Only one quarter of Greek Cypriot youth characterise themselves as European, whilst 15 per cent of Turkish Cypriots did so in a new survey released yesterday.
Some eight per cent of Greek Cypriot youth and five per cent of Turkish Cypriot youth said they felt Middle Eastern, while a whopping 70 per cent of Greek Cypriot youth and 66 per cent of Turkish Cypriot youth identified themselves as “Mediterranean”
“For me personally this is the most surprising result of the whole survey,” said Dr Nicos Peristianis of the University of Nicosia when presenting the result of the survey carried out by UNDP-ACT in cooperation with the University of Nicosia and KADEM.
In terms of religious differences/similarities, over 90 per cent of Greek and Turkish Cypriot youth said they believed in God. However, despite this very high proportion amongst both communities, few of them actually go to church or attend the mosque on a regular basis. Thirty-eight per cent of Turkish Cypriot youth said they never went to religious services, whilst 27 per cent only went on important religious holidays. Among Greek Cypriot youth 51 per cent only went on important religious holidays, but 22 per cent went “once or twice a month”.
As regards sexual activity, 21 per cent of Turkish Cypriot youth in the survey’s 15-24 year-old age group said they ‘strongly agreed’ that premarital sex was wrong, whilst 18 per cent simply agreed with the statement.
However, a total of just 11 per cent of Greek Cypriot youth either strongly agreed or simply agreed with the statement.
Despite this, only 32 per cent of Turkish Cypriot youth said they objected to having a Greek Cypriot boyfriend or girlfriend, compared to 52 per cent of Greek Cypriot youth who said they would find it problematic to have a Turkish Cypriot boyfriend or girlfriend. The proportions went up if a serious relationship was being considered with 55 per cent of Turkish Cypriots and 68 per cent of Greek Cypriots saying they would have problems marrying someone from the other side.
But more problematic for the youth on both sides than sexual or romantic partners was a president of a united island from the other community. Some 75 per cent of Greek Cypriot youth and 83 per cent of Turkish Cypriot youth reported that they would find this negative to very negative.
“We don’t have a problem living with each other… and yes, life does show it is like that, but we do have a problem sharing power,” said Peristianis of the result.
On other issues, 92 per cent of Greek Cypriot youth feel that their parents have a duty to support them financially during their studies, compared to 78 per cent of Turkish Cypriot youth, while for 31 per cent of the Greek Cypriot youth a good first degree was only a bit more important than good connections (at 29 per cent) for finding a job in Cyprus.
For Turkish Cypriot youth, 47 per cent thought that a good first degree was the most useful quality needed to find a job in Cyprus, while only 16 per cent though that connections played the most important role in finding a job.
