#Greek Cypriots are the occupiers

[kyreniacommentator]

Reaction from Kurtulmuş to Greek Cypriot representative: “The occupier in Cyprus is the Greek Cypriot side”   The Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly of the Republic of Türkiye Numan Kurtulmuş attended the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in Dublin, capital of Ireland. Continue reading Untitled

[mightyflamethrower]

So much for the idea that if women were in charge the world would be a much kinder and less violent place.

Peruse campus literature. Watch clips from university protests. Scan interviews with pro-Hamas protestors. Read the chalk propaganda sketched on campus sidewalks. Talk to raging students in the free speech area. And the one common denominator— besides their arrogance—is their abject ignorance. Take their following tired talking points:

“Refugees” 

We are told that the Palestinians after more than 75 years of residence in the West Bank and Gaza are “refugees.” If that definition were currently true, then, are the 900,000 Jews who were forcibly exiled from Muslim countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia after the 1947, 1956, 1967 wars still “refugees?”

Most fled to Israel. Do they now live in “refugee” camps administrated by the UN? Are they protesting to recover their confiscated homes and wealth in Damascus, Cairo, or Baghdad? Do Jews on Western television dangle their keys to lost homes in Damascus a half-century after they were expelled?

How about the 150,000-200,000 Greek Cypriots who in 1974 were brutally driven out of their ancient homes in Northern Cyprus? Are they today living in “refugee” camps in southern Cyprus? Are Cypriot terrorists blowing themselves up in “occupied” Nicosia to recover what was stolen from them by Turkey?

Turkish president Recep Erdogan lectures the world on Palestinian “refugees,” but does he mention Turkey’s role in the brutal expulsion of 40 percent of the residents of Cyprus?

Are there campus groups organizing against Turkey on behalf of the displaced Cypriots? After being slaughtered and expelled, are the Cypriots a cause celebre in academia? Do the “refugee” cities of southern Cyprus resemble Jenin or Jericho?

For that matter, how about the 12 million German civilians who between 1945-50 were expelled, and mostly walked back from, East Prussia and parts of Eastern Europe, some with Prussian roots going back a millennium and more. Perhaps 1 million died during the expulsions.

Are any current survivors still “refugees?” If so, are they organizing for war to get back “occupied”  “Danzig” and “Königsberg” for Germany? So why does the world damn Israel and romanticize the Palestinians in a way it does not with any other “refugee” group?

“Apartheid”

Israel is said to practice “apartheid,” although since 2005-06 Gaza has been autonomous. Mahmoud Abbas runs in his fashion the West Bank. Like the Hamas clique, he held elections one time in 2005, and then after his election, of course, cancelled any free election in the fashion of the one election, one time Middle East. Who forced him to do that? Zionists? Americans?

At any time, Gaza could have taken its vast wealth in annual foreign aid and become completely independent in fuel, food, and energy, without need of any such help form the “Zionist entity.”

Gaza could have capitalized on its strategic location, the world’s eagerness to help, and the natural beauty of its Mediterranean beaches. Instead, it squandered its income on a labyrinth of terrorist tunnels and rockets. Today, it snidely snickers at any mention of following the Singapore model of prosperity–a former colonial city whose World War II death count vastly surpassed that of the various wars over Gaza.

Are the Israeli Arabs—21 percent of the Israeli population—living under apartheid?

If so, it is a funny sort of oppression when they vote, hold office, form parties, and enjoy more freedom and prosperity than almost anywhere else in the Middle East under Arab autocracies. Are those in sympathy with Hamas fleeing from Israel into Gaza or the West Bank or other Arab countries to live with kindred Muslims under an autocratic and theocratic dictatorship, or do they prefer to stay in the “Zionist entity” under “apartheid?”

Where then is real apartheid?

The Uyghurs in China, fellow Muslims to Middle Easterners, who are ignored by Israel’s Islamic enemies, but who reside in China’s segregated work camps to the silence of the usually loud UN, EU, and Muslim world?

How about the Muslim Kurds? Are they second- or third-class citizens in Muslim Turkey? And how about the tens of thousands of foreign workers from India, Pakistan, and other Asian countries who labor under the kafala system in the Arab Muslim Gulf countries, and are subject to apartheid protocols that allow them no free will about how they live, travel, or the conditions of their labor?

Are campuses erupting to champion the Uyghurs, the Kurds, or the subjugated workers of the Gulf?

“Disproportionate”

Israel is now damned as “disproportionally” bombing Gaza. The campus subtext is that because Gaza’s 7,000-8,000 rockets launched at Israeli civilians have not killed enough Jews, then Israel should not retaliate for October 7 by bombing Hamas targets–shielded by impressed civilians— because it is too effective.

Would a “proportionate” response be counting up all the Israelis murdered, categorizing the horrific manner of their deaths, and then sending Israeli commandoes into Gaza during a “pause” in the fighting to murder an equal number of Gazans in the same satanic fashion?

Does the U.S. lecture Ukraine not to use to the full extent its lethal U.S. imported weaponry since the result is often simply too deadly? After all, perhaps twice as many Russians have been killed, wounded, or are missing than Ukrainian casualties. Should Ukraine have been more “proportionate?” Has President Biden ordered President Zelensky to offer the Russian aggressors a “pause” in the fighting to end the “cycle of violence?”

Or did U.S.-supplied artillery, anti-armor weapons, drones, and missiles “disproportionally” kill too many Russians? Or does the U.S. assume that since Russia attacked Ukraine at a time of peace, it deserves such a “disproportionate” response that alone will lose it the war?

For that matter, the U.S. certainly disproportionately paid back Japan for Pearl Harbor, and the Japanese brutal take-over of the Pacific, much of Asia, and China—and the barbarous way the Japanese military slaughtered millions of civilians, executed prisoners, and mass raped women. Should the U.S. have simply done a one-off retaliatory attack on the imperial fleet at Yokohama, declared a “cease-fire,” and thus ended the “cycle of violence?”

Civilian casualties

Campus activists scream that Israel has slaughtered “civilians” and is careless about “collateral damage.” They equate retaliating against mass murderers who use civilians to shield them from injury, while warning any Gazans in the region of the targeted response to leave, as the moral equivalent of deliberately butchering civilians in a surprise attack.

