Cyprus-Forum.com

[Big Al]

Why isn't there a Cypriot culture...there is...just because we speak greek doesn't make us greeks by default...the same as the Ozzies and the poms...we are Ozzies, not poms...even though we still maintain the queen as head of state we are still Ozzies...

Boomers, what is culture??
Culture is a common language, gestures, customs, traditions, common values, religious beliefs, art, music and even dress. Now if, as some people on this forum claim, there is a common "cypriot culture" you would think that TC and GC would share a common language, traditions, customs, religious beliefs, art or music. The fact is TC and GC do not share a common culture, GC share a common culture with Greece. Therefore when GC call upon TC to adopt the "cypriot culture", they are infact calling upon them to adopt the greek culture, to basically forget their own turkish culture and become greek. As for you example, the UK isnt asking us (ozzies) to change our culture or our our country.

[miltiades]

Why isn't there a Cypriot culture...there is...just because we speak greek doesn't make us greeks by default...the same as the Ozzies and the poms...we are Ozzies, not poms...even though we still maintain the queen as head of state we are still Ozzies...

Boomers, what is culture??
Culture is a common language, gestures, customs, traditions, common values, religious beliefs, art, music and even dress. Now if, as some people on this forum claim, there is a common "cypriot culture" you would think that TC and GC would share a common language, traditions, customs, religious beliefs, art or music. The fact is TC and GC do not share a common culture, GC share a common culture with Greece. Therefore when GC call upon TC to adopt the "cypriot culture", they are infact calling upon them to adopt the greek culture, to basically forget their own turkish culture and become greek. As for you example, the UK isnt asking us (ozzies) to change our culture or our our country.

Judging by your avatar YOU HAVE NO CULTURE matey , in fact you are a bloody foreigner poking your nose into Cyprus's business , why dont you go back to Turkey , why not let the Cypriots be Cypriots G/Cs and T/Cs.
Cyprus isn't Turkey and it isn't Greece the quicker dick heads understand that these two nations are the curse of Cyprus the better.
As for cultures are you saying that Anatolian cultures are closer to you than the Cypriot ones !! Honour killings are a regular event in Turkey just Google it and you will be surprised , now we dont engage in such condemnable acts in Cyprus do we ?

[repulsewarrior]

Big Al, while you swim in Girne, I ask you, if Talat, and Demetris can realise for us a United Republic of Cyprus, if it is not "Greek", if it is not Turkish but Turcophone and Cypriot, will you be happy?

sir Cypriots are Great Cooperators, they had before our identification as Greeks and Turks by the Modern interlocutors a culture which was the most socialistic in the world. Big Al, it was not something as you describe because as a people they were isolated, as this island's dwellers, as Cypriots, tolerance and respect were necessary states for them to sustain themselves. we still do not have the luxury of Freewill and as subjects for the first time in millenium, or hundreds of years, attempts are made to tear us from our land. Is this not an attempt (by two extremes) to destroy a Culture?

I asked you a question above [quote] and I would like an answer from you.

[denizaksulu]

Tim , Birkibrisli ,

when we speak with eachother we are using TC's words but when we are writing we are trying to use Turkish grammer rules .
most of the Turkish people from Turkey which they are settle down here since 74 are using TC's words when we are speaking .
like : bulli ,basadembo , lenger .

İf you visit our village Kahvahane's you can here everybodies speak with TC's accent or words .

sometimes when they use our words we laugh at them . some times they makes funny of our sayings as well . like we do to Azeries .with satallite tv transmission we can get their programmes . for goal keeper we say kaleci ...they says kapıcı ....how can't you laugh ....

I sometimes listen to Bayrak Radio on the internet,and without exception all the presenters speak with a mainland accent,halil...That is where the game is lost...Tim is right...Within another two generations (30 years) there will be no trace of a Cypriot Turkish dialect in Cyprus,and I dare say no TCs speaking Cypriot Greek either...A matter of "parayi veren dudugu calar" (the One who pays gets to play the duduk),I suppose...Can you imagine the Welsh or the Irish all speaking English with a London accent???? We are paying a very high price for being "saved" I am afraid...

With due respect BK, this change had already began in the 1930's. much before 1974.

Of our cousins-in-common, I remember all of us would take the p--s out of Pembe, who was at Uni in Ankara at the time(early 1960's). We thought her newly acquired Turkish accent was hilarious. She would end up in tears.


Selamlar.and to the precious one.

[halil]

Tim , Birkibrisli ,

when we speak with eachother we are using TC's words but when we are writing we are trying to use Turkish grammer rules .
most of the Turkish people from Turkey which they are settle down here since 74 are using TC's words when we are speaking .
like : bulli ,basadembo , lenger .

İf you visit our village Kahvahane's you can here everybodies speak with TC's accent or words .

sometimes when they use our words we laugh at them . some times they makes funny of our sayings as well . like we do to Azeries .with satallite tv transmission we can get their programmes . for goal keeper we say kaleci ...they says kapıcı ....how can't you laugh ....

I sometimes listen to Bayrak Radio on the internet,and without exception all the presenters speak with a mainland accent,halil...That is where the game is lost...Tim is right...Within another two generations (30 years) there will be no trace of a Cypriot Turkish dialect in Cyprus,and I dare say no TCs speaking Cypriot Greek either...A matter of "parayi veren dudugu calar" (the One who pays gets to play the duduk),I suppose...Can you imagine the Welsh or the Irish all speaking English with a London accent???? We are paying a very high price for being "saved" I am afraid...

With due respect BK, this change had already began in the 1930's. much before 1974.

