Does it rings somethings to your ears
Turkish Cypriot, thank you very much!
THE THORNY issue of what Turkish people from Cyprus call themselves, or like to be referred to, is always going to cause lively debate (as in our office this week; it’s nice to play Devil’s advocate now and again, throw out a question and sit and watch the reactions)
So not for the first time I find myself thinking about whether I am of Cypriot origin or Turkish Cypriot origin.
To the regular Joe in the street, if I say I am of Cypriot origin, he will automatically, and incorrectly, assume I am a Greek Cypriot. If I say I am Turkish, Joe will assume I am from Turkey.
I am neither. For all the debate on the issue, I like to be referred to as having Turkish Cypriot heritage. Not Cypriot Turkish. Not Cypriot. Not Turkish. Turkish Cypriot.
Despite being classed as a non-entity on the international stage Turkish Cypriots are proud to be called as such but are in danger of going the way of the Dodo.
The trouble is propaganda by the Greek Cypriot administration is trying to convince the world there are only Cypriots. This might carry more weight if the Republic of Cyprus flag (with its Turkish Cypriot design) wasn’t always twinned with the flag of Greece.
Turkish Cypriots face an uphill struggle to convince those ignorant of the facts that there are TWO identities on the island, TWO peoples and TWO cultures.
But what has landed me with a bee in my bonnet this week is the way a TURKISH local paper (I’m not going to bother dignifying the publication with its name) insists on calling Turkish Cypriots, Cypriots in their reports.
Note for example last week’s excellent news about Islington Councillor Meral Ece becoming a Commissioner at the Equalities Commission. She is described as being of ‘Cypriot origin’.
It may very well be that Meral Ece doesn’t mind this tag, after all you can argue she has bigger fish to fry but it offends me.
Ms Ece, like me and thousands of others like us, has spent most of her life here. Yet we are extremely proud of our roots and heritage. Our Turkish Cypriot heritage.
Perhaps the (Turkish) reporters who wrote the story did not think it significant. But the term Cypriot pops up in other stories when describing Turkish Cypriots.
It leads me to believe that perhaps mainstream Turks do not regard us as ‘proper’ Turks, despite our island being ruled by the Ottoman Empire for centuries. Why try to discriminate against us if all we want is to be classed as Turkish Cypriot?
At the risk of making a mountain out of a molehill, I want to be known as having Turkish Cypriot heritage. If those who are supposedly ‘on our side’, those from the Motherland (Anavatan) can’t accept this, perhaps we are already extinct.
http://www.londragazete.com/yazar.asp?yaziID=5525
