Independence should have brought a sense of pride in being Cypriot. I'm sure many readers are aware that there were many Turkish villages in Karpas, or Panhandle of the Island, that spoke Greek as a first language. With a sense of pride in the new state things should have worked out. Instead, many GCs decided that they didn't want to forge their own identity but instead to surrender their identity to this abstract concept of Greekness or Hellenism. By doing that, TC identity on the Island became polarised. School classrooms in Greek-speaking Turkish villages in the Karpas had big signs in the 1950s declaring "Turkce Kunusalim" translated as "Let's Speak Turkish".
I feel that the real tragedy in Cyprus is that people missed a golden opportunity to create a new nation state based on Cypriot identity. Let's face it, the TCs aren't as religious as the GCs. Many TCs were bilingual. If there wasn't the sense of alienation or threat then I believe that the TCs would have gradually been assimilated into the general Cypriot population, especially if that culture was a dynamic and confident one.
I know this is a simplistic viewpoint but there is some truth to it. I know the picture is complicated by the use of TCs by the British in their divide and rule policy screwed things up, but again, I feel that TCs were forced to play their hand because of insecurity brought about by the overt pan hellenism that swept the Island in the 1950s.
Ultimately, I feel that years of foreign rule has eradicated a sense of Cypriot nationality and this is why there is a real lack of confidence in our identity. It is why we feel uncomfortable flying the Cypriot flag without unfurling the Greek and Turkish ones too? This crisis in identity, I feel, has led to many of our divisions. As a London Cypriot, who wasn't even born in Cyprus, I still feel offended when I see GCs so openly display Greek flags. I guess GCs just don't get it... And vica versa I may add!