So did protestors mass in the second term of Barrack Obama when he focused on Predator drone missions inside Somalia, Pakistan, and Yemen to go after Islamic terrorists who deliberately target civilians?

At the time, the hard-left New York Times found the ensuing “collateral damage” in civilian deaths merely “troubling.” No matter—Obama persisted, insisting as he put it, “Let’s kill the people who are trying to kill us.” Note Obama did not expressly say the terrorists in Pakistan or Yemen were killing Americans, but “trying” to kill Americans. For him, that was, quite properly, enough reason “to kill” the potential assassins of Americans.

What would the Harvard President today say of Benjamin Netanyahu saying just that about Hamas?

We have no idea how many women, children, and elderly were in the general vicinity of a targeted terrorist in Pakistan or Yemen when an American drone missile struck. Then CIA Director John Brennan later admitted that he had lied under oath (with zero repercussions), when he testified to Congress that there was no collateral damage in drone targeted assassinations.

Obama was proud of his preemptive assassination program. Indeed, in lighthearted fashion he joked at the White House Correspondence Dinner about his preference for lethal drone missions, when he “warned” celebrities not to date his daughters: “But boys, don’t get any ideas. I have two words for you, ‘predator drones.’ You will never see it coming. You think I’m joking.”

Did the campuses erupt and scream “Not in my name” when their president laughed about his assassination program? After all, Obama had also admitted, “There is no doubt that civilians were killed who shouldn’t have been.” Did he then stop the targeted killings due to collateral damage—as critics now demand a cease fire from Israel?

“Genocide”

Genocide is now the most popular charge in the general damnation of Israel, a false smear aimed at calling off the Israeli response to Hamas, burrowed beneath civilians in Gaza City.

But how strange a charge! Pro-Hamas demonstrators the world over chant “From the River to the Sea,” unambiguously calling for the utter destruction of Israel and its 9 million population. Are the Hamas supporters then “genocidal?”

Is genocide the aim of Hamas that launched over 7,000 rockets into Israeli cities without warning? What is the purpose of the purportedly 120,000 rockets in the hands of Hezbollah if not to target Israeli noncombatants? Is all that a genocidal impulse?

Do Hamas and Hezbollah drop leaflets to civilians, as does Israel, to flee the area of a planned missile attack—or is that against their respective charters?

Hamas leaders in Qatar and Beirut continue to give interviews bragging about their October 7 surprise mass murdering of civilians. They even promise more such missions that likewise will be aimed at beheading, torturing, executing, incinerating, and desecrating the bodies of hundreds of Jewish civilians, perhaps again in the early morning during a holiday and a time of peace.

Is that planned continuation of mass killing genocidal? Does the amoral UN recall any other mass murdering spree when the killers beheaded infants, cooked them in ovens, and raped the dead?

Perhaps students at Harvard, Yale, Cornell, and Stanford will protest the real genocide in Darfur where some half-million black African Sudanese have been slaughtered by mostly Muslim Arab Sudanese. Did the Cornell professor who claimed he was “exhilarated” on news of beheaded Jewish babies protest the slaughter of the Sudanese? Did the current campus protestors ever assemble to scream about the Islamists who slaughtered the indigenous Africans of Sudan?

Are professors at Stanford organizing to refuse all grants and donations that originate from communist China? Remember, the Chinese communist Party has never apologized for the party’s genocidal murder of some 60-80 millions of its own during the Maoist Cultural Revolution, much less its systematic efforts to eliminate the Uyghur Muslim population?

These examples could easily be expanded. But they suffice to remind us that the Middle-East and Western leftist attacks on Israel for responding to the October 7 mass murdering are neither based on any consistent moral logic nor similarly extended to other nations who really do practice apartheid, genocide, and kill without much worry about collateral damage.

So why does the world apply a special standard to Israel?

To the leftist and Islamist, Israel is guilty of being: 1) Too Jewish; 2) Too prosperous, secure, and free; 3) Sufficiently Western to meet the boilerplate smears of colonialist, imperialist, and blah, blah, blah.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

The occupied Greek Cypriot schools march for Oxi Day 🇨🇾 🇬🇷

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.15 (after 1900)

1910 – In his book Clinical Psychiatry, Emil Kraepelin gives a name to Alzheimer's disease, naming it after his colleague Alois Alzheimer. 1916 – In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing). 1918 – World War I: The Second Battle of the Marne begins near the River Marne with a German attack. 1920 – Aftermath of World War I: The Parliament of Poland establishes Silesian Voivodeship before the Polish-German plebiscite. 1922 – The Japanese Communist Party is established in Japan. 1927 – Massacre of July 15, 1927: Eighty-nine protesters are killed by Austrian police in Vienna. 1941 – The Holocaust: Nazi Germany begins the deportation of 100,000 Jews from the occupied Netherlands to extermination camps. 1946 – The State of North Borneo, now Sabah, Malaysia, is annexed by the United Kingdom. 1954 – The Boeing 367-80, the prototype for both the Boeing 707 and C-135 series, takes its first flight. 1955 – Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others. 1966 – Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam begin Operation Hastings to push the North Vietnamese out of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone. 1971 – The United Red Army is founded in Japan. 1974 – In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek junta-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as Cypriot president. 1975 – Space Race: Apollo–Soyuz Test Project features the dual launch of an Apollo spacecraft and a Soyuz spacecraft on the first Soviet-United States human-crewed flight. It was the last launch of both an Apollo spacecraft, and the Saturn family of rockets. 1979 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his "malaise speech". 1983 – An attack at Orly Airport in Paris is launched by Armenian militant organisation ASALA, leaving eight people dead and 55 injured. 1983 – Nintendo released the Famicom in Japan. 1996 – A Belgian Air Force C-130 Hercules carrying the Royal Netherlands Army marching band crashes on landing at Eindhoven Airport. 1998 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil MP S. Shanmuganathan is killed by a claymore mine. 2002 – "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and possession of explosives during the commission of a felony. 2002 – The Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan sentences British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh to death, and three others suspected of murdering The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl to life. 2003 – AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day. 2006 – Twitter, later one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is launched. 2009 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Jannatabad, Qazvin, Iran, killing 168. 2009 – Space Shuttle program: Endeavour is launched on STS-127 to complete assembly of the International Space Station's Kibō module. 2012 – South Korean rapper Psy releases his hit single Gangnam Style. 2014 – A train derails on the Moscow Metro, killing at least 24 and injuring more than 160 others. 2016 – Factions of the Turkish Armed Forces attempt a coup. 2018 – France win their second World Cup title, defeating Croatia 4–2.

