DT. wrote:The Cypriot identity is not a myth. We are Cypriots distinct in culture, geography and history. I have a Cypriot passport, served the Cypriot national guard and support the Cyprus national team amongst other things. My favourite country is Cyprus and my kids speak in the proper Cypriot dialect.
I am however ethnically Greek. My Greek background is something I am proud of despite feeling very little in common with any mainland Greeks. I do not accept that Athens is the metropolis of Hellenism as a Spaniard does not accept that Italians are more Roman Catholic than they are.
In conclusion, the Greek Cypriot identity draws on 2 things I believe that both stem from this island. The Cypriot statehood and the Greek background which is specific to this island and has very little to do with an ethnic Greek in Athens.
As far as Greece is concerned, I consider it to be our biggest ally and strategic friend. Despite the betrayals of 1974 by the junta, Cyprus without Greece's support would not have accomplished its biggest achievement of joining the EU. Something which I strongly believe has saved this country from catastrophe both politically after the annan plan and economically after the recent crisis.
Although you don't seem to think it, you support my assertion that the Cypriot ethnos does not exist distinct from the Greek ethnos.
It sounds like you consider yourself a Cypriot first, and a Greek second, just like a Cretan is a Cretan first and a Greek second; I'm sure most Cretans do not consider Athens to be the centre of the Hellenic universe - in fact, the centre of the Hellenic universe does not exist anywhere geographically, it exists in our hearts, minds, homes, memories, and families. This idea for me harks back to the future evolution of the EU, further deemphasising individual nation states within the EU, decoupling ethnicity from the political entity. This has been tried once before under bolshevism (think USSR, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, countries in which the ethnos of individuals was suppressed).
The reason I say that you support my point rather than refute it is that you have (somewhat confusingly - perhaps a typo) linked Hellenism to both "Greek Cypriot" identity and "Cypriot statehood". If you want to talk about "Greek Cypriot" identity then you will have no argument from me: there were Greeks in Pontus, Cyprus, Asia Minor, and all over Greece who were different to one another and yet were still Greeks [and we'll even permit you your pidgin language
]. Then you mention the "Cypriot statehood" in connection with the Greek background. Did you mean "Greek Cypriot" statehood, or did you actually mean "Cypriot Statehood"? If you're linking Hellenism with "Cypriot statehood" then you will have a pretty big headache reconciling this idea with the turks who live in Cyprus. If your definition of "being a Cypriot" includes Hellenism to any degree, then you're stuck with the turks. If however you're acknowledging the link between Hellenism and being a "Greek Cypriot", then we're back to my original argument that there is no such thing as a plain Cypriot ethnos.
It's all a load of man-made bollocks!
