Cyprus-Forum.com

[humanist]

I hadn't really paid much attention to the figures of Turkish Speaking Cypriots vs settlers in the north, unitl I was talking with a friend the other day and he pointed out that there approximately 100-200,000 settlers and only approximately 65,000 Turkish Speaking Cypriots in the North.

I was truly disappointed to hear this. My concern is that a good part of Cyprus' culture and people are slowly being silenced and wiped out because of this Cyprus divide. I realise that this may be the wish of some Greek Speaking Cypriot nationalists but as a Cypriot who is proud to say that in Cyprus there are several cultural (in lack of a better term I use culture) groups I think its ashame that Turkish Speaking Cypriots are overtaken by settlers and probably faced with loss of their Cypriot identity, customs values and ethics.

I urge all Cypriots to consider this serious issue for our compatriots and support them in maintaining their self and group identity and hence nurture another part of Cypriot identity that is slowly decaying to the brink of disappearing.

[Jerry]

If your figures are correct H. then partition is almost inevitable - the G/Cs won't want to share the State with mainland Turks.

[Strahd]

Turkish Cypriots now consist around 33% of the total population of the breakaway rogue state of "TRNC"

[eracles]

If your figures are correct H. then partition is almost inevitable - the G/Cs won't want to share the State with mainland Turks.

I think this is a big part of the problem but an overall strategy from Ankara which will in the end pay off.

[zan]

I am not 100% sure of the exact numbers but I will try to find out. What I do know is that the TCs are fully in charge of the culture side of things and the infrastructure. Yes there are many influences from Turkey that sometimes feel as if they are overwhelming the situation. I have had this discussion with other members of my family and we did not really come to any conclusions. My belief is that this fictional static culture idea is getting less and less important in a modern world. Communication and travel has put a stop to the staticness of culture and has made it a more dynamic and unstable factor. I remember seeing a documentary on south Cyprus once and the opening scene was a couple of aged GCs pottering about on their dirt gardens, watering their vegetables and shooing the chickens. Idyllic Cyprus culture and a way of life? Then the camera started to pan out and we began to see the reality. These old people were living smack in the middle of a modern high rise town and were literally a blot on the landscape. The only reason they were still there was because they refused to sell their property for development no matter what tricks these conglomerates used to evict them. I think they were in Nicosia but I honestly cannot remember and they are probably dead and gone now but I would be interested to hear from anyone that knows.

What I am trying to say is that time has changed everything about both the North and the South and they are unrecognisable from the past. I for one would like the romantic and idyllic donkey pioneered Cyprus to remain but I am afraid if you look around you will see little evidence of it. The English speaking Cypriots have put an end to that.

[eracles]

Wow I don't normally agree with what you write zan, but I did kind of agree with what you wrote there, having trouble with the last sentence thoughm which I think you need to explain a bit more...it is monday after alll...

[zan]

Hi! Eracles.

I am surprised to hear that this is the first time we are in agreement……


My last sentence was not supposed to sound as sinister as it looks. I just made it because it summed up what I was saying before. The biggest outside influence has been made by those Cypriots that either visit or have moved back permanently with their various “cultures” from their relevant host countries. It seems that this has been mostly from England and Australia with a touch of USA thrown in although , again, I have no concrete numbers.

[DT.]

Zan.

I know the old people's home you're talking about. Its right smack in the centre of town next to the former Stock Exchange and Starbucks on Griva Digheni. I was just driving there yesturday and saw them through their window, an elderly couple watching TV wiht their window open and a 4 lane main road wizzing past them., Very Surreal!

[zan]

Zan.

I know the old people's home you're talking about. Its right smack in the centre of town next to the former Stock Exchange and Starbucks on Griva Digheni. I was just driving there yesturday and saw them through their window, an elderly couple watching TV wiht their window open and a 4 lane main road wizzing past them., Very Surreal!

Thanks DT. Great to hear that they are alive and well and sticking it to the system.

[Pyrpolizer]

Hi humanist.

As you know I am a Gc I will try to give you an indication of what I know.In the occupied the have about 20,000 Turkish students. Not all Turkish actually in fact many of them are Israelis and Arabs. They have 3 main universities I believe they are American Universities. Some Tcs I know don't like sending their children at those universities, just because of all those foreigners which they consider scum.So they send them to better schools in Constantinople.
If You say "constantinople" is OK for the TCs but they warn us if a settler hears he will get angry we should say "istanbul"...

They also have 40,000 soldiers from Turkey.
And they have a lot, almost 30,000 workers from Turkey which they house inside some sort of huge Greenhouses where they both sleep,shit,and eat. They are their slaves at the construction sites.
And of course they also have the permanent settlers about 100,000.

The real TCs WERE about 80,000 a few years ago. What happened is that the last few years those TCs who emigrated in the 50s-60s are now becoming pensioners and they started returning en mase. So most propably now the real TCs are about 100,000 i.e about equal with the permanent settlers.

The TCs hate and chase the settlers constantly. Most of the TCs have their jobs, most of the settlers are just dealing with crimes roberies prostitution drags.
The situation there is a chaos, really.
The army regulates EVERYTHING even the prostitution places. Furthermore there is too much secret police man, it's worse than what it was in the ex-soviet union. You talk with someone and you clearly see the stupid SPs walking up and down taking pictures secretely and so on. And they are everywhere, in the streets, in the clubs everywhere.
In our little company we also had a TC military guy, I think he was a leutentant , oh boy he was completely crazy, he wasn't even afraid of the secret police, one day he told them siktir go away

There is absolutely no problem in our contacts with TCs. The TCs in this forum are not representative of the local TCs. I would say we talk very friendly with them. I met absolutely no-one who does not want to re-unite with the GCs. (Contrary to this forum where the majority of TCs want partition). They want to re-unite with us to throw away the settlers and the Turkish Army.

They all hate Papadopoulos too.
They believe he doesn't help them and he doesn't understand them. They feel trapped on one side are the settlers and the Turkish army on the other side it is Papadopoulos who doesn't want them. That's what they feel anyway. They are actually desparate.

What I realised is that most TCs are forming up their political ideas in a strange way, mostly by talking at coffee shops or with friends.Their political patries don't seem to communicate with them, or if they do they don't trust them , i don't know. Someone says something and everybody starts believing it. They believe we are fanatised by our priests and the Archibishop. These are obviously ideas of the 50s.

Perhaps I told you more than what you wanted to know...