First Impressions of a (Not) Greek Island

The first thing that strikes you when beginning to open a discussion on Cypriot culture is the sense of incompleteness in their identity. Even without contextualising this in the separation of the island and all the politics contained within ‘The Cyprus Problem’, there is an awareness of division by their own proclamation of self-identity: Not Greek-Speaking Cypriots and Turkish-Speaking Cypriots, but simply Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot, the Cypriot added as a suffix to the dominant Greek or Turkish Identity. As a British-Jew, I also struggle with two separate and sometimes conflicting identities, and there is a certain sense that one must become dominant over the other or else you risk being alienated by both.

When I started to research Cyprus, I came across an interesting Wikipedia article called ‘Timeline of Cypriot History’. It is a list of dates describing the important events in Cyprus’s history starting with the Hellenisation of Cyprus in 1400BCE. What struck me about it was the language used.

“58BCE Cyprus became a Roman Province”
“395CE Cyprus became a part of the Byzantine Empire”
“649CE The Arabs under Muawiya invaded and occupied Cyprus.”
“965CE Cyprus was restored to Byzantine rule by Nicepheros Phokas”
“1489CE Cyprus became an overseas colony of the Venetian Republic”
“1570CE Ottoman Turks invade Cyprus with 80,000 men”
“1571CE Cyprus was subjected to Ottoman rule”
“1878CE British occupation began”

Cyprus has a long history of invasions and occupations, with an independent Kingdom of Cyprus only from 1185-1489CE. So why is it, that Cyprus “became” a part of the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire, but was “invaded” by the Ottoman Empire? Of course we cannot know who wrote the article, but the implication of willingness to be a part of ancient European civilisations and opposing unwillingness to be a part of their Middle Eastern counterpart is telling, particularly given that this article was last updated only a week ago.
In fact, the Romans, Venetians, and Greeks all had peaceful rules once they established themselves on the island, but the Assyrians, Persians and Ottomans, were constantly suppressing rebellions. This could be for many reasons, and I’m sure that answering why would be more of a book than a blog post and Im certainly no expert, so I’ll leave it at that.

All of these invaders had an impact on the island and looking at the Paphians themselves, the range in their appearance is vast - the genetics of Cyprus is a soup of Middle Eastern, African and European heritage. Hardly a pure Greek lineage, yet much of modern Greek-Cypriot identity seems so rooted in their Greek ancestry.

Wondering around the centre I looked into a souvenir shop and found a book, entitled ‘Brief History of Cyprus in Ten Chapters’ by Dr. Dick Richards. Published in 1992, it may be a little out of date, but I think its important to mention it since it is possibly the most biased ‘history’ book I have seen in my 20 years of life. Chapter three “The Glory That Was Greece” was second only in my mind to chapter seven “The Terrible Turk” or perhaps chapter eight “The Struggle For Freedom And Enosis”. A really excellent read that I would recommend for a friend or better still for a fireplace (although since its so full of hot air it may actually be a fire hazard). This book says a lot about how Greek-Cypriots view Greece and Turkey in the modern era (or at least how they did 30 years ago), and how easy it is to manipulate history if you are emotionally invested in it from the start.

Upon arriving in the country you notice what seems to be almost a conscious effort to enforce a Greek identity; from the neoclassical architecture style that began to be popular on the island around the time of the end of the Ottoman rule in the early 19th Century, to the Greek flags situated all around the city, seeming to be more common than the Cypriot flag.
 
Even the ECoC, in advocating Cypriot culture, seems to promote an idea of ‘Greekness'. I am not saying that it has not attempted to incorporate the Turkish-Cypriot population, rather that when it has not collaborated with them, many of the projects emphasise a strong Greek-Cypriot heritage. To give an example, the Municipal Gardens and the 28th October Square are built in a Neoclassical style, incredibly reminiscent of ancient Greek architecture. The events that have been held while we have been visiting also seem to advocate a Greek basis for their culture - Aphrodite’s Gardens, a music concert performed entirely in Greek, and organised by the ECoC was held in the Ancient Odeon, an open air theatre native to Ancient Greece.

Overall the last few days have been a very interesting and informative experience, and I look forward to what will come next.