Cyprus-Forum.com

[cypezokyli]

hi Kit and welcome to the forum

[Natty]

The term "Greek influence" rather hits the nail on the head, for that is all it is.

As I understand it the "Greek Cypriots" are no more Greek than the "Turkish Cypriots". There are just Cypriots who speak either Greek or Turkish, and have different faiths and cultures.

Their DNA is the same for all practical purposes and quite distinct from either the mainland Greeks or Turks.

For perfectly valid historical reasons there were many Greek speaking Cypriots arising out of the Byzantine period and during the later Ottoman period they were allowed to speak their own language and worship as they wished (the Roman Church being evicted).

One could argue that had the Ottomans not been so reasonable we would not have a problem today. They could quite easily have suppressed both the language and the religion but chose to do otherwise.

Hi Kit, and welcome to the forum!

I guess you have to ask then, what IS a Greek? Why are the people of lets say Rhodes, seen as 'Greek', etc...

Peace!