erolz66 wrote:Sotos wrote:erolz, there are stories and then there is history. Stories are things like what MR-from-NG wrote ("a friend told me..."), history is (should be) more about looking at the whole rather than picking and choosing just specific parts. My argument is that Greek Cypriots didn't invent discrimination and segregation, nor they are more racist as MR-from-NG said.
I do not disagree that over a specific era TCs faced racism and discrimination from GCs. This doesn't mean that all GCs were racists or that during this era there were no counter-examples. At the same time however there have been other eras, which as a matter of fact were longer, where the opposite was true. I don't think we need to present a story of unity or division. I think we should just be objective and whatever the past might have been, agree that for the future we need to do the right thing. And the right thing I hope we should all agree is that racism and segregation is wrong.
For me the Cyprus problem is not one of racism. It is one of identity. For me if we genuinely seek a united Cyprus then we have to chose to want a Cyprus where TC are wanted and needed and not just tolerated and chose to believe this because they are an inherent component of what makes Cypriots Cypriot. We need to chose to believe that the loss of TC in Cyprus is a loss of part of what makes us Cypriots, And visa versa.
For me identity is a personal issue and shouldn't matter to the state or to others. The only thing that should matter should be that you are a citizen and should therefore have the exact same rights and responsibilities as every other citizen without any kind of discrimination based on your identity (racial, ethnic, religious, linguistic, gender etc). The only thing Greek and Turkish relevant to the state should be languages, and in that respect both languages should be equal.
Personally I would be happier if we could have a free and independent Cyprus, where Greek and Turkish nationalism were not replaced with Cypriot nationalism, but instead with no nationalism at all. We now live in a globalized world and who we are is a lot more than what village we happened to be born in. Being "Cypriot" is only a tiny part of who I am, and it doesn't mean I have more in common with other Cypriots than with people elsewhere. Cypriot should be just "the one with Cypriot citizenship". Making it just a mix of Greek and Turkish leaves out a lot of other factors, and also leaves out a lot of people who might be Cypriot citizens but might be neither Greek nor Turkish.