[ispycyprus]

"What's in a name?", or different terms that people use to talk about the other side.

I've alluded to this in some of my other posts, but there are multiple terms that people use to talk about the other side. Sometimes, these terms can hint at the speaker's political views, but this isn't always the case and thus, should be taken with a grain of salt.

Still, here are some of the common terms that you might hear when people talk about "the other side".

On the Greek Cypriot side, people have used various terms depending on the context. In government documents and on websites, I've seen phrases like "areas under the control of the government of the Republic of Cyprus". The area including Paralimni and Ayia Napa is sometimes referred to as "Free Famagusta" or "Ελεύθερη Αμμόχωστος/Eleftheri Ammoxostos" in Greek. You might also hear terms like "the pseudostate" or "ψευδοκράτος/psefdokratos" in Greek.

However, in daily life, I think people use the terms "the occupied area", "κατεχόμενα/katexomena", and "the other side" or "over there" more often. Police at the checkpoint often use the term the occupied area, for example. This seems to support my Cypriot Greek teacher's explanation that this term has a bit more of a political undertone compared to the more euphemistic "the other side" or "ποτζεί/potzei" (pronounced pochi) in Cypriot Greek. He did say, however, that even some Turkish Cypriots use the term the occupied territory when speaking in Cypriot Greek which surprised me.

On the Turkish Cypriot side, some people use similar terms like over there/orada in Turkish. In English, I've heard Turkish Cypriots call it the south or the Greek side.

As an outsider, I find it fascinating seeing how even our choice of language for describing the other side can reveal certain thoughts that we agree with or have been taught to say. While I am not Cypriot, I think it's important for foreigners to know what words are used to better understand Cyprus, Cypriot people, and the difficult situation that remains on the island.

[peterwebscott]

The 1974 Turkish invasion reflected in Cypriot poetry

This year is the fiftieth anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 20 July 1974. The heavy fighting left many dead and the island split between Greek Cypriots in the south and the Turkish occupied north, with peace being maintained by a UN Buffer Zone between them. In ‘Spoon sweet’ by the Cyrpiot poet, Kyriakos Kharalampidis, the poet visits his old family home in a part of the island…

[international-law-frms-in-cyprus]

 International Law Firms in Cyprus: Navigating Global Legal Landscapes

Introduction

Cyprus occupies a geographically vital position in the triangle formed by Europe, Asia as well as Africa and is famous for its highly developed legal environment as well as various law firms that operate on the international level. These firms cover almost all sectors of the law such as corporate law, maritime law, tax law, legal advice, and many more hence enabling the efficiency of International Law Firms in Cyprus.

The Advantage

 Another advantage of the international legislation offices operating in Cyprus consists of understanding the requirements of the domestic and foreign legislation. These firms are manned by highly qualified legal personnel who have adequate knowledge of international transactions and legal frameworks. This experience helps the managers come up with acceptable strategies in complicated legal systems globally. 

 The tax system in Cyprus is also considered to be quite friendly and together with the country joining the European Union and developing a contemporary infrastructure, Cyprus law firms are also given an added advantage. These are the competitive benefits that overseas firms have employed to offer the best services in areas like organization incorporation, M&A, and IP rights. It remains an asset that they are able to provide legal services that will suit the specific needs of their clients to the latter’s satisfaction. 

Conclusion

Further, under the aspect of language capability, these globalized law firms bear the substantial responsibility to satisfy various customers. Among those languages, one can list English, Greek, Russian, and others; thus, Cypriot law firms definitely have no problem understanding clients from other cultures and regions and establishing close cooperation with them.  Therefore, it could be concluded that Cyprus remains an ideal jurisdiction in providing international legal services due to the legal experts and its favorable environment. Who to turn to if one needs the help of an International Law Firms in Cyprus? The answer is as simple as AGP Law Firm.

[salus-in-arduis]

As a strategic location in the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus has been contested and occupied by various powers since antiquity; it was successively ruled by the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Persians before Alexander the Great seized it in 333 BC.

Cyprus subsequently formed part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom until it was annexed by Rome in 58 BC. It remained part of the Eastern Roman Empire for the next thousand years, albeit intermittingly coming under Arab control, sometimes jointly with the Romans. The French Lusignan dynasty took control of the island during the Third Crusade of the late 12th century, succeeded by the Venetians in the late 15th century, from whom Cyprus was subsequently conquered by the Ottomans in 1571.

The Ottoman period saw major demographic, political, and cultural changes, including the emergence of Greek nationalism. The island was secretly placed under the British administration under the Cyprus Convention of 1878 after after the Russo-Turkish War.

In 1915, Cyprus was formally annexed into the British Empire after the Ottomans had entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers against the British, and it was initially governed by a military administration until 1925, when it was proclaimed the Crown Colony of Cyprus.

In the 1950s Greece recovered economically, and diplomatic and trade links were strengthened by King Paul’s state visits abroad. He became the first Greek Monarch to visit a Turkish Head of State. However, links with Britain became strained over Cyprus, where the majority Greek population favored union with Greece, which Britain, as the colonial power, would not endorse.

In 1955 an insurgency by National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters (EOKA) led to the Governor General Sir John Harding declaring a state of emergency.

[thrassa]

Not to be that person (and it sucks that I have to be that person because I agree with the overall message), but your country - Turkey - is also currently illegally occupying 1/3 of Cyprus and has done so for 50 years now. It invaded in 1974. Two times. The first was excused as a "peacekeeping operation" (though the war crimes and the long history of Turkey seeking to colonise Cyprus say otherwise) but the second occured during a ceasefire and during discussions for peace. Native Cypriots were forced out of their homes, tortured and massacred and many are missing to this day (though we all know they've been murdered as we keep discovering mass graves and human remains) - something that sounds oddly familiar when you consider the 75 year old plight of the Palestinians.

