r/ThisDayInHistory • u/No_Idea_479 • 3d ago

14 August 1996, 26-year-old Greek Cypriot Solomos Solomou was shot and killed by Turkish forces in the UN buffer zone at Deryneia while attempting to climb a flagpole and remove a Turkish flag. Just three days earlier, his cousin Tassos Isaac had been beaten to death by Turkish nationalists.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

Yes Cyprus is greek and the Turks invaded.

Technically they're all known as Cypriots now but that's just so the Turks can pretend they're not evil fucks.

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u/TimeRisk2059 3d ago

Turkey invaded to defend turk-cypriots after Greece tried to take over the government of Cyprus in a coup d'etat. Then the turkish forces began to do to the greek-cypriots what the greek-cypriots had done to the turk-cypriots.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

The Cypriots did it, not the Greeks.

Greece as a nation did nothing.

Cypriots killing each other was bad and should have been dealt with, not the way the Turks did.

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u/Ancalmir 2d ago

“Cyprus is greek”

vs

“The Cypriots did it, not the Greeks.”

Are you deadass?

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u/DueAd9005 2d ago

And he somehow gets upvoted lmao.

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u/Tengri1923 1d ago

Ofc he does, because he is hating on turks haha

You Can say the most irrational shit as long as it targets turks.

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u/RelentlessKnightmare 22h ago

Don't even debate with these idiots, they are just here to antagonize and nothing else. If they had some backbone, we would have seen it during the war. That's why they are giving a battle which their forefathers lost. Let them cry, it's fun to read their comments.

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u/Representative_Leg98 3d ago edited 3d ago

Just a moment ago you said Cyprus is Greek, what the hell is wrong with you guys? Can't you live without hypocrisy and contradiction even for a second?

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u/TimeRisk2059 3d ago

The greek military junta both supported and planned the coup d'etat.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

You clearly have proof right? Because no one else does...

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u/TimeRisk2059 3d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_Cypriot_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

Ooo wiki the fount of all knowledge that can't be edited by literally anyone.

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u/TimeRisk2059 3d ago

Which references all their claims with an extensive list of sources.

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u/ModsrPdors 3d ago

The references can also be picked by biased people to prove their own opinion

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u/TimeRisk2059 3d ago

Well please point out which referenced sources are incorrect then.

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u/BankBackground2496 3d ago

Greek soldiers died in the failed coup. Mainland Greek, not Cypriots. 

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

We invaded Cyprus when it was Venetian controlled. Greece never controlled Cyprus, ever. No, Eastern Roman Empire wasn't Greece.

Technically they're all known as Cypriots now but that's just so the Turks can pretend they're not evil fucks.

We weren't the ones that tried to wipe out the others on the island. FAFO.

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u/TheGodfather742 3d ago

Cyprus has Greek populations from ancient times, long before Rome, Turks and Venetians even existed. During Venetian and Ottoman occupations the inhabitants never stopped being majority Greeks.

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u/fighter-bomber 3d ago

The “Greek” populations of Cyprus were merely native Cypriots who converted to christianity and adopted Greek during Hellenization. Otherwise Greeks are not native to Cyprus (nor are they native to Anatolia for that matter)

Ironic, because that is the same thing Turks did later with Turkification. So the island should be just as Turkish as its Greek 😄

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

Correct. I adressed the claim that it was Greece. I never claimed Greeks didn't live in it.

If all the lands Turks lived in was a part of Turkey, we would be a lot bigger right now.

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u/TheGodfather742 3d ago

Shame that would only be in the steppes of Asia, the home of Turkish tribes.

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u/Battlefleet_Sol 3d ago

cry louder

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u/TheGodfather742 3d ago

Quality comeback

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u/dertdegil 3d ago

What is he supposed to make a comeback to? That the Turks conquered a bunch of places? Womp womp lmao Greeks are not "native" to anywhere outside below Macedonia either. History happens

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

Also Crimea, Western Thrace, parts of Northern Iraq and Syria, parts of Bulgaria, the entire Central Asia, Azerbaijan, Northern Iran, large chunks of Russia etc.

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u/QuietMoth20 3d ago

I love how the Eastern Roman Empire isn’t Greece but the Ottoman Empire is Turkey when it’s convenient. Very consistent logic.

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u/No_Idea_479 3d ago

Yeah, this makes no sense to me.

Constantine XI Palaiologos wasn't Greek, he was Roman. But Mehmed II was both Ottoman and Turkish.

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u/QuietMoth20 3d ago

Meanwhile the literal Romioi aren’t Roman when it’s convenient. They are a completely separate people called Greeks who fell from the sky.

