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Cyprus Mail
August 1 2010
Cyprus for Greek speaking Cypriots only
Published on August 1, 2010
IS IT not essential that neighbours intermix no matter which colour,
race or nationality? Name any county of England which is not
multi-cultural - no longer uniquely English as they were when I was a
schoolboy in the 50s - Cornwall and Cumbria perhaps?
With a name like Hermes Euripides Solomon, God, did I get stick at
school even though top boy of the year three years running - first
castigated as a Jew then thumped for being the son of a back stabbing
`Cippie'. Then, I was no darker than your average Celt, although now I
look distinguishably Levantine.
I was known affectionately as `Solly' by classmates seeking help with
homework in return for placating those playground bigoted bullies
named Taylor, White, Smith and Gates, who were intent on keeping
England for the English only.
And just why was I top of the class? Was it because I was treated as
an inferior by those bullies and sought to prove otherwise? Persecuted
Jews of yesteryear will know.
Always top in French and English, a Mauritian lad speaking French only
was sat next to me by order of Mr Lee, a Welshman and super English
teacher. The following week, the headmaster, Mr Davies, another
Welshman, (London schools were full of `em after the war) called me to
his office when enrolling a lad from the Troodos mountains, who barely
understood any English. I was told to keep an eye on him. I later
learnt that the boy's father had collaborated with the British and had
been despatched to England with his family when Cypriots began
mindlessly murdering their brothers.
Did Mr Davies deduce my origins or were they kept on a secret school
file? Strange that when I sought to move to the local grammar, he
recommended I stay where I was, if for no other reason than to help
foreign newcomers.
Although secretly proud of all three names (a mythological god,
aircraft carrier, typewriter or Paris fashion house, take your pick)
an ancient Greek playwright and biblical wise king, I often wished I'd
had an alias just for school; something like Jack Carter - inoffensive
and exclusively British.
Now, half a century later, nobody in Cyprus questions my name or
origins, automatically assuming that Solomon (shortened from
Solomonides) is pronounced Solomou, and that a Greek flag is flown
from a standard pole on my veranda eternally.
But I am not Greek, I don't fly the flag nor support Apoel, a football
team comprising many non Cypriots. If anything, I am an Anglo tainted
Cypriot due to my upbringing and education in a north London school
where, at the time, sexes were segregated - if not, I'd never have
been top of the class; pubescent girls are so much cleverer.
I am nevertheless grateful for my education at a time when Britain
(the school atlas was still coloured a fifth pink) was no longer a
world power but on her knees and begging colonies remain calm and
await their turn in the independence queue.
Yet would Cyprus ever have been given her so called independence had
it not been for 55/59 struggle by islanders of both denominations -
the majority seeking Enosis and minority, partition?
Cypriots now have a chance at both, and I do wonder whether the
struggle was justified, since neither side purportedly seek either in
this last ditch round of talks.
Is the political mess we are faced with today due to blatant racism,
ignorance or that endless quest for power and wealth by a few greedy
men, whose fathers spread nationalist or religious dogma during the
50s, easily indoctrinating a then poorly educated and backward people?
Archbishop Makarios was elected the island's first president with 97
per cent of the vote, signifying a naïve electorate. Which other
country elects a leader so unanimously? And today we are the only EU
member state with a communist president who, like a true Cypriot, puts
kitchen, car, house and hairdo above all other things?
No! The word racism can best be defined as envy engendering fear, fear
of losing out, giving way, becoming a second class citizen like all
migrant workers are throughout the western world. Are Cypriots masters
of envy¦a harmful inadequacy and indicative of a narrow mind?
A people that look down (and let's not pretend we don't) on Armenian
Cypriots, Maronites and Jews (there are a few here believe it or not)
can hardly be expected to accept Turkish speaking Cypriots as there
equals, never mind mainlanders. Yet so called Greek Cypriots must
first learn of their true origins, a collection of Middle Eastern
settlers dating back beyond the contents of today's school history
books.