This similarity becomes even more "strange" when you take into account the fact that after the Cypriots were forced out of their homes, many were "replaced" by Turkish settlers who the Turkish government brought from the mainland. The same goes for the pseudo-nation that your government has funded and continues to support.

Also, your country has committed three genocides in the span of a decade (Greek, Armenian, Assyrian) which it continues to deny, keeps bombing Syria, has oppressed ethnic Minorities such as the Greeks and the Kurds for decades upon decades, keeps threatening neighbouring countries with invasion and the theft of their land and is currently assisting Azerbaijan in its attempts to genocide the Armenian people once again. Oh, and it works alongside "Israel" to achieve that.

Yeah, you read that right - the hypocritical Turkish government (Erdogan and his cronies to be specific) speaks loudly over how it condemns "Israel" and its genocide but is only too happy to accept its assistance in the annihilation of the Armenians (as well as other collaborations the two have - let's also not mention how oftentimes, when Erdogan speaks of Palestine, he refers to the time it was under Ottoman enslavement and praising the fact so he's not against the oppression of the Palestinians, he just hates that he's not the one to oppress them).

So, please do speak against the illegal apartheid state of "Israel" and the colonial mindset that created it as well as the genocide it has slowly been committing for 75 years now and showcase its crimes to the world and try to educate as many people as you can and teach them the importance of boycotting but also recognise the horrid acts of your own government as they occur to this day and most are denied and remain unrecognised. Even by Eurovision.

We can't pick and choose who we will call out in such matters - otherwise, we are no different to the EBU and the way it handled Russia's war crimes in contrast to the way it is handling "Israel's" genocide.

Lastly, to show you that Eurovision has always been the same - Turkey first entered Eurovision in 1975, just one year after the invasion and the occupation of Cyprus. The Turkish war crimes and its condemnation for crimes against Humanity (which has occurred thrice) by the United Nations didn't stop Turkey from participating and winning Eurovision.

Not only should that not have been allowed, but Turkey should have been banned from the very beginning with no chance of ever entering - if we take into account all the above. But it entered the competition and then it willingly abandoned the sinking boat when it should have been banished - which also reminds me of how "Israel" kept threatening to leave the competition if its song was not approved.

So, EBU's actions and favoritism are nothing new - they've always been supporting the oppressors.

Ps. Op, please don't take this the wrong way - I don't mean any insult towards you (I don't know you, after all). I am simply tired of seeing so much hypocrisy in the world as well as seeing the perpetrators of violence, colonialism and genocide victimise themselves - something which both "Israel" and Turkey have been doing for decades now. And it's high time the world learned the truth.

with eurovision song contest starting i'd like everyone to remember that in 2022, they kicked Russia out of the contest due to the war crimes they committed against Ukraine and they also made Ukraine win the contest that year. in 2024 however, Israel gets to still participate in the contest (in contrast to them not even being in europe) even though they have also been breaking international law and committing numerous war crimes against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. approximately 30.000 innocent people have been killed in Gaza just during the past five months of Israeli bombardment and that is more than twice the number of innocent people Russia has killed in 2022, which was approximately 14.000 people. not to mention Palestinians have been under apartheid for the past 75 years and that didn't stop ESC from accepting Israel's participation in the contest 45 times and them even winning first place 4 times. apparently international law only matters when there's white people being affected by the war crimes committed. as longs as the dead bodies are brown it is a-okay! ESC has long been known to have a certain political approach but I think it's time we call it out. Israel has no place in ESC. this is important, talk about it. be loud about it. we don't want a terrorist state's flag waved at ESC, we don't want zionists performing songs for us. you don't get to gaslight your way out of this. kick Israel out of Eurovision.

[pokmajom]

A világ helyzete a linkedin-en

A fiatal ukrán kolléganő, naponta posztol minden social media felületen, így a linkedin-en is, a kijevi pincéből ahol 2 hete él 2 éves kislányával, hogy ezzel is felhívja a világ figyelmét, hazája lehetetlen helyzetére.

Erre megjelenik ott a hatvanas török professzor és bekommentel egy ilyet:

"Yulia, your situation reminded me of the Greek Cypriot persecution to the Turkish people. After the massacres of the Greeks, Turkey organized a peace operation to the island and by this way peace came to the island. So, I know what you are going through!! My thoughts are with you!!"

Ezt persze nem tűrheti a ciprusi tengerkutató intézet igazgatója:

Yulia, I am so sorry to see you are in this situation! In 1974, I was 10 years old when Turkey invaded Cyprus. They bombarded Famagusta, my hometown and after a month we left and never when back!! They occupy 40% of my country and I am a refugee in the southern part of Cyprus. So, I know what you are going through!! My thoughts are with you!!

Lassan tényleg alapítok valami kollektív öngyilkos szektát 50 feletti férfiaknak, hogy mentsük meg a világot létezésünk beszüntetésével.

[oldnewyork]

“Greek-American women and supporters demonstrate outside the UN to demand that Greek Cypriot refugees be allowed to return to their homes in Turkish- occupied areas of Cyprus.”

[mightyflamethrower]

What are the mobs in Washington defiling iconic federal statues with impunity and pelting police men really protesting?

What are the students at Stanford University vandalizing the president’s office really demonstrating against?

What are the throngs in London brazenly swarming parks and rampaging in the streets really angry about?

Occupations?

They could care less that the Islamist Turkish government still stations 40,000 troops in occupied Cyprus. No one is protesting against the Chinese takeover of a once-independent Tibet or the threatened absorption of an autonomous Taiwan.

Refugees?

None of these mobs are agitating on behalf of the nearly 1 million Jews ethnically cleansed since 1947 from the major capitals of the Middle East. Some 200,000 Cypriots displaced by Turks earn not a murmur. Nor does the ethnic cleansing of 99% of Nagorno-Karabakh’s ancient Armenian population just last year.

Civilian casualties?

