National University
What is “Cyprus problem”? When and why did it appear?
“Cyprus problem” is the ethnic conflict between the two main ethnic communities on the island – Greek majority and Turkish minority. Stevens (2014) underlines that British Empire faced with it in 1925 when Cyprus became Crown Colony. Both communities think that Cyprus is their motherland but don’t want to live in peace together. Since 1974, they divided the island between them and separated from each other. Cyprus problem is a great question of nationalism. People are so biased that they forget about humanism and equality. Such problems are not only on Cyprus, every country has them. They are very difficult to solve and depend on the government and psychologists. This conflicts lead to the problems and misunderstandings between the social groups. The pupils and students face them in the educational establishments, employees face them at work, people face them in the shops, theatres, cinemas etc. People make problems to themselves with all this nationalism.
What are Hellenocentrism and Cyprocentrism? Is there any connection between them?
There are different political movements in Cyprus. Stevens (2014) writes that Hellenocentrism and Cyprocentrism are the main movements on the island. Hellenocentrism is the Greek-Cypriot political right. It emphasizes the Greekness of Cyprus and the connection between two ethnic communities. Cyprocentrism is political left. It shows the connection to Cyprus of Greek- and Turkish-Cypriots. Both orientations are opposing and there is a long-lasting ideological tension between them. They both don’t want to live in peace with each other. At the same time, there appeared multi-cultural society and new nations begin to live in peace there together with them. Time flies and the modern society influence this tension for better.
References
Stevens, P. (2014). Testing the Relationships between Nationalism and Racism: Greek-Cypriot Students’ National/Ethnic Identities and Attitudes to Ethnic Out-groups. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 40(11). 1736-1757.
