Ethnic identity, reality and the future in Cyprus (2)

Comment by Cosma Papouis

“We are Cypriots first. Ask an American what they are. Irish, Greek, Italian Americans. But always American. Maybe we need to wake up to the fact that we have not been Greeks or Turks for a long time (nothing against Greeks)”.

My answer

I agree! We are Cypriots first and foremost! But nationality should not be confused with ethnicity, ethnic identity, culture, religion.

In English, the term “nationality” is officially used either exclusively or interchangeably in the sense of “citizenship”. My British passport reads: “Nationality: British Citizen”.

In the British media, all British citizens are called “British nationals”. A Pakistani family had an accident in a foreign country, and they were referred to by all British media as “British nationals”.

The same applies to UK Cypriots. The fact that we are and would be referred to as “British nationals” would not exclude the fact that, whenever the context demands, we would also be referred to as ethnic Greek or ethnic Turkish.

Our experience in the UK

Whether we like it or not (personally I don’t like it), in our daily life in the UK we are very rarely called Cypriots (and that to some extent is our own fault). We are mostly called “Greek” or “Turkish”, depending on the case.

That is why we created the Facebook group “All UK Cypriots (Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots and All)”. Most Facebook UK Cypriot groups were called “Greek”. We could hardly find a UK Turkish Cypriot group (unless there is one and we did not spot it).

“Greek Cypriots Growing Up In The UK” is the largest with approximately 12,000 members. I am a member of most of them. I wish to be in good terms with all of them.

Multicultural cannot be “monocultural”

Therefore, citizenship or nationality should not be confused with ethnic identity or ethnic background or ethnic culture.

Multicultural countries have one “nationality” but divergent ethnic cultures. That is why they are called “multicultural” and not “monocultural” (after all there is no such thing in the modern world).

In the USA (the country you mentioned as an example) the fact that one is an American (USA) national does not prevent him from also being ethnically Greek or Turkish or Italian or whatever.

Many people still remember their ethnic culture and even their language, which they use between themselves mixed with English, like the “Greco-Americans” or even us, UK Cypriots.

British is our nationality (and by that in English is meant citizenship) but we are ethnic Cypriots (Greek Cypriots or Turkish Cypriots or other).

You do not need to deny your culture to re-unite Cyprus. It is enough to learn to respect other people’s cultures in a multicultural Cyprus.

Cyprus is a melting pot of cultures

In fact, Cyprus has always been multicultural since very ancient times. Many of our antiquities are Phoenician and we pretend that they are Greek. Jews lived in Cyprus since at least Roman times. The Maronites are in Cyprus since the 7th century.

Throughout its history, Cyprus has been a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities. Some Lusignans also stayed in Cyprus after transfering the island peacefully to the Venetians (1489). Gradually, they became hellenised and ended up being shepherds and farmers. Armenians also came and other refugees from neighbouring countries.

In this melting pot called Cyprus that sits at the crossroads of empires, both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots are probably the descendants of diverse ethnicities despite their respective boastful mythologies they call “history” and, also, some of them probably have common ancestors.

Regardless of what happened in the past, human beings have the right to choose and define their own ethnic identity, or religious and cultural identity.

The feature photo of this article is from the website of the Cyprus Friendship Program (CFP) which brings together teenagers from both Cypriot communities to promote peaceful interaction and understanding between the two groups.

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