When I took the decision two years ago to relearn Turkish it was an entirely selfish and emotional one. It wasn’t for all the practical reasons that anyone else might decide to learn this particular language in Cyprus or any other language for that matter – to earn a new…
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All parents know that naming a child can set in motion all kinds of precedents. A bad name or one that is not appropriate given the cultural surroundings within which a child grows up, can be catastrophic. And next come the easily-made assumptions that may be formed from someone’s name.…
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When two communities live apart for over 40 years there are bound to be consequences which undoubtedly affect language; or in this case our beloved and deep-rooted dialects. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I realised how much the Turkish Cypriot dialect had changed. For me the constant reminder of…
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“Ησουν το παιδί της γειτονιάς” (you were the neighbourhood kid), said a fellow villager (συγχωριανός) of mine when she saw me. We probably hadn’t seen each other in ten years. At the time I was going back and forth to Potamia quite a lot as I was part of…
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