The global protestors are not furious over the 1 million Uighurs brutalized by the communist Chinese government. Neither are they concerned about the Turkish government’s indiscriminate war against the Kurds or its serial threats to attack Armenians and Greeks.

The new woke jihadi movement is instead focused only on Israel and “Palestine.” It is oblivious to the modern gruesome Muslim-on-Muslim exterminations of Bashar el-Assad and Saddam Hussein, the Black September massacres of Palestinians by Jordanian forces, and the 1982 erasure of thousands in Hama, Syria.

So woke jihadism is not an ecumenical concern for the oppressed, the occupied, the collateral damage of war, or the fate of refugees. Instead, it is a romanticized and repackaged anti-Western, anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic jihadism that supports the murder of civilians, mass rape, torture, and hostage-taking.

But what makes it now so insidious is its new tripartite constituency?

First, the old romantic pro-Palestine cause was rebooted in the West by millions of Arab and Muslim immigrants who have flocked to Europe and the U.S. in the last half-century.

Billions of dollars in oil sheikdom “grant” monies swarmed Western universities to found “Middle Eastern Studies” departments. These are not so much centers for historical or linguistic scholarship as political megaphones focused on “Zionism” and “the Jews.”

Moreover, there may be well over a half-million affluent Middle Eastern students in Western universities. Given that they pay full tuition, imbibe ideology from endowed Middle Eastern studies faculty, and are growing in number, they logically feel that they can do anything with impunity on Western streets and campuses.

Second, the Diversity/Equity/Inclusion movement empowers the new woke jihadis. Claiming to be non-white victims of white Jewish colonialism, they pose as natural kindred victims to blacks, Latinos, and any Westerner now claiming oppressed status.

Black radicalism, from Al Sharpton to Louis Farrakhan to Black Lives Matter, has had a long, documented history of anti-Semitism. It is no wonder that its elite eagerly embraced the anti-Israeli Palestine movement as fellow travelers.

The third leg of woke jihadism is mostly affluent white leftist students at Western universities.

Sensing that their faculties are anti-Israel, their administrations are anti-Israel (although more covertly) and the most politically active among the student body are anti-Israel, European and American students find authenticity in virtue-signaling their solidarity with Hamas, Hezbollah, and radical Islamists in general.

Given the recent abandonment of standardized tests for admission to universities, the watering-down of curricula, and rampant grade inflation, thousands of students at elite campuses feel that they have successfully redefined their universities to suit their own politics, constituencies and demographics.

Insecure about their preparation for college and mostly ignorant of the politics of the Middle East, usefully idiotic students find resonance by screaming anti-Semitic chants and wearing keffiyehs.

Nurtured in grade school on the Marxist binary of bad, oppressive whites versus good, oppressed nonwhites, they can cheaply shed their boutique guilt by joining the mobs.

The result is a bizarre new anti-Semitism and overt support for the gruesome terrorists of Hamas by those who usually preach to the middle class about their own exalted morality.

Still, woke jihadism would never have found resonance had Western leaders—vote-conscious heads of state, timid university presidents, and radicalized big-city mayors and police chiefs—not ignored blatant violations of laws against illegal immigration, vandalism, assault, illegal occupation, and rioting.

Finally, woke jihadism is fueling a radical Western turn to the right, partly due to open borders and the huge influx into the West from non-Western illiberal regimes.

Partly the reaction is due to the ingratitude shown their hosts by indulged Middle-Eastern guest students and green card holders.

Partly, the public is sick of the sense of entitlement shown by pampered, sanctimonious protestors.

And partly the revulsion arises against left-wing governments and universities that will not enforce basic criminal and immigration statutes in fear of offending this strange new blend of wokism and jihadism.

Yet the more violent campuses and streets become, the more clueless the mobs seem about the cascading public antipathy to what they do and what they represent.

[thrassa]

1) You made your first appearence in a post made by a Greek specifically targeted towards foreigners with the sole intent of educating them on being respectful and conducting proper research towards our culture.

Your immediate reaction was to be hostile and to attack them with bullshit accusations.

That, in itself, showcases your intent and overall bigotry towards us.

Tell me, if the same post had been written by a person of another culture which has gone through similar, if not identical, oppression to the one we have faced, would you have reacted in such a manner? Would you have called them a "folkist"?

Also, tell me, if we (Greeks) don't own Greek culture, then who does?

You, perhaps?

2) You didn't stop there. Of course not.

They spoke about respect being offered to Hellenic culture, Hellenic heritage and, consequently, the Hellenic people. How is that "gatekeeping"? How is that "textbook folklism"?

Again, would you spew such bullshit if the person writing the post was anything other than Greek? If they were not a member of the culture you're trying your damnest to insert yourself into without a care about its people just like all the bigots and supremacists like Fallmerayer before you?

3) @dragolie Wrote the following so as to show you just how out of line some of your comments were - especially on this particular day. This is a day of national mourning, in case you weren't aware.

How did you respond?

How did they speak about Turks? What did they say that made you think they were xenophobic against them?

Also, your audacity in trying to dictate what words Greek speakers will use is literally insane. Thank you, I thought I'd seen it all.

Also, trying to make "xenos/xenoi" seem like a slur when it literally means "foreigner/stranger" and can easily be applied to Greeks (and is also applied to Greeks) makes this even funnier.

But you know what takes the prize? The fact that you supposedly practice Xenia and, therefore, acknowledge that you are a xenos (foreigner) when it suits you.

4) What was your next move?

To claim that @dragolie was a "Greek nationalist/ white supremacist who is really weird about Turkey" because they literally educated you on what today signifies for us.

Please, don't create any more strawmen - I didn't say you're supporting the Turkish government but this isn't about the Turkish government, is it?

You spoke of them being "really weird" about Turkey because they told you that on this day, 50 years ago, the Turks not only invaded but also raped, tortured and slaughtered native Cypriots, illegally occupied the northern part of their island and brought over settlers from the Turkish mainland to take over the homes they'd stolen.

You know what I find extremely hypocritical? The fact that you're drowning your page in Pro-Palestinian posts all the while villanising another victim of the exact same oppression. Would you have acted in a different manner if Israel was our oppressor instead of Turkey or would you have sided with them given that they committed their atrocities against us?

