Nationalism: a double edged sword

Cyprus “Independence” Day.  Groan.  

Cyprus IS independent!

This coming from a nation that does not speak the language of the country she claims as a motherland, nor is Cyprus part of the Republic of Greece.  ‘Motherland’ Greece that got Cyprus into the economic ruin it is in today.  ‘Motherland’ Greece that only ever had cultural influences on this island, but never autonomous political control.

In the early Bronze Age, Cyprus was under Assyrian, Phoenician, and Egyptian rule (read:  Arab), later part of the Hittite kingdoms (Jewish), later part of the Ancient Roman empire (when St. Paul and St. Barnabas arrived).  For 300 years from the 7^th Century AD, Cyprus was jointly ruled by Arabs and Byzantine Greeks and Jews up to the Crusader period.  All ethnic Cypriots descend from them. 

In the 12th century, under the Roman Catholic rule of King Richard the Lionheart and later, the French Lusignan dynasty, Latin was the official language of the island, later replaced by French.  Maronite Arabs settled on the island during this period, who intermarried with the local population.  In the 15th century, Cyprus was part of the Venetian empire.  Many Italians (Catholics) intermarried with locals too.  Subsequently, Ottoman Turks ruled the island for about 200 years, and again intermingled with the indigenous population.  British rule followed from 1925 to 1960.  

So the ideology that Cyprus is "ethnically Greek" is a fallacy.  Propaganda that has served a political purpose within Europe since 1821.  If islanders could be bothered to take a DNA test or look into their genealogy, they might be surprised by what they find.  

The national identification of Cyprus with Greece is a very recent phenomenon, whipped up in the 1930s as a reaction to British colonial rule, reaching a climax in the 1950s with the EOKA movement, ultimately leading to the establishment of a republic in 1960, the Turkish invasion of 1974, and the racial and religious segregation of the island. 

Young nations do struggle to find their own identity, and the Republic of Cyprus is still very young:  only 53 years old.  The USA is only 237 years old and still struggling.  Nations that have been under imperial rule try harder to assert themselves than those that were kingly powers.  I say that the identification of Cyprus with Greece is a false construct.  Cyprus would be better off forging a truly independent identity:  Cypriot, not Greek.  Promotion of the Cypriot language, not Modern Greek.  

Our current president, Mr. Anastasiades, whose surname can be taken as a linguistic variation of ανάστασης [anastasis], “Mr. Resurrection”, speaks today of the need for a new (world) order in Cyprus.  It has disturbing Masonic undertones to me. 

Mihalis Eleftheriou [“Mike Freedom”] hits the nail on the head in the Cyprus Mail today. 

Almighty God, from whom all thoughts of truth and peace proceed. Kindle we pray, in all our hearts the true love of peace, and guide with your pure and peaceable wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquillity your Kingdom may go forward, till the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love.  Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.
- Bishop Francis Paget