Cyprus-Forum.com

[Filitsa]

You won't find many Australians and Canadians claiming to be 'British' that's for sure.

The difference here is choice. The Australians choose to have a separate country, just like they choose to have the British flag embed in their own flag, and the Queen of England as their own Queen.

On the other hand the Liverpudlians didn't choose to have a separate country so they claim to be British.

The people of Cyprus, like the people of all other Greek islands, choose to be part of united Greek state. But our choice was denied to us and we were forced to be a separate country bnnm because this is what suited the interests of certain foreign imperialists.

This may be true politically, but natioanlity and culture are not necessarily one and the same.

Within the Greek nation there are of course variations in culture, language etc, just like in any other nation. Even within Cyprus there is variation. E.g. the culture and language in Paphos is a bit different than in Nicosia. Does this mean the Paphians should be "just Paphians" and not Cypriots and Greeks?

Perhaps I should elaborate. One can be a citizen of a particular nation and practice a culture foreign to that nation. Maybe it would help to understand that my orientation is second generation American, and I still find it difficult to define American culture.

It is said, that there is more culture in a tub of Cypriot yogurt, than there is in America!

Hey, poniro! I didn't say we don't have "culture;" I said it's hard to define!

[Kikapu]

You won't find many Australians and Canadians claiming to be 'British' that's for sure.

The difference here is choice. The Australians choose to have a separate country, just like they choose to have the British flag embed in their own flag, and the Queen of England as their own Queen.

On the other hand the Liverpudlians didn't choose to have a separate country so they claim to be British.

The people of Cyprus, like the people of all other Greek islands, choose to be part of united Greek state. But our choice was denied to us and we were forced to be a separate country bnnm because this is what suited the interests of certain foreign imperialists.

This may be true politically, but natioanlity and culture are not necessarily one and the same.

Within the Greek nation there are of course variations in culture, language etc, just like in any other nation. Even within Cyprus there is variation. E.g. the culture and language in Paphos is a bit different than in Nicosia. Does this mean the Paphians should be "just Paphians" and not Cypriots and Greeks?

Perhaps I should elaborate. One can be a citizen of a particular nation and practice a culture foreign to that nation. Maybe it would help to understand that my orientation is second generation American, and I still find it difficult to define American culture.

It is said, that there is more culture in a tub of Cypriot yogurt, than there is in America!

Hey, poniro! I didn't say we don't have "culture;" I said it's hard to define!

I know.

How can one define American culture when in fact, it is a "melting-pot culture" of 200+ nations that makes up the American culture.?

[Filitsa]

It's more like a salad now with all the intercultural marriages and offspring.

P.S. I forgot that you're not a Greek speaker. ... Sorry about the use of the Greek word earlier.

[Kikapu]

It's more like a salad now with all the intercultural marriages and offspring.

P.S. I forgot that you're not a Greek speaker. ... Sorry about the use of the Greek word earlier.

No problem.

[DT.]

Actually Piratis falls short I'm Afraid. Athens and Crete are PART and PARCEL of Greece, they fall under official Greek territory and government.
Cyprus on the other hand is independent.

In 1960 we were officially a republic.
If some Cypriots feel Greek, good for them, but that doesn't change the fact that they're Cypriot citizens.

Cyprus was forced to be "independent". Just like before we were forced to be part of the British empire and be "British citizens", and before that part of the Ottoman empire etc.

Our identity does not depend on what some foreign imperialists force on Cyprus. They can force Cyprus under their rule, either directly by making Cyprus part of their empire, or indirectly by giving to Cyprus some pseudo independence, but what they can't do is change our identity.

You stink of enosis, who says its dead, its alive and kicking in people like Piratis, Father Denktaş has always been right.

Father denktash? What century are you from where politicians have conned you into becoming paternal figures? Is this how the tc society thinks? If so then we're gonna have to work on more than just cash to get everything on par between the 2 communities.

Father denktash

[Silenus]

You won't find many Australians and Canadians claiming to be 'British' that's for sure.

If only that were true...the truth is that a large number of anglo-australians do identify as Brits in at least a tangential way; churches and pubs in the WASP-only rural fringes of large cities still proudly display the Union Jack alongside the Australian flag. A referendum in 1999 to declare Australia a republic and avoid the ignominy of one day having Charles as monarch was resoundingly defeated:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_republic_referendum,_1999

[vaughanwilliams]

You won't find many Australians and Canadians claiming to be 'British' that's for sure.

If only that were true...the truth is that a large number of anglo-australians do identify as Brits in at least a tangential way; churches and pubs in the WASP-only rural fringes of large cities still proudly display the Union Jack alongside the Australian flag. A referendum in 1999 to declare Australia a republic and avoid the ignominy of one day having Charles as monarch was resoundingly defeated:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_republic_referendum,_1999

Sounds like something GCs can identify with.

[Bananiot]

Cypriots are not Greeks, and present day inhabitants of Greece are mere barbarians that learned Greek. This is very well documented in many serious books, based on scientific research.

However, there is nothing wrong to want to be Greek, but at least you should accept and abide by all the hellenic values that most civilised societies have adopted. Bigotry, racism and fascism are alien to Greek values and thus, by definition, AEKTZIS, Klik, Piratis, oracle, Lit, B24, etc, are not Greek. They merely speak Greek. That is all.

[AEKTZIS]

Bananiot agree with the part about greek values but i still dont get why you believe the gospel according to fallmerayer. the guy seems pathetic. he dedicated his LIFE to proving 'greeks' are a bastard race.

some of his crucial point are based on the idea that Slavs mixed blood with greeks. he means arvanites???? I am not an arvaniti, i am a cypriot greek. not 100% of greeks are arvanites. yes there are many that have been assimilated into the greek population but much of his evidence is actually bullshit.

[paaul12]

this man seems to have the answer you are looking 4:

As the Europeans move in (their second language English) Greek as the lingua franca of the Republic will struggle to survive untarnished. After all, 100 years ago, few Cypriots spoke it, wrote it or could read it.

Today, I am confused as to what exactly is a Cypriot - someone who drives a German car, wears Italian designer clothes, speaks English to the housemaid and yappy dog, dyes her hair Nordic, enjoys American B movies or mindless game shows, lives on a mobile or Facebook, eats at 'continental restaurants' or bloats on pizza or hamburger, cappuccino or frappé, lending a graceless insouciance to the meaning of Internationalism while claiming to be Greek or Turkish, but never Cypriot!

What is left of the great Cypriot cuisine other than souvla? Where was the stifado, afelia, ttavas, patcha, koupepia, loukanika, pastichio, moussaka and kleftiko this festive season? Which young Cypriot can get off the phone or booze for long enough to cook any of it, and even worse, how many of the Nordic dyed know how?

Only the hungry fight to regain what was lost, and we're far from that. Twenty two suicidal lads waving Greek flags and demonstrating against reunification is hardly fighting…into the valley of death rode the 600!

During this past 30 years we have been swamped by globalisation. Little that is Cyprus today reflects the Cyprus of yesterday. We, in the south, are now fully fledged Europeans, racing ahead of our Turkish Cypriot cousins and ever further away from reunification.

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/opinions/dre ... t/20110109