You really don't see the bigotry? No?

Bonus: Everyone who attempts to show you your bigotry is suddenly a "folkist/Greek supremacist" - my oh my, doesn't that sound familiar. . . Now where have I heard it before . . . Oh yes, the Zionists who call people "antisemitic" whenever they are judged for their actions and bigotry.

Huh, fancy that.

Show me where I was bigoted against Greeks. Post the screenshots. Show me where I said I endorse or support the Turkish government. I'll wait.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

wrt the nationalism i experienced at my old Greek School, which was part of the larger North London Greek Community even if it was technically just outside London, I remember there were big get-togethers of the various schools for the likes of 25th March. Normal stuff really. I remember we were asked to do some art, and as I was a teenager literally called Peace and with a conscientious objector for a dad, I was pretty opposite in values to the general militarism etc around it, so i slightly... took the piss by drawing Bouboulina anime-fied in a way that was Well Drawn but also Not Reverent.

Anyway, the thing that actually shocked me amongst all this (as opposed to just a bit of discomfort and eyerolling). As a fluent speaker, the teachers liked to show me off by writing speeches for me to give at some events. My tutor had written, very carefully, a big speech for me, and usually I begrudgingly went along with them, but i refused to read this one bit, in which I was expected to declare (cw: self harm, implied suicide, blood): <...κι αν χρειαστεί, δεν θα διστάσω να ανοίξω τις φλέβες μου σαν βρύσες για να ποτίσω το δέντρο της ελευθερίας, ζήτω η Ελλάδα, ζήτω η Κύπρος, ζήτω η ελευθερία>. When I refused point-blank, he looked at me with confusion and said - bearing in mind that i was 16 at this time - so wait, you Wouldn't die for your homeland???? Also bearing in mind this was 13 years ago or so and its still pretty embedded in my memory.

Idk how representative this particular anecdote is but as this was intended for a large event i imagine it wasn't expected to be controversial. He was a little extra I think, probably in part to being a Cypriot refugee himself and therefore having a v different emotional relationship w nationality. Despite module options for A levels (final exams/qualifications for subjects for 18yrolds in the UK) that included Greek Lit and Greek Poetry, he'd only teach Cypriot History and Cypriot Geography, which to me, as an Athenian who generally sucks at any kind of History or Geography, didnt really appeal. I only found out there were other modules when I got to the exam and saw them available. Seeing as they were available, I assume he was something of an outlier, as most kids doing Modern Greek exams would probably have been 3rd-gen Cypriots.

Γειααα! Given the Greek history and how we preserve remembrance, I don't think the sentence you mentioned is controversial, either. But as always, there's more nuance to it, so please bear with me! (quick historical recap for people not familiar with recent Greek history + the psychology of Greeks and Greek immigrants)

Under the boot of the Turks, the Bulgarians, the Italians, the English (and who knows who else) Greeks (and other Balkan nations) quickly realized that advocating for people with the same ethnicity was the only way not to be assimilated at best and eradicated at worst. For centuries Greeks weren't heard by their masters (who also called them "chattel" - "ραγιάδες") at times so after 400 and 600 years they said "if you don't advocate for us, if you treat us like this, fuck you, we are going to become independent". Since 1821 they became an example of revolt for all slaves in Europe and the Americas (without claiming they were the only inspiration) and warmly greeted and aided by Haiti, the first nation to abolish slavery.

I don't need to write much about the Balkan wars, ww1, and the Macedonian struggle, where being ethnically Greek automatically made you an enemy. (without saying Greeks were always on the right side of things or never committed any atrocities), or mention the Greco-Turkish War which ended with the peak of the Greek (Armenian and Assyrian, too) genocide.

Additionally, most of us have heard how the Greeks were treated in ww2 under the Bulgarians and under the Italians and Germans when the country was occupied. Or about the Greek programs in USSR (1937) and Turkey (1955 and 1960) to erase the Greek identity that in many ways still goes on to this day. (Pushing for the Turkish and Russian language and customs only, calling the Greek history of oppression "propaganda", erasing names of Greek villages, etc)

Again, being Greek was pretty much a ticket to punishment and oppression.

Cyprus is included in many of these cases as it suffered long from the Turks until 1878 and then it fell to English hands who filled the citizens with hallow promises (and good ol' colonialism) and let them eat each other alive - resulting in the Turkish occupation of half the island. Although all citizens suffered from the turmoil and the Greek side wasn't a saint, it was mostly random average Greeks who were kicked out of their homes when the invasion happened (1974).

War after war created a generational trauma that cannot be shaken away and that can affect someone when they've lived around people who remember their family getting executed by Turks, or Bulgarians. In that climate, fighting for your ethnos to the point of bleeding became something natural, like bleeding for freedom of speech, worker's rights, for lgbt+ rights, refugee rights, and more.

So, yes, your tutor definitely came from this background so I am not surprised he was that way after living through the tensions and being forced to leave his home because he wasn't the "right" ethnicity. His love for his ethnicity differs from the love a native UK or US person has, in the sense that it comes from the side of the oppressed, not the oppressor. (On top of that, he could also be a weird person as a character, since you mentioned he didn't want to teach anything that wasn't related to Cyprus)

There's no coddling up for how much blood was shed, no χρυσό χάπι for what a country does to you when it occupies you. I want to stress a lot how I hate the idea of war and the idealization of war. However, one doesn't exactly speak politely to the new oppressor, who wants to assimilate others and spread their own influence. I haven't seen a nation talk its way out of occupation and the inevitable repression, so to speak. And when the n-th invasion happens for Greece (for our specific hypothetical example) I don't think there will be any change in how things will be resolved. In a way, the school events remind you that, and also that history is a cycle.

With Turkey as a neighbor, things are still politically tense, and many Greeks still fear another invasion. (At the moment I don't think Turkey will attack for many reasons and bc we are NATO allies but I am telling how the situation is) Let's not forget our state has been allied with Russia for a long time and we betrayed that bond with whatever sanctions might come from Russia to us. When Russia invaded Ukraine, most Greek men around me were fearing the draft. From where we stand on the map, we don't exactly feel safe. War is a possibility and many Greeks feel fight-ready psychologically, or jumpy when they hear the news. (I belong to the chill group and still get anxious from time to time) That might color the patriotic statements with an intensity that doesn't feel natural in other nations which may not feel that close to getting a war on their soil.