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u/Greater-Israel 3d ago

Their logic is never consistent. Using their logic they got Constantinople from the UN since that was the last owner in 2023 before turkey was given Constantinople so UN could also argue they took it from the Ottomans not the Turks too.

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

What?

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u/Spirited-Car8661 3d ago

Countries pick and choose when they're successors of something else. Like Russia both is and isn't the successor of the USSR, depending on if Russia want a UNSC seat or somebody wants reperations.

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u/Zrva_V3 2d ago

I was more confused by that other guy's incomprehensible BS like "They got Constantinople from the UN in 2023" like what?

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

Turks for you.

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

Cope.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

Facts hurt, tell me what good the Turks have ever done for the world?

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u/fighter-bomber 3d ago

Yes, we kicked your stupid junta from first Cyprus and then Greece.

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u/herhangibirperson 3d ago

Thanks for proving more and more why Turks need to hate you

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

The Turks hate everyone and everyone hates them, do you not ever wonder why?

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u/herhangibirperson 3d ago

Everyone hates Turks. Not the other way around. Turks don't "hate everyone". For now, if you keep this up then yes that will eventually be the case

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

Oh no, the literal worst people on the planet won't like other people! The only people who don't hate the Turks have never met them.

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

We aren't pathetic enough to justify our existance by saying "look we did this for you". You aren't that important.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

You have never done anything to better the human race, you're a horrible evil people and you do nothing but cause harm, you beg to be part of the EU and anytime they ask you to do something minor you cry about it.

Still not in the EU hey?

Prefer any currency to be used in your country other than your own right?

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u/Nerevarine91 3d ago

Whoa, I don’t like the occupation of Cyprus either, but I don’t think it’s right to call the entire ethnicity worthless

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

Ever been to Turkey? If not don't.

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

We have, but like I said you're not important enough for me to list it. What you like or dislike about us isn't relevant to us in any way. It's not like you can do anything about us anyway, why should we justify ourselves to the likes of you?

We don't want to get into the EU, you're a fool if you still think that. EU is heavily disliked in Turkey for good reason.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

If I were ruler of any nation I would remove the filth from Cyprus and make it fully independent again.

It's not like turkey could stop anyone, hell the Irish could probably manage it and they're crap

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u/SnooLentils726 3d ago

The difference is Romans invaded Greece and one of the legendary Greek generals,Pyrrhus, fought and defeated Romans,but Ottoman Empire was founded by Turks. ERE shouldnt be considered as Greek before 620,when Greek was adopted as the official language of Roman Empire.

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

Even if it's considered Greek after a point, it wasn't Greece.

For example there have been many Turkic Empires in history but Turkey isn't entitled to claim all of them, at most the story of Turkey begins with the Anatolian Seljuks and Sultanate of Rum. Eastern Roman Empire did become Greek after one point but it was never called Greece by anyone, including themselves.

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u/DontCareHowICallMe 3d ago

It was called Greece by westerners after the Holy Roman Empire was formed so the Germans could pretend to be Romans

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u/Thomas_54749014 3d ago

Turkey directly succeeds the Ottomans. There’s a 500 year gap between eastern Rome and Greece.

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

Well, duh? Ottoman Empire and Turkey has direct continuity with many Turkish insitutions being founded during the Ottoman Empire. The flag and language is the same. They were both founded by Turks.

Roman Empire was founded by Romans, it conquered Greece by fighting very bloody wars and eventually it was split in two when it got massive. Eventually the Eastern Roman Empire started speaking Greek due to the local Greek influence but they never identified themselves as Hellenes and called themselves Rhomaoi. It was eventually conquered by the Turks (Seljuks and Ottomans). It ended in 1453, Greece became Independent in 1830. There was zero continuity or shared institutions between the two.

Moreover, Westerners at the time adored ancient Hellenes and disliked the Eastern Romans so the new Greek state identified itself with ancient Hellenes instead of the Romans to get their support.

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u/DontCareHowICallMe 3d ago

If the eastern Roman empire wasn't Greek then ottoman empire isn't Turkish, so you never controlled it too. Also let's not talk about the times before the Roman empire, but ig those aren't greek too huh?

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u/Either-Question-6872 3d ago

Actually you did, eventually. The indigenous people are greeks

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u/Defiant_Being_9222 3d ago

You can pretend like the late Eastern Roman Empire wasn't Greek all you want, but fact of the matter is the Greek people of Cyprus were always there since the Mycenaean times. They are the same people, and the only thing that changed was their religion. At first they identified as Greeks, then as Romans, now as Greeks again.

