Cyprus-Forum.com

[mehmet]

Greek Pontians have been in the news a bit lately following incidents in Paphos.

What I'm curious about is the bit about them having a hard time from the police. How can you tell a Greek Pontian? Do they speak with a different accent? Do they dress differently? Are they going to succeed to become assimilated within greek cypriot community or will they always be separate? Do they have anyone in politics who articulates their concerns? Are some parties more or less freindly towards their concerns? If they participate in politics do they support some parties more than others? Is unemployment a problem in their community? Are they only settled in Paphos or elsewhere?

[Piratis]

How can you tell a Greek Pontian? Do they speak with a different accent? Do they dress differently?

Most of them have Russian as their main language, so most of them have a very strong accent when they speak Greek. I wouldn't say they dress differently, but many of them have manners that are not very polite or nice, and thats how they are recognized. Thats not to say that all of them are like that, and by no means we can generalize these manners to represent what a Greek Pontian is. But unfortunately is a sad fact that many of them (some say the majority) act in not very nice ways. Its mainly a matter of culture. Not to say that Cypriots culture is the best (far from it), but Greek Pontians grew up in a place that obviously didn't offer much in terms of culture to them.

Are they going to succeed to become assimilated within greek cypriot community or will they always be separate?

I don't know. I don't care if they will be assimilated in gc community or not, but I hope they have a plan on how they will provide them with better culture and education so they will became good members of the society and not being hated.

Do they have anyone in politics who articulates their concerns? Are some parties more or less friendly towards their concerns?

Very few are educated enough, and those that are it seems that they are not too much involved in politics.

Is unemployment a problem in their community?

I don't know.

Are they only settled in Paphos or elsewhere?

Everywhere. I believe Paphos has the most, or they seem more because the population of Paphos is small. We have a lot of them in Limassol.

[Chrisswirl]

There are lots of Russian fir shops in Limasol. Is that relevant? Probably not.

[Pontious]

Do they speak with a different accent?

Lol yes we speak with a diffrent accnt because we come from soviet Union.

Do they dress differently?

what question is this? No we don't dress diffrently.

Most of them have Russian as their main language,

Some of us who came from Georgia can speak Turkish and Russian and some others pontian dialect(Romaika) and Russian, I would say no Russian isn't our main Language.

but many of them have manners that are not very polite or nice, and thats how they are recognized.

You have wrong again we are polite.

Thats not to say that all of them are like that, and by no means we can generalize these manners to represent what a Greek Pontian is

You have a lot things to learn about us.

But unfortunately is a sad fact that many of them (some say the majority) act in not very nice ways.

\

bELIEVE ME I COULD KIILL YOU RIGHT NOW.

Its mainly a matter of culture. Not to say that Cypriots culture is the best (far from it), but Greek Pontians grew up in a place that obviously didn't offer much in terms of culture to them.

Do you realize what you have said?? Pontian culture is best from Cyprus.
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[cypezokyli]

hi pontious, welcome to the forum.

i find it really interesting that you decide to participate in this thread. its better when such questions are asked, to have the opinions of the people themselves.

first to the original question:

Are they going to succeed to become assimilated within greek cypriot community or will they always be separate?

that depends up to us and up to them

Do they have anyone in politics who articulates their concerns? Are some parties more or less freindly towards their concerns?

as far as i know the answer is no and no.

Are they only settled in Paphos or elsewhere?

everywhere. paphos is the place we hear the most in the news, bc they are more percentage wise.


now to pontious
as far as i am concerned i studied together with a pontiak in germany who grew up and went to school in cyprus. he could speak both russian and greek...and english. he mostly had gc friends, and he is engaged immidiately after his studies...to make a long story short : a real cypriot

in paphos it is more difficult to integrate bc at some schools there is almost a 50-50 percentage. it doesnot mean that this is bad, but in such cases, schools whould really have specific curriculum and good trained teachers, or else both students dont benefit, where it is a real opportunity to do so.

Some of us who came from Georgia can speak Turkish and Russian and some others pontian dialect(Romaika) and Russian, I would say no Russian isn't our main Language.

in a junior school in nicosia i met this pontiak kid. he was amazing. he told me kyrie kyrie i speak 5 languages : greek, cypriot, turkish, pontiak, and russian. greek is like cypriot and pontiak is like turkish
i thought of some pontiaks that i know that instead of russia they moved to greece in the beggining of the century. they would attack the kid if they heard him saying turkish and pontiak are similar

now some questions out of curiosity.
how do you define yourselfs (greeks, russians, pontiaks, cypriots) ?
when you left russia, did you do it strictly for financial reasons, or did you carry any dreams of return to "motherland" ?
are you dissapointet from what you found here, and what did you expect?
do you feel rasism against pontiaks?
what does the word integration mean to you? is it a "good" concept, or as i ve heard once , is the leftist word for "assimilation" ?
do you think we try to integrate you /assimilate you , and should we try?
what do you think thy cyprus gov and society should do in regards to the pontiaks in cyprus?
and a last one : do you have a position on the cyprus problem?

hope thats not too much

[Piratis]

cypezokyli, pontiak is a car (pontiac), the people are called pontians

Pontious, why you get mad? The bad name that the Pontians have in Cyprus is because of the actions of many people of your community. Percentage wise the Pontians (specifically guys ages 14-35) are much more rude than Cypriots or other residents of Cyprus. do you deny this?

[cypezokyli]

apologies

[dms007]

what is a greek pontian?

[Pontious]

ok

[Pontious]

how do you define yourselfs (greeks, russians, pontiaks, cypriots) ?

Greeks

when you left russia, did you do it strictly for financial reasons, or did you carry any dreams of return to "motherland" ?

Dream to return to the motherland

re you dissapointet from what you found here, and what did you expect?

Yes disapointed from the Hospitality of Greeks.

o you think we try to integrate you /assimilate you , and should we try?

Assimilate me


[/quote]what do you think thy cyprus gov and society should do in regards to the pontiaks in cyprus?

nothing, we want only to respect us, we are human we want to be respected by cypriot's.

do you have a position on the cyprus problem?

I think no, we don't care, but we talked about this thing a lot