Paphitis wrote:repulsewarrior wrote:...interesting point.
Nikitas,
"We are Greeks, naturally, but being far away from the "national center" and especially untouched by the Athenocentric intelligentsia, we have retained more of our Greekness, since the intelligentsia was not here to erode it, and thus are now different, in fact more Greek than the mainlanders. The same goes for TCs by the way, they are more Turkish than the mainlanders. This is the essence of being Cypriot, we are mainlanders plus. And this pisses off both motherlands who take it on themselves to change us to their standards. They are both afraid to allow examples of "their" cutlure to flourish uncontrolled"
I am not talking about Turkey here, but why the hell would Greece ever want to control their culture and prevent it from flourishing in Cyprus?
The biggest defence Cyprus has is it's Hellenism. Without it, we Cypriots would never have survived the countless persecutions over many centuries. We would have assimilated to the oppressors, but our Hellenism gave us strength to battle and persevere with our own identity against what must have been insurmountable tyranny!
I think Nikitas means that Greeks are uncomfortable with the unique Cypriot cultural elements like the Cypriot dialect because they are "different". This is, of course, completely false, it's in fact the Cypriots who are often "embarrased" when visiting Greece and look around suspiciously as if everyone is judging them! I remember a few years ago, in Syntagma square, a Cypriot middle aged woman asked me for directions. Before replying I asked her, in the friendliest tone possible, if she was Cypriot. She gave me an angry look and said "yes I am, do you have a problem with this?"