Cyprus-Forum.com

[Bananiot]

Nikitas, his article on the previous Sunday Politis newspaper is more surprising that the last one. I would say that people that do not know him are likely to be surprised by him on a regular basis.

[Nikitas]

Bananiot, I read it,

And this passage intrigued me, for the same reasons that the above translation did.

"Σε αυτόν το χώρο, όπου τα μόνα στοιχεία που σου δίνουν υπόσταση είναι το σπίτι και το αυτοκίνητο και το πόσα ριάλια έχεις στην τράπεζα, αντιλαμβάνεστε ότι δεν υπάρχει και πολλή πνευματική αναζήτηση, ούτε και φωτισμένοι ηγέτες."

Translation

"In this place, where the only things that give you any status are your house, car and how much rialia (sic) you have in the bank, you understand that there not much spiritual quest, nor are there any enlightened leaders".

I understood this to refer to both sides of the ethnic divide. This Sunday, having read the article at the head of the thread I know that his comments are reserved exclusivley for the GC community. It seems that both sides suffer from a lack of culture.

The alarming thing is that in the summer of 1973, at the height of the EOKA B campaign I could feel the same climate all around me in Cypurs. At least back then it was only on the GC side, now it seems it is on both sides.

It is a sort of inner frustration, combined with a deep boredom, and people are talking incessantly about their possessions and how much they cost. And this is combined with an enforced conformism, God help anyone who dares express different interests, no matter how noble.

[Oracle]

I take it Bananiot knows him very well ....

[Nikitas]

All Cypriots know Mikellides well. Perhaps he was the only psychiatrist in Cyprus in years past and his name has become a household word.

[Oracle]

Lovely! Another Cypriotness hurdle .... familiarity with household names ...

[Nikitas]

Oracle,

I gather you had never heard of the name Mikellides. You must familiarise yourself with Cypriot urban legend and tradition. The name of Mikellides is right up there with names like Lanitis, et al as figureheads of modern Cypriot life.

[Oracle]

Oracle,

I gather you had never heard of the name Mikellides. You must familiarise yourself with Cypriot urban legend and tradition. The name of Mikellides is right up there with names like Lanitis, et al as figureheads of modern Cypriot life.

Names only stick in my head if I think the person has done/said something outstanding, and not via pressure from popular culture.

However this article you have presented, may have just done the trick

[zan]

Zan,

I do not have the means to judge whether the level of cultural life in the TC community is lower today than it was in 1960. It was this part of the article that intrigued me and I wanted to know what TCs who live in the north think about this view. The TC commentators I read in translation focus on politics, not culture. The bits of culture I see coming from the north are usually singers or folk dancers. There must be culture beyond these folkloric expressions.

As to the article itself, well it confused me, because in other articles Mikellides tears apart the Makarios legacy and those that are faithful to it. He severely criticises the policies of Papadopoulos because they enforce the division of the two communities. And now he publishes this, which is a surprise.

The name Mikellides is a Cypriot landmark. It is not unusual for GCs to jokingly or even in anger say to one another "you need to visit Mikellides" implying the other is nuts. In fact that very phrase was used on this forum some months back.

What you really need to do is look at your grandparents and how much they hate or complain about the present day "RoC" and it's differences to their day and then you will stop being surprised by stupid comments and assumptions.

Take on board also that there are two distinct people that are proud to be Cypriot as well as their respective generic selves and you will see that this man is an absolute loon. Either that or he is well and truly a fully paid up member of Greek propaganda in which the definition of a Cypriot is Greek and nothing else. For gods sake..The man says that we do not even paint our houses the same colour so we are not Cypriots......What about something a little more important than the colour of our houses...What about religion.....FFS

[Get Real!]

I've always suspected that Migellides is among us acting out his imaginary Turkish Cypriot side... what do you think Zanny?

[Nikitas]

Zan

I do not adopt what this man says. However, he is a man who is well known, a non politician, whose profession enables him to have a different insight into situations.

Now, having interviewed some psychiatrists in my time, they all tend to have an eccentric side to them. For a long time I used to think that they dose themselves with something, then I realised that their job leads to eccentricities.