As for the militarization in the events, the first thing I'll say is that war and the army can be totally rotten and there's a ton of propaganda we must resist, and I'll admit that even the Greek army when doing the defense has crossed the line at times. Buuuut realistically, it's difficult to resist an invasion from - say - the nazis without an armed force. That's why the army has a place in Greek remembrance events.

Thousands of Greeks fought in the frozen Pindus mountains against the Axis force because they all knew what would happen if the enemy got to Greece. And lo and behold, once the fascists took control of my city, thousands were sent to concentration camps where they were incinerated (700 recorded children among them). In just three years, 1/3 of Greece died under occupation. Fighting to prevent that - even if they failed eventually - is objectively valiant. Not to mention, the resisting armies of various countries achieved weakening the Axis forces to the point they finally got beaten.

Of course, there is no need for panic in the present. No objective need or extreme speeches where teens shout "I will shed my blood". I am fully aware of how expressions of the desire to protect what was - again with blood - given can be weird and reach extremes. Such yearly school events are the norm in Greece.

It's worth mentioning that such texts were written (or based on texts written) at the time of the oppression so they are emotionally charged and often carry the bloodshed of war which was very real for the country back then. That's the reason they are not considered controversial. (add to the mix the constant fear of imminent invasion we still live in 2023)

Another reason they may not be considered controversial is that we are used to them but also don't exactly follow them. Such events may be a yearly reality here (multiple times per year) but a kind of mundane one and people go about their lives without so much gravity given to the event statements.

Sure, it's atmospheric and it's good to remember the dead, but it's the usual grind, ya know... We get reminded of the war for a few days in very sentimental ceremonies and then we move on. The majority of Greeks in Greece are unlike your tutor, in spite of taking part in these school festivities and in the school parade. And the teachers are usually chill about it.

It can have negative effects, though. For starters, I believe the student parade accompanying the military was established during the 70's junta where nationalism was often regarded as the solution. So we are not on a good base here 👀

Most Greeks shun extreme militarism (we know what disgusting people lead in our army and what bigoted ideas they hold) and the belief that we are better than other nations. I can totally understand how a 16-year-old could feel uncomfortable when made to read the phrase you were made to read. In Greece, I think most (not all) 16-year-olds would roll their eyes and go along (because we know it's mainly fanfare for the drama 😂) and they wouldn't be phased by it.

For example, my teen self would perhaps read the "κι αν χρειαστεί, δεν θα διστάσω να ανοίξω τις φλέβες μου σαν βρύσες για να ποτίσω το δέντρο της ελευθερίας, ζήτω η Ελλάδα, ζήτω η Κύπρος, ζήτω η ελευθερία" and see some poetry in it BUT I wouldn't actually want to do it 😅 Nobody does and nobody cares, except the few rare radical people, who exist in all countries in equal measure. And we know that the rest of the students just wanted to stay out of class and didn't give two shits about how serious this is supposed to be 😂 We were aware we were preaching to the choir - who already knows this stuff and just wanted to go home. We are kinda desensitized, I think.

But teens also have their own political sentiments, which may clash with how the school festivities are organized, so we should take them into account. The students (and all people) should be free to not partake in events opposite to their ideals. And many teachers, too, are uncomfortable with how these events are conducted and wish to tone them down. There are some teachers here who are more into it so they add more passion and grand statements.

Different areas and families experienced oppression and genocide in various ways, so I don't have a concrete statement fit to dictate how much passion and poetic symbolism they'll use in their remembrance events and how they promise that the same harm will never come to their families again - as long as one doesn't fall into bigoted traps and militarization. Meaning that if the issue makes them sentimental and they want to mention blood and blades against slavery, that's their own thing.

But it also means that you are (obviously) allowed to remember the fallen and celebrate the existence of the nation without bold statements if you don't feel like it. (Or perhaps one doesn't want nations to exist at all so we go to another level altogether, and maybe you don't want a remembering at all, which is another discussion)

Thank you very much for reading all this! I wrote so many things to demonstrate Greek history is quite heavy and complex, which in turn creates complex situations for the people who are left to do the remembering.

Other people who took part in such Greek events, write your opinions down if you like!

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.15 (after 1900)

1910 – In his book Clinical Psychiatry, Emil Kraepelin gives a name to Alzheimer's disease, naming it after his colleague Alois Alzheimer. 1916 – In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing). 1918 – World War I: The Second Battle of the Marne begins near the River Marne with a German attack. 1920 – Aftermath of World War I: The Parliament of Poland establishes Silesian Voivodeship before the Polish-German plebiscite. 1922 – The Japanese Communist Party is established in Japan. 1927 – Massacre of July 15, 1927: Eighty-nine protesters are killed by Austrian police in Vienna. 1941 – The Holocaust: Nazi Germany begins the deportation of 100,000 Jews from the occupied Netherlands to extermination camps. 1946 – The State of North Borneo, now Sabah, Malaysia, is annexed by the United Kingdom. 1954 – The Boeing 367-80, the prototype for both the Boeing 707 and C-135 series, takes its first flight. 1955 – Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others. 1959 – The steel strike of 1959 begins, leading to significant importation of foreign steel for the first time in United States history. 1966 – Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam begin Operation Hastings to push the North Vietnamese out of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone. 1971 – The United Red Army is founded in Japan. 1974 – In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek junta-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as Cypriot president. 1975 – Space Race: Apollo–Soyuz Test Project features the dual launch of an Apollo spacecraft and a Soyuz spacecraft on the first joint Soviet-United States human-crewed flight. It was the last launch of both an Apollo spacecraft, and the Saturn family of rockets. 1979 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his "malaise speech". 1983 – An attack at Orly Airport in Paris is launched by Armenian militant organisation ASALA, leaving eight people dead and 55 injured. 1983 – Nintendo released the Famicom in Japan. 1996 – A Belgian Air Force C-130 Hercules carrying the Royal Netherlands Army marching band crashes on landing at Eindhoven Airport. 1998 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil MP S. Shanmuganathan is killed by a claymore mine. 2002 – "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and possession of explosives during the commission of a felony. 2002 – The Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan sentences British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh to death, and three others suspected of murdering The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl to life. 2003 – AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day. 2006 – Twitter, later one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is launched. 2009 – Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Jannatabad, Qazvin, Iran, killing 168. 2012 – South Korean rapper Psy releases his hit single Gangnam Style. 2014 – A train derails on the Moscow Metro, killing at least 24 and injuring more than 160 others. 2016 – Factions of the Turkish Armed Forces attempt a coup. 2018 – France win their second World Cup title, defeating Croatia 4-2. 2021 – Three people are killed by a distracted driver in the 2021 Bowburn crash.