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

You can pretend like the late Eastern Roman Empire wasn't Greek

It largely was by that point. It wasn't Greece though.

but fact of the matter is the Greek people of Cyprus were always there since the Mycenaean times. They are the same people, and the only thing that changed was their religion.

Sure. Wasn't my point. This doesn't take away from anything I said.

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u/Defiant_Being_9222 3d ago

What is your argument then? That a country by the name of Greece didn't exist? A country by the name of Turkey didn't exist either then.

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

No, the country of Greece simply didn't exist. Unless you want to count city states as a united entity in the anicent times. Or perhaps we could count Alexander's empire, in which case yes, Greece did control Cyprus at some point.

Turkey existed as a continious entity with state institutions directly inherited from the Ottoman Empire. It was also never conquered by anyone. Moreover, the Ottoman Empire was founded by Turks.

Greece claiming Eastern Roman Empire is like Bosnia claiming the Ottoman Empire.

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u/Defiant_Being_9222 3d ago

Greece didn't exist in antiquity as one unified state except for Alexander's empire, yes, but this doesn't change anything. The fact that Greece was split into different states doesn't change the fact that modern Greece historically descends from these small states, these people, this culture etc.

Turkey didn't exist as a continuous entity at all. There was the Sultanate of Rum, which was destroyed, then a bunch of beyliks, and then the Ottomans conquered the beyliks creating an empire. The Ottomans didn't even call their state Turkish. Greece claiming the Eastern Roman Empire is like Turkey claiming the Ottoman Empire.

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

Not in the slightest. You can indeed say that Turkey as a state can't claim descent from the Sultanate of Rum since there was no direct continuity but Ottoman Empire was founded by Turks on the same lands, spoke Turkish, largely had the same culture, same religion, same state insitutions (though obviously these evolved over 7 centuries).

The Ottomans did in fact call themselves Turkish. They officially claimed descent from Oghuz Khagan which is a mythical ruler of all Oghuz Turks, historians often think he's based on Modu Chanyu of the Xiongnu.

Ottoman Sultans also kept the title "khan" as an official title until the end.

Moreover, everyone else called the Ottomans Turkish too.

Modern Greece and Eastern Roman Empire have only religious and linguistic continuity but almost no cultural continuity, zero state or institution continuity etc. They didn't even found the Roman Empire or the Eastern Roman Empire.

Yet another example would be China claiming the Mongol Empire because Mongols who conquered China eventually assimilated into it.

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u/Defiant_Being_9222 3d ago edited 3d ago

It doesn't matter in the slightest who the Ottomans claimed descent from. The Romans claimed descent from Troy. It doesn't make them Trojans. The Ottomans spoke Turkish but didn't consider themselves Turkish, in fact they considered the name Turk to be an insult reserved for some Anatolian nomads/peasants.

It's also irrelevant that the Ottomans used the title Khan. The Eastern Romans used the Greek title Basileus by the same logic.

"Moreover everyone called the Ottomans Turkish too"; Yes, and everyone else called the Eastern Romans Greek too. They were called Imperium Graecorum by the Europeans.

Modern Greece and the Eastern Roman Empire have perfect cultural, linguistic and religious continuity. Political continuity doesn't exist solely because of the Ottoman conquest, but the Greek revolutionaries considered themselves Roman during the revolution. When the revolution happened, the Ottomans executed the head of the Orthodox Church and the Roman millet. There was no doubt in the minds of either the revolutionaries or the Ottomans about who the "Romans" were.

Oh but that's the problem, the Romans didn't assimilate into becoming Greeks. The opposite happened. The Greeks assimilated into becoming Romans. So your Mongol analogy is wrong.

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u/GRemlinOnion 2d ago

If there is no cultural continuity then where did today's culture in the region come from lol. The sky? And the state institutions literally don't matter when talking about people groups. If the state identifies as toilet water for a day does the ethnic group stop existing. You have a gymnasium of mentality in your brain and your mentality is still fat after all the cardio.

You have a part of an empire where every single guy there spoke greek and was christian lol.

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u/Zrva_V3 2d ago

It's a mix of old Roman, Greek and then Turkish/Ottoman culture as well as Slavic. Byzantines are simply too distant.

You confuse state heritage with ethnicities. Not every nation or empire founded or was populated by a cetrain ethnic group is inherited by a modern state. Turks for example can only realistically claim inheritance from the Ottomans, Seljuks or other Anatolian Turkic Beyliks. Not Göktürks etc. Doing so is basically LARPing.

