Recent posts in my Cyprus Category
August 1, 2008
A brief history of Olympic dissent: Athens 1896
The selection of Beijing and The People's Republic of China to host the 2008 Olympics was always a controversial choice, which has thrown a sometimes unwelcome spotlight on the country. China's record on Internet censorship, human rights, the death penalty and the environment have all been questioned by the Western media as they cover the build-up to the games, and the torch relay, intended to be a celebration of the spirit of the games, was instead a focal point...
July 2, 2008
.cc not .cy for the TRNC
I spotted this poster on the Underground the other night, and I was quite intrigued - no, not because of the lady in the bikini - but because of the domain name being used to promote tourism in 'North Cyprus'. Of course, one man's 'North Cyprus' is another man's 'Turkish Republic of North Cyprus', which is another man's 'Turkish occupied Κύπρος'. Whichever way you look at it, the TRNC does not have an internationally recognised TLD for the Internet, although...
March 9, 2007
BBC News linking to the TRNC "government" in Cyprus related stories
The BBC has been reporting today on the demolition of one of the barriers along the Green Line in Nicosia, Europe's last remaining divided capital. I was interested to note that in their related internet links section on the story they choose to link to not just the legitimate sites of the EU, Greece, Turkey and the island's Greek Cypriot government, but also to the website of the TRNC "government" in the Northern part of the island. Internationally, of...
December 19, 2006
More reaction to Arsenal's move to ban all national flags from their stadium
The furore over the 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus' flag at Arsenal's Emirates stadium has been going on for a couple of months now, not that you would know that from the BBC's pathetic news story covering this weekend's announcement by the club that all national flags and nationalists flags are to be banned from the stadium. The piece simply trots out the official Arsenal line that "The move comes after some fans have been upset at the waving of...
December 18, 2006
Arsenal forced to ban all national flags over Cypriot dispute
I wrote at the beginning of the month about the dispute at Arsenal caused by the repeated flying of the unrecognised 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus' flag by Mete Ahmed within their new Emirates stadium. At the time, Arsenal had considered that since it was not specifically against the law to fly the flag within the UK, they would be taking no action over it. However, pressure from the Greek Cypriot community appears to have swayed the clubs opinion. In...
December 1, 2006
Cypriot flag dispute at Arsenal
The relationship between Greece and the rest of the EU on one side, and Turkey on the other side, has been getting a lot of attention this week due to their inability to reach an agreement over Cyprus. Since the turmoil caused in 1974 by first the Greek backed coup on the island, followed by the Turkish invasion, relations have still not been normalised over thirty years later. Only Turkey recognises the northern part of the island as a nation...
January 24, 2005
Moufflon on the menu
I achieved a culinary ambition this weekend, when I discovered that the Slovakian hotel I was staying at in Bratislava had moufflon on the lunch-time menu. Moufflon are a small cross between a deer and a sheep that are indigenous to Cyprus. They were hunted to near extinction early last century, and so they are now protected by the Cypriot government in a reserve within the Troodos mountain range. I have always assumed that there must be a black market...
January 19, 2005
A religious lesson in a taxi
I had a worrying conversation with my taxi driver to Paphos airport yesterday. I had been in the car for five or so minutes when he turned and asked me: "What religion are you?" "Sorry?", I replied "What religion are you?" "None", I answered. "Are you a Catholic or a Protestant?", he continued. "Well, my dad is Catholic, and my mum Protestant, but I am neither." "You have no God? Why?" It is actually a question that I have rarely,...
February 25, 2004
What is a ticket? And how does it apply to over-booked flights?
Maybe I should have watched more airport reality shows and been prepared for this, but I was astonished late last year to turn up at Heathrow and find I couldn't get onto the flight I had tickets for, because it was over-booked. I am fairly sure major airlines have better legal advice than me, and that I had in fact only puchased some sort of "permission to try to fly you if we have space" voucher. However I naivly...