Hello friends, this is my first post to the forum and I do hope to see rational and constructive comments.
I am a Turkish citizen and have moved to North Cyprus nearly two years ago. My move was supposed to be temporary for a 6-months period, but things developed in a very different way (I fell in love with a Greek girl, but it's another story) than I expected, therefore I had to stay until now. I noticed that I hadn't know anything about Cyprus, Cyprus issue and the history of Cyprus before I came to Cyprus. I would like to mention that I grew up in a highly educated environment, went to the top schools and the top university; METU, in Turkey and eventually consider myself an intellectual.
At the beginning, many issues I read in the newspapers or heard from others were all Greek to me. Afterwards, I searched the web in detail to learn what happened in Cyprus: I first delved into the web pages of Greek origin, then of Turkish origin and finally checked the third party reviews and information about Cyprus history.
Now, I know a lot about the history of the island. Perhaps I now know much more than Turkish Cypriots, but what about Turkish people, what do they think/know about the Cyprus problem. I can easily say that the majority (perhaps %95) of people in Turkey has no single idea about what has happened here and what is going on now.
Let me tell you what they know about here. Whenever I go to Turkey, I always have a chat with cab drivers especially after landing the airport. What they and other people ask me about Cyprus is always the same!
Here are their questions and comments on Cyprus:
-Is it true that Turkish Cypriots don't like us?
-I don't understand why Turkey transfers money to Turkish Cypriots, we are wasting a lot of money for them.
This two sentences above are the only things Turks consider about Cyprus. Consequently, Turkish community in Turkey knows a big NOTHING over Cyprus.
I believe this fact is very important for both communities.