ABSTRACT
Similarly, the Greek Cypriot children learned of Cyprus as "the young, sad, and unprotected daughter awaiting the mother's (Greece's) embrace." They are taught that Cyprus has always been a Hellenic island and will remain so forever, despite the fact that there are many remnants of other civilizations on the island, as it is at the crossroads of three continents. The call was to stay faithful believers in the "ideals and values of the Hellenic Ethnos and to Orthodoxy. This is the only way to safeguard our national consciousness and our identity. Have we not been for 3,000 years inhaling and exhaling Greece?" (Simerini, April 12, 1992). A recent analysis of the Greek Cypriot history textbooks demonstrates how emphasis is laid on the Hellenization of the island in the 12th century B.C. and the construction of an unbroken Hellenic continuity starting in the 12th century B.C. up to the present. In contrast, the history textbooks of the Turkish Cypriot children present the island as being Turkish for 400 years and they present the Greeks who lived on the island as Rums (Romoi, Romans), which implies that they were a mixed race; they thus challenge the Greekness of the island. Thus, two nations, which according to the official narratives have been mortal enemies for centuries, have had claims on Cyprus and still continue to do so to this day.
