![]() ![]() ![]() The Cypriots are a festive bunch, which shows in their jam-packed calendar. The culture of northern Cyprus is strongly influenced by Turkey, but Turkish Cypriots consider themselves Cypriot first and foremost. The Republic of Northern Cyprus (formally recognised only by Turkey) is characterised by a Turkish–Cypriot dialect, warm hospitality and friendliness, and Islam (though its practice is not as overt as in many other Muslim countries). While southern Cyprus has seen rapid tourism growth and environmental degradation, tourism in the north is growing at a much slower rate. Indeed the reopening of border points in 2003, allowing domestic travel between north and south, was a step forward. One need only look at the Home for Cooperation, a community centre and NGO hub located in the Green Line (the UN Buffer Zone between north and south) to see signs of hope for unification. There are still many signs of cultural harmony, though. Nowadays, however, with the island formally divided, there is more of a cultural divide. ![]() Turkish Cypriots are the Turkish-speaking Muslim community, who occupy the northern part of the country (roughly a third of it).īefore the 1974 military coup and the subsequent split of the island, the two groups were largely mixed. Greek Cypriots are the Greek-speaking Greek Orthodox community they occupy the south. There are really two kinds of Cypriots though: Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, since Cyprus is divided in two. She is also studying to become a psychotherapist.Cypriots are generally known for their warmly hospitable quality, and the high value they place on family. She taught English to foreign students and then became a secondary school teacher before leaving to pursue a PhD and to write. She completed a degree in English and a Masters in creative writing at Brunel University. Much more than a beach read, this is a powerful well constructed piece of writing - Joclyn Manners FemaleFirst book criticĬhristy Lefteri was born in London in 1980 to Greek Cypriot parents who moved to London in 1974 during the Turkish invasion. It makes you want to know more about Cyprus and its history, and to be able to recount what happened to Koki and Maroulla to the sometimes violent past of such a beautiful island and it's people. Even so it is beautifully written, and explores whether the main characters can come to terms with their past and present. There book contains accounts of violent and distressing scenes, including some of the group of women being taken off to be gang raped and returned battered and bleeding. Our Opinion: A debut novel, by an author who was born in 1980 to Greek Cypriot parents living in exile in London, very powerful and moving – Written so well the reader strikes an empithy with the characters, feeling the anger, sorrow and anguish about what was happening to them. And so, by cover of darkness, he searches every house, every pathway for a glimpse of that head of flames.įor Richard, growing old and grey in a dank bedsit in the centre of London, where the underground trains shake the foundations, the invasion of Cyprus stirs memories of his time as a British pilot, of a woman, a child and a secret it is becoming all too difficult to keep. Waiting for a chance to return, his only thought has been of her. And how she has longed for him all these years and never known why he left, what took him away.Īdem Berker is a Turkish soldier and for him, the invasion of his former home is an opportunity to seek out the woman he has loved for so many years. The young, Turkish shoe-maker who came to the village and took her heart away with him when he left. She can tell them her story of a summer long ago. But held captive in the house to which the women of Kyrenia have been brought, she can at last speak to them as an equal. Koki, a young villager, feared and hated by her neighbours for her startling red hair, has spent her life in shadow. For many people, this means an end to life as they know it.īut for some, it is a chance to begin living again. ![]()
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