[ispycyprus]

Crossings and Checkpoints: Walking through all of Nicosia

I've mentioned it before in one of my other posts, but, for one of my commuting routes, I have to go through the Greek and Turkish Cypriot checkpoints and the United Nations buffer-zone. Before coming to Cyprus, I was nervous over what the crossing experience would be like, what documents I would need, etc., so I hope that this post can serve as a guide for anyone traveling to Nicosia. Please note that this doesn't constitute as official legal advice, and I highly encourage looking up what your home country's embassy says about the situation. With that being said, let's continue with the post!

I think it's important to start with the division of Cyprus to understand why the crossings exist. After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Cyprus was split. The Republic of Cyprus, the government recognized by almost all countries as the government of the whole island, retains control of the south. The unrecognized "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus", or KKTC in Turkish, has control over the northern part of Cyprus, including the northern part of Nicosia. However, no state except for Turkey recognizes the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus". During the conflict, the UN made a buffer zone between the two sides, and, for many years, you could not cross without special permission.

However, starting from the 2000s, the checkpoints began to open, and many Cypriots have used them to visit their homes and friends who they hadn't seen since before the invasion. You can only cross from one side or the other after presenting your documents at official, recognized crossings. Luckily, the checkpoints are open 24/7 which makes crossing easier.

While there are several checkpoints on the island, the ones used most frequently seem to the be the ones in the Nicosia area. There is the Ayios Dometios/Metehan crossing where civilian vehicles can cross from one side to the other, and there are two others where civilians can easily walk from south to north and vice-versa. Since I can't drive, I used these two.

The first is the one by the Ledra Palace Hotel. This one is available for anyone coming on foot, and certain vehicles, mainly UN and diplomatic vehicles, may also drive through here. Other vehicles are prohibited. I find that this one is more on the edge of the Walled City which means it is a bit less crowded. In the buffer zone here, you can find the Home for Cooperation which hosts many bicommunal events and hosts a nice cafe where people can meet and converse. It opened in 2011, and you can also peruse some books and buy bicommunal olive oil here.

The second is the one on Ledra/Lokmacı Street. This one is only for people coming on foot. The buffer zone is very narrow here, and it tends to get more crowded here at certain times. However, it is an interesting experience since as soon as you cross, the main language on the street changes alongside the architecture and general feel. If you're visiting Nicosia as a tourist, I would probably recommend using this checkpoint since it will also be more convenient if you're visiting museums in the Old City.

To be ready for either crossing, make sure to have your passport ready. From what I've heard, citizens of the European Union can use their national ID card. If you have a residence card from Cyprus or another European country, try to have that ready, too. Make sure to put your phone away once you're next in line at the checkpoint.

Once you get to the checkpoint, you will have to present your passport or ID card to the police. They might ask you for a few things, such as your arrival airport (more on this later), your intended length of stay, whether you intend to go to the Home for Cooperation or the "Occupied Area" (κατεχόμενα/katexomena in Greek), or whether it's your first-time crossing. Answer these questions truthfully. Then, don't put your passport away! You only went through one of the checkpoints; you still have to go through the other. Once you repeat this process at the other checkpoint, then you should be good to go on to the other side.

It might be a bit easier to understand with an example. In my case, I'm usually crossing from the Greek Cypriot side to the Turkish Cypriot side. Therefore, I need to take out my passport and Republic of Cyprus ID card. Once I'm there, the police usually take my passport and ID card. They might ask me a few questions, like if I'm going to the buffer zone or the occupied area. Then, they scan my passport before giving it back to me. I'll walk through the buffer zone area before reaching the Turkish Cypriot checkpoint where I will show them my passport. They'll also look at my passport and scan it; then they'll give it back to me, and I'll walk through the checkpoint area to the exit.

It might sound difficult, but it really is quite simple!

However, there are a few things you should note: One, your arrival airport might affect your ability to cross. Unless you're an EU citizen, you might not be able to cross from the Turkish Cypriot side to the Greek Cypriot side if you landed at Ercan Airport, as the Republic of Cyprus does not consider this a legal point of entry. This also applies to ferry passengers who arrive from Turkey to Cyprus from the port of Taşucu. I think they usually still let you cross. Still, I would be careful and first arrive through Larnaca Airport.

Two, don't try to film or take pictures of police working at the checkpoints. While they probably won't say anything, I have seen people being told to put their phones away. It's fine to look at your phone while waiting in line, but make sure to put it away before it's your turn.

Three, be careful with what words you use to describe the other side. While many people describe this scenario of crossing from one side to the other as crossing a border, I've seen international tourists being scolded for using this terminology since the Republic of Cyprus does not consider going to other side as having crossed an international border. It's fine to use terms like crossing or checkpoint.

Four, if you're a person of color, you might receive increased scrutiny. Full disclosure ahead: while I have all of the necessary documents and have crossed many times, usually without incident, there have been times where I have almost been denied permission to cross. I am not alone in this, however. A Turkish Cypriot colleague of mine told me that this has also occurred with Turkish Cypriots crossing to the Greek Cypriot side.

Five, if you're a non-EU, or US, national, you should still be able to cross. I don't know the specifics for every country, but my housemate is Iranian, and her boyfriend is a Bosnian Serb. Both have been able to cross back and forth without incident as far as I know.

With that being said, I think this covers most questions that people might have about crossing. I hope this helps future travelers to Nicosia, and please feel free to send in any questions that you still have!