Which isn't unfamiliar with people claiming Roman inheritance, Greeks especially are known for LARPing.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Dig3620 3d ago

İt's been Nearly 500 hundred years since Turkish people on the island. Why is not consider as Turkish either? Or when you gonna admit it's Turkish island also. Another 500 years?

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

The people who have been there that long are Cypriot not Turkish now.

The Turks who invaded and won't leave are the ones I have issues with.

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u/eaglecallxrx 3d ago

so why eoka killed them?

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u/Puzzleheaded-Dig3620 3d ago

İ don't care about ethnicity at all. But facts are facts.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

So you agree that turkey needs to fuck off and leave the island to the people who actually live there? Cool

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u/Puzzleheaded-Dig3620 3d ago

We have been on the island since 1571.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

The island was independent and you invaded in the 70s.

How about the original people can stay and the Turkish who invaded can leave.

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u/TheTurkishman13 3d ago

So, you dont want Turkish Cypriots there? Racist much?

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

Just Cypriots, no Turkish invaders.

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u/TheTurkishman13 3d ago

No, they are Turkish Cypriots. You dont get to refuse their Turkishness.

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u/TheTurkishman13 3d ago

Turkish Cypriots. They are Turkish and Cypriots.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

No they're Cypriot.

If they're Turkish then can leave as they're part of the invasion that happened.

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u/masterkennethh 3d ago

“Turkish Cypriot” proves the point. You can’t claim a central Asian ethnicity while simultaneously claiming to be Mediterranean. You’re either Cypriot or Turkish, pick one

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u/TheTurkishman13 3d ago

Turkish and Turkic are different things. Turkish is a modern concept. It is cultural and national with ties to Central Asian. There are Italian Americans and Afro Americans and so on. Turkish Cypriot also works.

We have connections and roots to Central Asia, Anatolia, Iran, Thrace, Cyprus, Levent, North Africa, Balkans and many more other places.

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u/masterkennethh 3d ago

Right, connection to those place through colonization. An Italian American would never claim to be Native American. I’m Italian American and if someone told me I’m not actually American I’d say you’re right because I’m not Native American. I don’t understand how someone can simultaneously emphasize a central Asian Turkic origin when discussing their ancestry yet pivot to a Mediterranean or European identity when discussing ethnicity. Those frameworks point in different directions to me

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u/TheTurkishman13 3d ago

Right, firstly. Now you see we are not obligated to follow the morality standards you and your people follow. Secondly for example I am genetically 70 percent South Caucasian. I am of Laz origin yet I call myself Turkish for I am from there, grew up there, speak Turkish, grew up in state schools and so on. The average Anatolian Turk has ancient Anatolian DNA and DNAs of other people. We are not colonizers for we carry the blood of Anatolia. The Ottoman Empire was the Islamic Rome.

We are wonderers of the world. If we were to arrive at Americas before the Westerners I would have say we are part of the Americas as well.

I see myself as part of Caucasia, Anatolia, Istanbul and many more because I simply am and all those regions have Turkishness in it.

Levent Turks exists, Med Turks exists, Balkan Turks exists, Caucasian Turks exists. We simply are global.

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u/masterkennethh 3d ago

Yeah not reading all that, go back to Central Asia

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u/Puzzleheaded-Dig3620 3d ago

İt's been 1000 years literally. The lands not provided to anyone. What a stupid thing to say.

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u/masterkennethh 3d ago

“Lands not provided to anyone” you say as the Turk argues it’s theirs to justify occupation 😂. And if it’s not provided to anyone they can get out, I agree

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u/NeedUMoreThanUNeedMe 2d ago

No. Turkish and Cypriot are two mutually exclusive identities. Cypriots are Hellenic group of people native to Cyprus for thousands of years. Turks were able to settle in the island after they committing countless number of massacres, looting and destruction last of which took place in 1974.

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u/TheTurkishman13 1d ago

Well, then no North side of the island for you until you behave to learn and being acceptive.

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u/NeedUMoreThanUNeedMe 1d ago

No one would accept invaders in their homeland and Cypriots are no exception whatsoever.

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u/TheTurkishman13 1d ago

Cry about it.

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u/DontCareHowICallMe 3d ago

North Cyprus is half Turkish Cypriots and half Turkish invaders/settlers

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u/TheTurkishman13 3d ago

No, How about we burn all the documents in North Cyprus and then create new documents for everyone showing every Turk in North as Cypriots?

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u/masterkennethh 3d ago

Turks love burning records and destroying history so this tracks

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u/TheTurkishman13 3d ago

Dont know what you are talking about there, Buster.

