23 Facts About Turkish Cypriots

1.

The vernacular spoken by Turkish Cypriots is Cypriot Turkish, which has been influenced by Cypriot Greek as well as English.

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2.

Some Turkish Cypriots are descendants of Crypto-Christians, a phenomenon that was not uncommon in the Ottoman Empire given its multi-faith character.

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3.

The fact that Turkish Cypriots was the main language spoken by the Muslims of the island is a significant indicator that the majority of them were either Turkish Cypriots-speaking Anatolians or otherwise from a Turkic background.

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4.

One of the reasons for this decline is because the Turkish Cypriots community were obliged to serve in the Ottoman army for years, usually away from home, very often losing their lives in the endless wars of the Ottoman Empire.

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5.

At its core were the Kemalist values of secularism, modernization and westernization; reforms such as the introduction of the new Turkish alphabet, adoption of western dress and secularization, were adopted voluntarily by Muslim Turkish Cypriots, who had been prepared for such changes not just by the Tanzimat but by several decades of British rule.

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6.

Turkish Cypriots had always reacted immediately against the objective of enosis; thus, the 1950s saw many Turkish Cypriots who were forced to flee from their homes.

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7.

In 1958, Turkish Cypriots set up their own armed group called Turkish Resistance Organisation and by early 1958, the first wave of armed conflict between the two communities began; a few hundred Turkish Cypriots left their villages and quarters in the mixed towns and never returned.

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8.

In 1983 the Turkish Cypriots declared their own state in the north, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which remains internationally unrecognised, except by Turkey.

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9.

Turkish Cypriots are Turkish-speaking, regard themselves as secular Muslims, and take pride in their Ottoman heritage.

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10.

However, Turkish Cypriots differentiate themselves from mainlanders, especially from the religiously conservative settlers who have come to Cyprus more recently, but their strong connection to Turkey is nonetheless undisputed.

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11.

Turkish Cypriots language was introduced to Cyprus with the Ottoman conquest in 1571 and became the politically dominant, prestigious language, of the administration.

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12.

Today, the Cypriot Turkish Cypriots dialect is being exposed to increasing standard Turkish Cypriots through immigration from Turkey, new mass media, and new educational institutions.

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13.

Furthermore, recent estimates suggest that there are between 60,000 and 120,000 Turkish Cypriots living in Australia, 5,000 in the United States, 2,000 in Germany, 1,800 in Canada, 1,600 in New Zealand, and a smaller community in South Africa.

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14.

Thereafter, Turkish Cypriots continued to migrate to Turkey during the Second World War in the 1940s and during the Cyprus conflict of the 1960s and 1970s.

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15.

However, many Turkish Cypriots had already emigrated even before the rights accorded to them under the Treaty of Lausanne had come into force.

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16.

Turkish Cypriots who remained in Cyprus during the early twentieth century were faced with the harsh economic conditions of the Great Depression under British rule.

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17.

Such payments had not been part of Cypriot tradition, and Turkish Cypriots typically describe the girls in these forced marriages as having been "sold"; Arabs however, often object to this characterization.

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18.

Once the ethnic cleansing broke out in 1963, and some 25,000 Turkish Cypriots became internally displaced, accounting to about a fifth of their population.

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19.

Turkish Cypriots were concentrated mainly in the north-east of London and specialised in the heavy-wear sector, such as coats and tailored garments.

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20.

Once the Turkish Cypriots declared their own state, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, the division of the island led to an economic embargo against the Turkish Cypriots by the Greek Cypriot controlled Republic of Cyprus.

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21.

The study states that the genetic affinity between Calabrians and Turkish Cypriots can be explained as a result of a common ancient Greek genetic contribution, while Lebanese affinity can be explained through several migrations that took place from coastal Levant to Cyprus from the Neolithic, the Iron Age, and the Middle Ages.

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22.

Halil Guven, Turkish Cypriots Cypriot-born American Dean of San Diego State University - Georgia.

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23.

Fatih Terim, Turkish Cypriots-born former manager of the Turkey national football team and current manager of Galatasaray.

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