Of our cousins-in-common, I remember all of us would take the p--s out of Pembe, who was at Uni in Ankara at the time(early 1960's). We thought her newly acquired Turkish accent was hilarious. She would end up in tears.


Selamlar.and to the precious one.

Yes Deniz you are right , some how we like showing that changes are started after 74 .B Kibrisli must remmember during CyBc times they never used TC's speaking .
but after 63 up to 74 at bayrak there was a program called Aleko and Cafer . it was in TC's speaking . Both of you must remmeber the Alekko and Cafer . İt was on sundays .İt was sponsored by Coop .
İç bir Gooparatif Ayrani re Cafer . ( Cafer bir Kooparatif ayranı iç )

Ok. i am having my Turkish Coffee now .

[BirKibrisli]

Tim , Birkibrisli ,

when we speak with eachother we are using TC's words but when we are writing we are trying to use Turkish grammer rules .
most of the Turkish people from Turkey which they are settle down here since 74 are using TC's words when we are speaking .
like : bulli ,basadembo , lenger .

İf you visit our village Kahvahane's you can here everybodies speak with TC's accent or words .

sometimes when they use our words we laugh at them . some times they makes funny of our sayings as well . like we do to Azeries .with satallite tv transmission we can get their programmes . for goal keeper we say kaleci ...they says kapıcı ....how can't you laugh ....

I sometimes listen to Bayrak Radio on the internet,and without exception all the presenters speak with a mainland accent,halil...That is where the game is lost...Tim is right...Within another two generations (30 years) there will be no trace of a Cypriot Turkish dialect in Cyprus,and I dare say no TCs speaking Cypriot Greek either...A matter of "parayi veren dudugu calar" (the One who pays gets to play the duduk),I suppose...Can you imagine the Welsh or the Irish all speaking English with a London accent???? We are paying a very high price for being "saved" I am afraid...

With due respect BK, this change had already began in the 1930's. much before 1974.

Of our cousins-in-common, I remember all of us would take the p--s out of Pembe, who was at Uni in Ankara at the time(early 1960's). We thought her newly acquired Turkish accent was hilarious. She would end up in tears.


Selamlar.and to the precious one.

You are right,Deniz,about Pembe,but you got the decade wrong...She was at Uni in Ankara in the 70s....The difference of course was that,in the old days, Cypriots would take the piss out of anyone who tried to speak with a Turkish accent...They soon learned to leave their newly acquired posh Turkish accents in Turkey...These days it is the other way around..Anybody with a Cypriot accent is made to feel inferior...Social pressures are working in the opposite direction...That is why assimilation is inevitable unless a solution is found pretty quickly...

Good wishes from me and the Precious one...

[Kikapu]

And we were told by the NeoPartitionist that the settlers were becoming more Cypriot than Turkish....HA.!!

The Turks do look down on those with a Turkish Cypriot accent in Turkey. I remember few years ago taking a taxi in Ankara where the driver said to me, "you know, for a foreigner, you speak Turkish quiet well".

And you are correct Bir. When ever a TC is amongst Turks, they too try to speak with a forced Turkish accent.

I can't do all that, Canim, Güzelim, Sekerim, Tatlim, in every other word in how the Turks talk.

Translation to all this "Canim, Güzelim, Sekerim, Tatlim" is all "sweet talk".

[humanist]

As for you example, the UK isnt asking us (ozzies) to change our culture or our our country.

tell me if you are 100% being a Turkish Muslim in Australian society today. whether you feel 100% to walk down the street to the mosque where you speak loudly and laugh with your family on the way to the mosque.

secondly there are many cultures within what you describe above, for a example the punk culture, gay culture, the karpas culture to the morphou culture

thank you for your respect to have my opinion

[Tim Drayton]

Whilst we are on the subject of Cypriot Turkish, maybe somebody can help me out.

I have an excellent dictionary which helps me out a great deal, but I wonder if anywhere, online or in printed form, one can find a simple grammar of this threatened tongue. Even a few tables showing the conjugations of verbs and declensions of nouns would be useful. I have searched, but so far in vain.

Thanks

Tim,
i would like to give you a book called ''Hakeri'nin kıbrıs Türkçesi Sözlüğü '' as a present .
when are you planning to come to North .pls let me know it few days ago before you come .

it will be very useful for you as a professional translator . It is 325 pages .
published by Samtay Vafkı Yayınları.

As I said, I have a very good dictionary of Cypriot Turkish words by Orhan Kabatas.

Thank you for the offer, all the same. I may be in Nicosia at the end of this week.

[Tim Drayton]

There is a situation described in linguistics as diglossia, described in the dictionary as:

A sociolinguistic situation in which complementary social functions are distributed between two different varieties of language, a prestigious, formal, or high variety and a common, colloquial or low variety. (American Heritage Dictionary)

A very good is example is provided by the German-speaking areas of Switzerland. The Swiss speak a dialect of German which is virtually unintelligible to people from Germany, yet in formal settings standard German is used. Newspapers are written in standard German, and this is the language used in schools, parliament and the courts. Swiss German, on the other hand, is spoken in everyday situations.

I think the same thing applies in Cyprus. It would be very strange, wouldn't it, if a television newsreader or a deputy making a speech in parliament spoke Cypriot Turkish? Or if laws were framed in this dialect. Standard Turkish is the appropriate language for such settings, and it is right that Turkish Cypriots have a good command of the standard language. What I find sad is that the standard language also seems to be displacing Cypriot Turkish in informal settings.

Diglossia clearly also applies to the Greek Cypriot community, but I don't think the vernacular language is under threat in the same way in the latter community.