goes for the murderers of EOKA & EOKA-B as well!

Aidan.

by **kafenes** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:00 pm

Yes Halil, I read it the other day. I could not believe it. Thats wy I asked GR if it was true. When we met at the mentioned car park, I could not help looking through the railings and reminiscing about the time when we would study the masonry and style of the tombs. Its sad. One thing that was mentioned (when discussing with school mates)was that the Armenian religious leaders(for want of a proper word) were interred in the sitting position. We came to that conclusion on the sight of the much taller tombs. I dont know if our asumptions were correct. Maybe Kafenes can fill the gaps in our knowledge!

Deniz, I am not sure about the sitting position. I called mum and asked and she has never heard of that either but she will ask the Armenian priest next time she sees him. I think the richer or more important people had taller tombs and still do (in the Larnaca cemetery).

by **Oracle** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:45 pm

Des wrote:...
Not wishing to sound biased but we always felt the Turks were more friendly towards us. ...

That's alright Des ... I sussed you for what you are from the very outset...

This is becoming too routine... :roll:

If you Turks are so desperate to pass on your propaganda ..... Can you at least please become a little more interesting ..

You are getting too easy to spot.

Goodbye Des or Denis or halil or whoever put you up to this masquerade.... the ones who have been thwarting me at every turn (dizzy Deniz and haphazard halil) into otherwise revealing earlier..

Grow up Turk-TCs...

No one believes you are so sweet and wonderful and tried to make a garden of Eden for yourselves if it wasn't for the devil incarnates, the GCs that stopped you with their evil ways.

Des you are a sham ...

by **denizaksulu** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:59 pm

kafenes wrote:
Yes Halil, I read it the other day. I could not believe it. Thats wy I asked GR if it was true. When we met at the mentioned car park, I could not help looking through the railings and reminiscing about the time when we would study the masonry and style of the tombs. Its sad. One thing that was mentioned (when discussing with school mates)was that the Armenian religious leaders(for want of a proper word) were interred in the sitting position. We came to that conclusion on the sight of the much taller tombs. I dont know if our asumptions were correct. Maybe Kafenes can fill the gaps in our knowledge!

Deniz, I am not sure about the sitting position. I called mum and asked and she has never heard of that either but she will ask the Armenian priest next time she sees him. I think the richer or more important people had taller tombs and still do (in the Larnaca cemetery).

Thanks for the reply Kafenes. Our thoughts were ramblings of teenagers with inquisitive minds. Some were rather tall as you say.

by **denizaksulu** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:02 pm

Oracle wrote:
Des wrote:...
Not wishing to sound biased but we always felt the Turks were more friendly towards us. ...

That's alright Des ... I sussed you for what you are from the very outset...

This is becoming too routine...

If you Turks are so desperate to pass on your propaganda ..... Can you at least please become a little more interesting ..

You are getting too easy to spot.

Goodbye Des or Denis or halil or whoever put you up to this masquerade.... the ones who have been thwarting me at every turn (dizzy Deniz and haphazard halil) into otherwise revealing earlier..

Grow up Turk-TCs...

No one believes you are so sweet and wonderful and tried to make a garden of Eden for yourselves if it wasn't for the devil incarnates, the GCs that stopped you with their evil ways.

Des you are a sham ...