I had my first experiences at the University of Nicosia today, and the classes we took were so interesting despite the short timeframes. First up was a lecture on the history of Cyprus, which took us all the way back to 7,400 BC with the first permanent settlements (like Choirokoitia, a well-known example from the Neolithic period) all the way through to the relatively recent independence of Cyprus (won from the British in 1960 after some rebellions broke out among Cypriots who wanted to unite with Greece, or the idea of “enosis”, but eventually an agreement was reached with Greece and Turkey that Cyprus become its own independent state). The vast and complex history of large empires seizing control of the island and falling to new powers made this topic difficult to squeeze into just a one and a half hour session, but our lecturer managed to skim over some of the less relevant ancient powers (like the Phoenicians and the Assyrians) to focus on some specific parts (including the original settlement of the Mycenaeans and Achaeans in Cyprus around 1,400 to 1,100 BC, establishing the roots of the Greek Cypriots). In particular, the period that Cyprus spent as a British colony (from 1878 to 1960) and afterward stuck out to me, with our professor telling us about it in detail. First of all, Cypriots actually welcomed the rule of the British (which I was very surprised to learn, since people generally reject and dislike their conquerors), viewing it as an improvement from the previous Ottoman period (where raids occurred, soldiers patrolled the streets, and the Eastern Orthodox Church was overshadowed by Islamic practices) and hoping to find a better life under a more democratic country. During that time, most people lived as peasants, but even with some improved infrastructure introduced by the new rulers, life for Cypriots was still difficult (especially with the hefty taxes paid to the crown, not a change from the previous rulers as they might have hoped). Eventually, a minority group of Greek Cypriots began fighting against British rule under the belief that Cyprus should become part of Greece. While still under British control, however, the introduction of Marshall Law, including the execution of terrorists, meant that many lost their lives and were not even returned to their families after death (this was done deliberately, as evidenced by the early hours that the executions took place at to ensure enough time to bury the bodies before any families could find out what happened). The resistance of the Cypriots continued, however, with guerilla warfare and eventually the British agreed to Cyprus’ independence in 1960 (with the condition that two sovereign military bases remain under their control on the island, which remain as such to this day). The resulting constitution for the new Republic of Cyprus, unfortunately, had some divisions of power that both Greek and Turkish Cypriots took issue with (feeling that it was unfair and favored one side or the other too much), and that political tension eventually resulted in the Turkish invasion in 1974, with the problems of that conflict still unresolved even 50 years later. The complexities of just the past 150 years or so for Cyprus are simply fascinating and hard to believe, that such a small country (with no particularly valuable resources or large landmass, just its useful location) could have such a long and varied history. The walking tour of Nicosia we had later in the evening (which I’ll discuss later on) only built this for me, with further details about some other pieces of the city’s past.

But before that, our lecturer for history also gave us some of his own unique opinions about the political world and how it differs from the past, which I thought was very interesting to consider. Mainly, he spoke about the way that large powers (like the US, the UK, etc.) act out of self-interest rather than genuine principles. For example, he spoke about the war in Ukraine currently ongoing with Russia, and how the US is only involved because it’s important to our country’s interests to stop Russia (our not-so-secret enemy power, historically) from expanding and consolidating further power. Our professor was certain that the moment an agreement could be reached with Russia, the US would no longer care about Ukraine or any of its people who were affected by the war, and drew comparisons with how the world reacted the the Turkish invasion in Cyprus. With Turkey as a member of NATO, a relatively strong and significant country, and one seen as important to keep as an ally, the UN or any individual large power did nothing of action regarding the issue. Meanwhile, leaders of the past, historically, have always stuck to their principles in a consistent manner. If it was wrong to take over people’s homes in one country, it was still wrong when it happened in a different situation, and the reaction wasn’t changed by political complexities. Today, however, people do only seem to act when they feel threatened or an issue concerns them in terms of world politics, so it’s sad but I have to agree with the instructor. No one ever cared much about the lives of Cypriots in relation to the Turkish occupation, where they were made refugees in their own country, regardless of the illegal war crimes (under official international law) Turkey is still committing today (like bringing over many Turkish people to settle in Cyprus illegally). And it was really disappointing to come to that realization today, but unfortunately this seems to be how world politics has evolved over time, and I didn’t want to dwell on such a heavy topic too long.

On a more positive note, we also had another class today, and this one was all about giving us a crash course in Greek language! This was exciting for me personally because I have never really heard Greek spoken or used in any context before coming to Cyprus, and have found it difficult to understand some things in the country due to this language barrier, so finally getting some basic vocabulary and common phrases was super helpful (and fun too). Our professor went over multiple differences between Greek and English to start, including that it is a free word language (so you could switch the order of a noun and an adjective in a sentence and still be understood and correct, for example), that the Cypriot dialect is closest to Ancient Greek (though people here are taught mainstream Greek in school and read and write in it, especially in all formal settings), and that there are multiple variations in spelling (for example, one word we learned, “isitirio“, which I’m spelling phonetically in English, which is used when referring to an admission ticket, notably has many i’s in the word, but the Greek letter spelling, “εισιτήριο“, visibly uses multiple different symbol combinations for the ‘i’ sound based on the spelling of the word itself, with 5 total variations for ‘i’ existing in Greek). Greek is also a more emphatically spoken language, so when pronouncing our words, we had to make sure to really emphasize the sounds with feeling (and note the accent marks to know where to stress). By the end, I learned many new words in Greek (like that, while “kalimera” means good morning, “kalispera” is used after midday for good afternoon, and “kalinihta” is used only right before bed as good night) and had a lot of fun trying out the proper pronunciations!

The final part of our day was the guided walking tour through the multiple parts of Nicosia, which I think was maybe my favorite part of the day. Our guide took us from inside the old city walls (built to five and a half kilometers by the Venetians when they were preparing to be attacked by the Ottomans in 1567), which were complete with a now filled-in moat (that was meant to wrap around the entire city, but was never finished in time for the Ottoman attack in 1570), eleven bastions, and three underground gates (which were heavily protected and part of a network of long tunnels soldiers used). We learned that the Venetians were defeated by the Ottomans when they finally got in by getting over the walls, and that the original wall was removed in some sections by the British when they wanted to connect the old city with the new and expanding section of Nicosia. Walking further along, we exited the old walls to a few streets that had been restored to show the original condition of the buildings of the past, where we heard about how houses were constructed then (with cane, a plant in the bamboo family, to support the ceilings, mud bricks for the majority, with some limestone for the “Cyprus marble” floors and large pebbles to create designs that emulated the old mosaics). In the rest of the new area, we also saw houses from the time under Ottoman rule (which were easily identified by the closed balconies, higher and smaller windows, a lack of windows by the doors, etc., all of which was due to Cypriots having to hide and protect their families from the army patrols) as well as those from the British period (with now open balconies, lower and larger windows, the year of a house’s completion above the front door in British tradition, etc.). Our continued path revealed old churches (all but three of which were converted to mosques by the Ottomans), schools (notably, the first school for girls in the country), and other firsts for Cyprus (like the first town hall, post office, etc., all established under British rule). Finally, we wrapped up our tour when we reached the Green Line (as Nicosia is divided in half by the division between the Turkish-occupied area and the South, making it the last divided capital in the world) and then headed down Ledras Street (which is the main shopping street, named after the ancient city that once stood where the new parts of Nicosia now are). I remained in the area for dinner (where I enjoyed a delicious mezze) and then walked around for a bit to browse the shops. Overall, this was the perfect way to end the day, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Nicosia more (both historically and culturally).