Ethnic identity, reality and the future in Cyprus (1)

It would be an achievement to be able to see both communities leave in peace with each other but it will never happen while we have religions medling in politics

Acceptance of ethnic identity plays into the hands of the occupying Turkish forces. There is no or shouldn’t be any great debate as to the close ties between Cypriot and Greek. Although Cyprus has an aboriginal population, the are also many descendent from the Phoenician, Achaean, Mycenaean and Spartan migrations to Cyprus. More importantly, from the time of Alexandra the Great, when Cyprus used its vast navel fleets to assist him in his campaigns against the Persians, Cyprus and Greece have been inseparably linked.

In respect of the Turks, at least one third of those you would refer to as Turkish Cypriots/ethnic Turks, are in fact ethnic Cypriot, with its mix of aboriginal and Greek ethnicity. In addition, when the Orthodox Cypriots invited the Ottomans into Cyprus in an effort to rid themselves of the Catholic Venetians, who were cruel and repressive, the settlers from the Ottomans came from all parts of the empire and were not necessarily ethnic Turks. Accordingly the number of true ethnic Turks in pre-occupied and occupied Cyprus is greatly exaggerated. In fact the number of ethnic Turks in Turkey is greatly exaggerated as they are a minority within Turkey and may even be outnumbered by the ethnic Kurds.

Turkish ethnic identity was a modern creation in Turkey used to unify a multi-ethnic conglomeration within the Ottoman Empire after the creation of the state of Turkey after WWI. Following the Treaties of Sevres (1922) and Lausanne (1923) ethnic Turks were recalled from Cyprus to Turkey in recognition that Cyprus was a British Colony. Turkey had abandoned the Muslim Cypriots without any hesitation. It was the British and subsequently nationalist and fascist elements in Turkey that effectively invented this ‘Turkish Cypriot’ identity to separate, control and ultimately conquer half our island.

Grouping all the inhabitant of occupied Cyprus together as ‘Turkish Cypriots’ further undermines the Republic because the majority are now Turkish Colonists who have no connection to Cyprus and or Cypriot ethnicity. True Muslim Cypriots are being suppressed and since 1974 slowly but surely removed and marginalised by the Turkish occupiers.

Asking people to recognise the ethnic Greek & Turkish ancestry of free and occupied Cyprus is misguided. All Cypriots should recognise there Cypriot identity and concentrate on restoring the territorial sovereignty of our island. No one will forget our ties with Greece and despite the Muslim Cypriots tenuous connection with Turkey, I am sure they will not forget their more recent historic ties to that Country, not least because they are as much under occupation as the northern half of our island.

We need to speak to the Muslim Cypriot community directly and emphasise what we have in common, namely our island as one united entity for the benefit of all Cypriots, not the self serving divisions thrust upon us and which continue to promote the occupation and foreign interest.