There are thousands of Cypriots married to British women, whose adult
UK resident children don't speak a word of their father's vernacular.
Yet these children can take out Cypriot nationality on landing and
require an exit visa to be exempted from military service before
leaving. How stupid are we who cling to this lie of origins so
tenaciously as to exclude all but Greek speaking Cypriots and their
mix marriage children from becoming tomorrow's island people?
Nostra cosy government and civil service believe Cyprus is for Greek
speaking Cypriots only, when it never ever was. Looking back, I
realise that those bigoted bullies of my schooldays were no better.
Unprepared to absorb outsiders into their society they were deserving
of their own demise.
Today, British classrooms are comprised of Patels, Mohammeds,
Kyriakous, Mundellas, Garcias, Changs and the odd White, not
forgetting six Solomons and two Solomonides, mine and my brother's
grandchildren.
I await the day when young Eroglus sit in a classroom alongside their
counterpart Christofias' and are treated equally. Or is that too much
to ask of those implacable Cypriots among us, who will want the
majority of any lesson conducted in Greek, and a mathematically
impossible to calculate balance, in Turkish? For how long can Cypriot
Canutes hold back the tide?
Fortunately or not, depending on your standpoint, the Internet will
eventually unify all peoples under one umbrella. It suffices for us
all to speak the same language, and we know which language that is¦15
million Greek speakers, 80 million Turkish and over 1,000 million
English worldwide.
In which language do Messrs Eroglu and Christofias communicate -
badly? Know your so called enemy well, speak his language then make
him your friend. I learnt that much at school¦
Turkish speaking Cypriots are no more or less responsible than we are
for the mess we find ourselves in today. It's time to leave the school
playground, go to the assembly hall and listen to our headmaster, the
USA, teachers, the UN and school prefects, the EU!
Power in the hands of schoolchildren leads to chaos in both the
classroom and playground.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/opinions/cyprus-greek-speaking-cypriots-only/20100801
From: A. Papazian
August 1 2010
Cyprus for Greek speaking Cypriots only
Published on August 1, 2010
IS IT not essential that neighbours intermix no matter which colour,
race or nationality? Name any county of England which is not
multi-cultural - no longer uniquely English as they were when I was a
schoolboy in the 50s - Cornwall and Cumbria perhaps?
With a name like Hermes Euripides Solomon, God, did I get stick at
school even though top boy of the year three years running - first
castigated as a Jew then thumped for being the son of a back stabbing
`Cippie'. Then, I was no darker than your average Celt, although now I
look distinguishably Levantine.
I was known affectionately as `Solly' by classmates seeking help with
homework in return for placating those playground bigoted bullies
named Taylor, White, Smith and Gates, who were intent on keeping
England for the English only.
And just why was I top of the class? Was it because I was treated as
an inferior by those bullies and sought to prove otherwise? Persecuted
Jews of yesteryear will know.
Always top in French and English, a Mauritian lad speaking French only
was sat next to me by order of Mr Lee, a Welshman and super English
teacher. The following week, the headmaster, Mr Davies, another
Welshman, (London schools were full of `em after the war) called me to
his office when enrolling a lad from the Troodos mountains, who barely
understood any English. I was told to keep an eye on him. I later
learnt that the boy's father had collaborated with the British and had
been despatched to England with his family when Cypriots began
mindlessly murdering their brothers.
Did Mr Davies deduce my origins or were they kept on a secret school
file? Strange that when I sought to move to the local grammar, he
recommended I stay where I was, if for no other reason than to help
foreign newcomers.
Although secretly proud of all three names (a mythological god,
aircraft carrier, typewriter or Paris fashion house, take your pick)
an ancient Greek playwright and biblical wise king, I often wished I'd
had an alias just for school; something like Jack Carter - inoffensive
and exclusively British.
Now, half a century later, nobody in Cyprus questions my name or
origins, automatically assuming that Solomon (shortened from
Solomonides) is pronounced Solomou, and that a Greek flag is flown
from a standard pole on my veranda eternally.
