Oracle wrote:denizaksulu wrote:Palio, check out the links and see foryourself the other factors affecting the fate of Cyprus. Cyprus itself or Cypriots never did attack anyone (as Oracle is too keen to bring up) but the Masters of Cyprus at the time who were the Venetians DID become a nuisance to the Ottoman Empire just because where it was. ....
Deniz, how does any of that contradict the fact that Cyprus/Cypriots have never attacked and invaded any other country?
If the Ottomans and Venetians hated each other and battled for supremacy, how can that be the Cypriots' fault?
If Greeks and half-Greeks, enslaved to the Ottomans, carried out some unsavoury duties, for survival, you cannot generalise about how "lovely" the Ottomans were when they managed to go around attacking everyone, enslaving them and then forcing those slave to do more of their dirty work. Is that more honorable for the Ottomans?
Are you going to blame the African Slaves for European-Americans wiping out the Mohicans?
I DID say the Cypriots never attacked anybody outside the boundaries of the island. The Venetians did. They had Rhodes, the Morae the dodecanese, Cyprus... shall I go on?. That made Cyprus a target Oracle.
I dont think the Barbarossa brothers were enslaved Oracle. Nor the Greekborn sea-men. These men sailed on ships as long as the monies were right.
Read up on the 'noble' Knights of Malta. The Maltese privateers were blessed by the Pope to attack the Moslem trade routes and where necessary in bad weather they sought refuge in Cypriot harbours. Attacking merchant ships was not the sole deed of the Ottoman ships (corsairs/navy/privateers).