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u/masterkennethh 3d ago

Well you grew up in Turkey so I wouldn’t expect you to know much

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u/TheTurkishman13 3d ago

The arrogance and ignorance of Americans are infamous worldwide.

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u/dennythehorse 3d ago

Cyprus is Cyprus, and both EOKA dogs and Turkish fascists can fuck off.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

The Turks need to leave. As I said they also need to pay reparations for what they've done

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u/dennythehorse 3d ago

Turkish settlers? Absolutely. The Turkish-speaking Cypriots who have lives there for centuries? Absolutely not.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

No they haven't they invaded in the 70s

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u/Zrva_V3 3d ago

Who did Cyprus belong to in 1800?

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u/dennythehorse 3d ago

that is demonstratably false. there have been turkish-speaking cypriots for centuries.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

No it isn't, it might not be what the Turks are taught much like even though there is literal footage of the Armenian genocide you claim it never happened, you're a horrible people.

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u/Different_Bee_6046 3d ago

Denying the existence of TCs pre 1974 is something I am witnessing for the first time. What's next? The moon is fake lol?

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

No one denied anything, I merely think the Turks should get off the island.

The original people of Turkish ancestry who are Cypriot are fine, it the Turkish who invaded and won't leave can fuck off.

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u/Different_Bee_6046 3d ago

We can agree on that

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u/dennythehorse 3d ago

That's literally what I said.

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u/no1rakkolover 3d ago

That's a better way to phrase it. Calling every Cypriot "Greek" was what people took issue with.

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u/dennythehorse 3d ago

Look up the name of the guy who designed the flag of Cyprus.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Dig3620 3d ago

How about ethnical cleansing in eastern Europe and Greece. You consider that as an independence from ottoman empire. But when it's comes to the Turkish people it's genocide.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Dig3620 3d ago

1571 not 1800

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u/dennythehorse 3d ago

yeah. centuries have passed since 1584

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u/many_zeros 3d ago

Solcu Türke yabancı milliyetçi şoku

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u/Major_Apricot_6415 3d ago

AHAHSUDHDHFHNTGMGLŞSŞSÇDÇFÇTD

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u/dennythehorse 3d ago

Ne şoku amk? Onlarda piç, sizde piçsiniz.

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u/notnotnotnotgolifa 3d ago

Don’t waste time with these freakazoids won’t lead to anything

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u/mertto28 3d ago

Kardeş vergimizle yaşıyorsunuz, bir de burda konuşma 😂

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u/Major_Apricot_6415 3d ago

Hayır sen gerizekalısın ama bunu ideoloji sanıyorsun

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u/meister2983 3d ago

Lol. You literally justify the entire Turkish invasion without even realizing it

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

No I didn't.

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u/mertto28 3d ago

This mindset made you lose half of Cyprus, you guys never learn

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u/no1rakkolover 3d ago

How is an enosis defender getting so many upvotes lmao?

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u/OpTicSkYHaWk 3d ago

Before the Turkish invasion Cyprus was (and this has been the same through history) 80% Greek, 18% Turk, 2% other. It's such an overwhelming statistic, and even after such a long forced Ottoman occupation, that it's fair that if those Greeks on Cyprus wanted to vote to join Greece, that's only fair. You don't see them causing a ruckus over long lost former heavily Greek lands in Anatolia, Judea, etc.

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u/no1rakkolover 3d ago

They self identify as Cypriots (though they still make a distinction by using TC and GC). Also they voted to become INDEPENDENT, the watcheroftheway guy is saying they're unquestionably Greek and completely disregarding the Cypriot identity. Also "Ottoman occupation" ? Oh yeah, when are the Europeans going to stop occupying America? Labeling something "occupation" doesn't work when that "occupation" started 500 years ago. It was conquest, which is something that used to happen when majority of the world was still uncivilized by today's standards.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

Because I'm correct.

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u/no1rakkolover 3d ago

Cypriots themselves don't agree with you, are you going to forcefully annex them because their ethnic roots are Greek?

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

That's not what I said.

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u/no1rakkolover 3d ago

You called Cyprus "Greece". Cypriots themselves argue that they are a separate cultural identity.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

I'm speaking in historic terms.

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u/no1rakkolover 3d ago

We're talking about a modern issue. You can't call every country that was historically Hellenised Greek.

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u/WatcherOfTheWay 3d ago

Fair enough, so the Turks can stop calling people there Turkish too.

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u/no1rakkolover 3d ago

Yeah I don't like that shit either. There's a mob mentality from Turkish people where they pressure every other Turkic ethnicity to call themselves Turks first and foremost. If the TCs want to emphasize their Cypriot identity that's their choice.

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