suetoniuspaulinus wrote:RC wrote:The concept of ethnicity can be very fluid.
Whilst generally, language, religion, and a shared history are the main factors in determining an ethnicity, sometimes political drivers can also shape or concoct an ethnicity (see Moldova and FYROM).
If enough people perceive to belong to a particular ethnicity, no matter how ridiculous that perception may be, that perception has to be acknowledged.
A Cypriot ethnicity has never previously existed, however, a series of treacherous and spineless acts by the Greek state during the course of the 20th century has provided fertile ground for communists and other race traitors to promote a Cypriot ethnicity. Tragically, I suspect that within a generation, the Skopjanisation of the Greek Cypriots will be significant enough that the existence of a Cypriot ethnicity will be acknowledged.
The great irony is that by the conventional standards of ethnicity, Cypriots have been indisputably Greek almost as long as the concept of 'Greekness' has existed, whereas many Greeks in the Greek state (Vlachs/Slavophones/Arvanites) have only recently been assimilated into the Greek ethnic group.
I think that I have to agree with you but I do have a question. You mention the concept of "Greekness" and its existance, when do you believe that this concept first came into being?
Don't ask a Turk, they weren't even around then ... If you looked to the Romans, you may be nearer the mark ....