Berna ÖZDEN
Roma Gypsies are forgotten wherever they live in the world. Cyprus is no exception. When the 1960 Constitution was drawn up the Roma were not even mentioned unlike Cyprus’ other minorities, the Latins, Maronites and Armenians. In a Cyprus where you cannot be Cypriot but you have to be Cypriot something, this community was assumed to be Turkish Cypriots. Ignorant and dismissive of their history, identity and non-sedentary lifestyle, the group was largely ignored when new barbed wired ethnically drawn lines and were forced to move into new ‘ethnic’ zones. Since the partition of the island in 1974 the majority of the Gypsies have been living in the Turkish sector.
An ancient part of Cyprus, the Roma are estimated to have arrived between 1322 and 1400 from present day Lebanon and Syria, the community has long lived beside all communities living off small trade. According to Andre Theret ('les Egyptiens ou Bohemiens') who visited Cyprus in 1579, the Roma “observed a simple life supported by the production of nails by the men and belts by the women, which were sold to the local population.” Despite being marginalized in both north and south, the Gypsies survive by selling donkeys and mules, making jewellery and kebab skewers to sell and fortune telling to local communities. Unaccustomed to earning money they do this only for food and never for money.
Dom Research Center (DRC) estimates that there are three main elements, a long-established Greek Orthodox community, a more recent Muslim group and a few Kalderash families. Ignorant of the Roma nomadic way of life and preoccupied with the Cyprus problem, both north and in the areas controlled by the Republic Roma Gypsies suffer from a range of complications of division. These range from the predictable obstacle to movement, poor health care, poverty, lack of food and water and shelter. Roma families in the Republic face housing problems, and many Roma children do not attend school. The ombudsman opened an investigation when Roma children were suspended from school until they were tested for hepatitis. Today there are between 500 and 1,000 Gypsies who permanently live on Cyprus zig-zagging the Green Line, a full citizen of neither side. Their fate lies in a solution to the Cyprus problem but they are forced to wait and straddle along, meanwhile they are largely ignored in both north and south while the larger Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities press for their demands. The failure for any side to think as a Cypriot first and Greek or Turk second means that small communities lke the Roma will continue to suffer.
Roma Gypsies are forgotten wherever they live in the world. Cyprus is no exception. When the 1960 Constitution was drawn up the Roma were not even mentioned unlike Cyprus’ other minorities, the Latins, Maronites and Armenians. In a Cyprus where you cannot be Cypriot but you have to be Cypriot something, this community was assumed to be Turkish Cypriots. Ignorant and dismissive of their history, identity and non-sedentary lifestyle, the group was largely ignored when new barbed wired ethnically drawn lines and were forced to move into new ‘ethnic’ zones. Since the partition of the island in 1974 the majority of the Gypsies have been living in the Turkish sector.
An ancient part of Cyprus, the Roma are estimated to have arrived between 1322 and 1400 from present day Lebanon and Syria, the community has long lived beside all communities living off small trade. According to Andre Theret ('les Egyptiens ou Bohemiens') who visited Cyprus in 1579, the Roma “observed a simple life supported by the production of nails by the men and belts by the women, which were sold to the local population.” Despite being marginalized in both north and south, the Gypsies survive by selling donkeys and mules, making jewellery and kebab skewers to sell and fortune telling to local communities. Unaccustomed to earning money they do this only for food and never for money.
Dom Research Center (DRC) estimates that there are three main elements, a long-established Greek Orthodox community, a more recent Muslim group and a few Kalderash families. Ignorant of the Roma nomadic way of life and preoccupied with the Cyprus problem, both north and in the areas controlled by the Republic Roma Gypsies suffer from a range of complications of division. These range from the predictable obstacle to movement, poor health care, poverty, lack of food and water and shelter. Roma families in the Republic face housing problems, and many Roma children do not attend school. The ombudsman opened an investigation when Roma children were suspended from school until they were tested for hepatitis. Today there are between 500 and 1,000 Gypsies who permanently live on Cyprus zig-zagging the Green Line, a full citizen of neither side. Their fate lies in a solution to the Cyprus problem but they are forced to wait and straddle along, meanwhile they are largely ignored in both north and south while the larger Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities press for their demands. The failure for any side to think as a Cypriot first and Greek or Turk second means that small communities lke the Roma will continue to suffer.
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