"We are the same people."
New parea at Mikri Landa Beach
Last Sunday Panikos Loizou welcomed us into his family. We met Panikos, his family, and his friends, while we were walking along the coast near Ayia Napa. We were looking for a shady place to rest, when a large group having a barbeque greeted us.
“Hello! Welcome! Come eat!”
We slowed our pace, puzzled by such a warm welcome thrust upon strangers. But their invitations kept coming and it didn’t take much to convince us that their freshly caught fish was more appetizing than our anticipated lunch of granola bars and water.
Around the table was a hodgepodge of Cypriots. Costa, Panikos, Kakia, and Costakis are Greek Cypriots from various cities around Cyprus. But there was also Krisztina from Romania, Marie Ann, Glenn, and Adam from England, and a woman from Philippines—all of whom have immigrated to Cyprus and live here permanently. Every Sunday, this group of friends gather on the same beach for a barbeque, each bringing food or drink to share with the party. Here they are all Cypriot.
Panikos welcomed our questions about Cypriot identity and the segregation that has occurred on the island since 1974. To Panikos, the Greek and Turkish Cypriots have a stronger bond with each other than they do with their mainland counterparts.
“We are the same people.” He said. “[The enemy] plays with us. It was the British before, and it is the Turkish now.”
Panikos was born and raised in Famagusta, a large city now part of the occupied north. He would like to see a unified Cyprus, but believes the matter is complicated by the settlers that have emigrated to the country in the last 40 years of separation, particularly the Turkish settlers in the north that inhabit previously Greek Cypriot villages. He also fears that the younger generation of Cypriots, those who only know a divided island, are too scared of the unknown to push for a unified Cyprus.
Still, Panikos says, “We love [the Turkish Cypriots]. Even if we do not speak the same language, we find a way to communicate.”