There’s more to Cyprus’ history than the Greek part

Just a comment on the proposal that foreigners coming to Cyprus should in future be expected to have a working knowledge of Greek, and must be able to answer a test paper on the history of Cyprus..

As I understand it, the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus provides for the use of three official languages: Greek, Turkish, and English. This, until 1974 continued to be the case.

Post 1974, along with such childishness as Turkish coffee becoming Cyprus coffee, and Turkish delight becoming Cyprus delight, the Turkish language was effectively proscribed.

Later: more gradually, the official use of English was also banished. (Except of course, where there was money to be made!) In the event that the current leaders’ negotiations prove fruitful, and the island is reunited; will a working knowledge of Turkish or English be an acceptable alternative to Greek; and, equally important, on the question of the test paper on the history of Cyprus: will it include the period of the island’s history from 1960-1974, which for some unfathomable reason does not appear in the Republic’s current school history books?

John Francis,
Larnaca

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.