Cyprus-Forum.com

[GreekIslandGirl]

I am not sure why we cannot respect the history that brought Cyprus to being the RoC of today which I am very proud of. And move away from identifying as Greek or Turkish for this matter.

Why can we not state that we are Cypriots?

Ask Greek girl.

By your own admission, you are a Turk who arrived in 1974. So, a Cypriot is anyone who is the least like you.

[GreekIslandGirl]

Of course when one say Cyprus is Greek they do not mean it belongs to Greece they simple mean that since the dawn of time the Greek Cypriot language and culture have survived on the island. Many civilisations have conquered Cyprus but its Greek language and identity has remained constant and each conquest has left its mark be it Venitian castles, The Lusigans palaces, the Phoenicians city of Salamis and so on.

Phoenician city of Salamis??? Good Lord man. The city founded by Tefkros? who was the brother of Ajax? both being the sons of the king of the island of Salamis in Greece at the time of the Trojan war?

The point of my writing was to show the survival of the Greek Culture through time. I agree that according to tradition what you say is correct but like all places we have layers of civilizations one built on top of another and evidence has been found to indicate an early Phoenician presence. The remains we see to day at Salamis I understand are from the Roman period, when Salamis was the main commercial centre of Cyprus. Salamis was also the base for early Christians, and a home for the Jews, the Byzantine's capital in Cyprus and doubtless the home of many others over the centuries. I do however accept that my brief initial writing lacked clarity although as I said I was was make another point.

Welcome to the forum, Jiovannis. You've met our intellectual pedant, Kimon. Hope you stick around and the two of you can help improve the quality of some of the history which has been peddled around here.