Cyprus-Forum.com

[james_mav]

If the Serbs and the Montenegrins cannot agree to both be Yugoslavs, how in the name of God can turks and Greeks agree to both be Cypriots? There is no such thing as a Cypriot, apart from an almost convenient political definition (and even that didn't work). There are just Greeks and turks, just like there were Greeks and turks on Crete before its own enosis.

The Cypriot ethnicity is lunacy just like the (slavo) "Macedonian" ethnicity. Any solution to the Cyprus problem that does not acknowledge this fact is doomed to fail.

[The Cypriot]

O golos dis budanas je da bothkia du bellu bostashan en ehun.

[Oracle]

A Cypriot is a citizen of Cyprus who has allegiance to the RoC. He can be of Greek, Russian, Armenian etc extraction. Just like Greeks are citizens of Greece but may be of American, Egyptian etc extraction.

Simple really ....

[The Cypriot]

Or he can be of Cypriot extraction. Like my bapu was.

[Oracle]

Or he can be of Cypriot extraction. Like my bapu was.

In which case you are Hellenic too.

Congratulations

[The Cypriot]

Or he can be of Cypriot extraction. Like my bapu was.

In which case you are Hellenic too.

Congratulations

Do galon horkon golauzin en theli.

[james_mav]

Or he can be of Cypriot extraction. Like my bapu was.

You're confusing a political construct with ethnicity. Apart from in the minds of foreigners and bolsheviks, there is no separate Cypriot ethnos: there are Greeks, and turks. Latins, Armenians, arabs, Russians, etc who also live on Cyprus (even if they are citizens of Cyprus) are un-assimilated migrants, and quite clearly belong to their own ethnos.

Think of the natural evolution of the European Union - if things go according to plan, national borders, laws, currencies, and institutions (perhaps even military ones) will slowly disappear; less and less what makes a Greek will be the Greek nation-state, but rather the Hellenic ethnos. Ditto for Cyprus, except of course there is no distinct Cypriot ethnos, ergo, you're either Greeks or Turks!

And no, mispronouncing and misspelling παπού does not make you any less Greek and any more Cypriot.

[james_mav]

A Cypriot is a citizen of Cyprus who has allegiance to the RoC. He can be of Greek, Russian, Armenian etc extraction. Just like Greeks are citizens of Greece but may be of American, Egyptian etc extraction.

Simple really ....

I'm not talking about citizenship, I'm talking about ethnicity. I'm a citizen of the country of my birth, and I owe this country my political allegiance (and a whole lot more), but ethnically I don't belong to this country.

Sure, from a political and legal perspective there are Cypriots, but not from an ethnic perspective.

[Get Real!]

Nobody can deny that indigenous Cypriots have always been there for ten millenniums. Any trouble was always caused by pompous visitors who thought they could reinvent history…

[DT.]

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.