But I am not Greek, I don't fly the flag nor support Apoel, a football
team comprising many non Cypriots. If anything, I am an Anglo tainted
Cypriot due to my upbringing and education in a north London school
where, at the time, sexes were segregated - if not, I'd never have
been top of the class; pubescent girls are so much cleverer.
I am nevertheless grateful for my education at a time when Britain
(the school atlas was still coloured a fifth pink) was no longer a
world power but on her knees and begging colonies remain calm and
await their turn in the independence queue.
Yet would Cyprus ever have been given her so called independence had
it not been for 55/59 struggle by islanders of both denominations -
the majority seeking Enosis and minority, partition?
Cypriots now have a chance at both, and I do wonder whether the
struggle was justified, since neither side purportedly seek either in
this last ditch round of talks.
Is the political mess we are faced with today due to blatant racism,
ignorance or that endless quest for power and wealth by a few greedy
men, whose fathers spread nationalist or religious dogma during the
50s, easily indoctrinating a then poorly educated and backward people?
Archbishop Makarios was elected the island's first president with 97
per cent of the vote, signifying a naïve electorate. Which other
country elects a leader so unanimously? And today we are the only EU
member state with a communist president who, like a true Cypriot, puts
kitchen, car, house and hairdo above all other things?
No! The word racism can best be defined as envy engendering fear, fear
of losing out, giving way, becoming a second class citizen like all
migrant workers are throughout the western world. Are Cypriots masters
of envy¦a harmful inadequacy and indicative of a narrow mind?
A people that look down (and let's not pretend we don't) on Armenian
Cypriots, Maronites and Jews (there are a few here believe it or not)
can hardly be expected to accept Turkish speaking Cypriots as there
equals, never mind mainlanders. Yet so called Greek Cypriots must
first learn of their true origins, a collection of Middle Eastern
settlers dating back beyond the contents of today's school history
books.
There are thousands of Cypriots married to British women, whose adult
UK resident children don't speak a word of their father's vernacular.
Yet these children can take out Cypriot nationality on landing and
require an exit visa to be exempted from military service before
leaving. How stupid are we who cling to this lie of origins so
tenaciously as to exclude all but Greek speaking Cypriots and their
mix marriage children from becoming tomorrow's island people?
Nostra cosy government and civil service believe Cyprus is for Greek
speaking Cypriots only, when it never ever was. Looking back, I
realise that those bigoted bullies of my schooldays were no better.
Unprepared to absorb outsiders into their society they were deserving
of their own demise.
Today, British classrooms are comprised of Patels, Mohammeds,
Kyriakous, Mundellas, Garcias, Changs and the odd White, not
forgetting six Solomons and two Solomonides, mine and my brother's
grandchildren.
I await the day when young Eroglus sit in a classroom alongside their
counterpart Christofias' and are treated equally. Or is that too much
to ask of those implacable Cypriots among us, who will want the
majority of any lesson conducted in Greek, and a mathematically
impossible to calculate balance, in Turkish? For how long can Cypriot
Canutes hold back the tide?
Fortunately or not, depending on your standpoint, the Internet will
eventually unify all peoples under one umbrella. It suffices for us
all to speak the same language, and we know which language that is¦15
million Greek speakers, 80 million Turkish and over 1,000 million
English worldwide.
In which language do Messrs Eroglu and Christofias communicate -
badly? Know your so called enemy well, speak his language then make
him your friend. I learnt that much at school¦
Turkish speaking Cypriots are no more or less responsible than we are
for the mess we find ourselves in today. It's time to leave the school
playground, go to the assembly hall and listen to our headmaster, the
USA, teachers, the UN and school prefects, the EU!
Power in the hands of schoolchildren leads to chaos in both the
classroom and playground.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/opinions/cyprus-greek-speaking-cypriots-only/20100801
From: A. Papazian