When we moved to Cyprus, most of my friends in the USA and UK thought I was moving to Greece. My Indian friends for the most part were totally mystified. I can't blame them: growing up, I didn't even know there was a Cyprus except for the one in Texas, and that's spelled Cypress, like the tree. And yes, there are Cypress trees in Cyprus.
During the accumulation of countries in the EU, I vaguely remember something about Cyprus and there being a Greek part and a Turkish part. If you look at your typical map of Europe, it usually cuts off before it shows Cyprus. It was so far, far away and so small that I didn't give it another thought. I didn't know about Halloumi cheese. I didn't realize that Turkish Delight in The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe is really Cypriot (more about that in a future blog). Since I'm on the Paleo diet, I don't eat it anyway. I don't think the Paleolithic Cypriots ate it either.
My British husband and I have been living here in Cyprus for four years, and sometimes I feel none the wiser about Cyprus. It feels like an island more than a country. It's not as Greek as I thought and maybe more Turkish than many want to admit.
In 2014, the Cyprus Mail had an article about Cypriot DNA: "That study found that Greek markers accounted for around 23 per cent of Cypriot DNA. Apart from ‘Greek DNA’ markers, Cypriots showed signs of Iranian, Italian – a significant 20 per cent – Sicilian, Armenian, Syrian, Georgian, Saudi and Palestinian markers." My ancestry is part Sicilian. Could I be Cypriot? The mystery continues in the next blog.
