since we’re going into anthropology now..

I agree with Icarus that the Greeks have generally been typical Medditeranean stock, meaning stockier body, darker skin and darker hair. and there are some Greeks who are blonde and some who look more middle eastern.

For the Turks.. historically Turkic people have been more open to physical assimilation but the culture has stayed mostly intact..
as an example.. Karim Tatars have blonde hair and blue eyes, Kazan Tatars can range from slavic looking to mongol looking, Uighurs are usually inbetween Mongol and Persian looking, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Sakhalar are mongol to tungus looking. yet despite the wide differences in physical features.. the culture is relatively the same..especially with strong emphasis on musical oral tales of Batirs, wrestling, and usually a proud history of military history. Lingiustically they haven’t changed too much and the Turkic languages are more like dialects (with the exception of Chuvash). I’m currently studying Sakha language (the language of Turkic people living in the Russian Far east in the far far north by the arctic areas) and surprisingly could figure out many Turkish words. The Anatolian Turks (those in Turkey) are only from the Oguz group, meaning their closest relatives are Azerbaijani’s and Turkmens.. Azerbaijani’s appear to look very similar to Turkish people.. and Turkmen (who are probably the ancestors of Turkic armies that moved to presentday Turkey) look actually a bit similar yet different (Turkmen sometimes have eyes similar to that of east asians)

Originally posted by Sahin
, we are friends not enemies as long as we put the history behind us and look for the future…

Unfortunately that’s difficult for many (not just Greek/Turk scenario but many others) where history still plays an active role in fueling hostilities between the two. But its not impossible.. look at the US who’s now allies with most of the countries it fought in the past (Britain, Japan, Germany, etc)

Today, Turkish language is spoken by 280 million people around the world from central Asia

Thats what I find most interestign about Turks is that they range from blonde haired to blue eye, meditteranean looking, and east asian looking. I’m personally studying Yakut (Sakha) which is found in a Turkic republic in the Russian far east.

Originally posted by Twilight2002
Cyprus is pretty much the big fish in the Grecko-Turkish dispute, though rivalry existed centuries before the invasion in 1974. Both nations have a pathological hatred for one another, and it has shown itself time and again where the two ethnic communities live in Cyprus.

In 1999, Cyprus was supposedly going to acquire something in the region of 24 Mirage-F1CG jets from a Hellenic squadron in Crete, but France reportedly vetoed the deal, fearing that it might spark a war with Turkey (the loose cannon).

I believe that Cyprus should have the right to arm with anything it needs to defend itself from annihilation by Turkey. No legal nation or EU member should have to live under arms embargo by her fellow members.

Had I been in a position to counter the Mirage-veto, I would have taken the alternative to purchase batches of Czech L-159 Albatross jet-trainers and a squadron of either Gripens or Su-30 Flankers.

Flankers might be a bit too much for defensive purposes and too expensive to operate. the Gripen is a better solution for Cyprus defense needs as it requires little staff to maintain it ..but back to Greco-Turkish relations. I don’t particularly believe this pathological hatred. I find Anatolian Turks (the Turks of Turkey as there are numerous other types of Turks) rather indifferent about foreign relations although the Greek position is understandable due to the country being part of the Ottoman empire. But despite the different language and culture, the Turks of Turkey and the Greeks appear to be physically the same people (turks of Tatarstan or Kyrgyzstan look quite a bit different)

Other than the issue of Cyprus and aerial space, is there any other issues that is fueling the rivalry between the Greeks and Turks?

a question about greek/turkish airspace violation.

is the airspace in question one where both Turkey and Greece claim is theres? or is this undisputed airspace?

No the Soviet economy was simply different. Alot of areas were simply focused on developing one particular thing and not allowing much for autonomous operations. For example things in Sakhalin would be built purely for the development of gas while say somewhere in the middle of Russia such as Tyumen or something, it would be built exclusively to refine it. the problem is in the global economy, demands and prices change, and when they do, areas that focus on just one thing will get hard hit. Alot of those new independant USSR countries found themselves with alot of resources but the lack of means to develop them, everything was centralized. Under the soviet model it would work as things were running in that style.

Also i agree with Arthur, many areas are really difficult to reach and often there’s only one road route/train route into the region, and Russia is very very vast. Lately I’ve been doing alot of research on the Russian Far East and found that transport between Moscow to the Russian far east is rather difficult and mostly relies on one main rail line and alot of aircraft.. although the latter is becoming less so as many can’t afford aviation fuel

seems like none of the leaders in any of countries that came out of the USSR wans to give up any power. i agree with ya there that although Putin has too much power, he is definitely putting it to good use, unlike certain other fUSSR countries.. primarily Belarus and Turkmenistan.

I think Putin has done a much better job than Yeltsin, and he seems to be popular. As for Russia’s development and economy.. it seems to be going thru the same thing as China.. which is very uneven development (during Soviet times it was a bit more equal in comparison).. The highest standard of living in Russia is The Republic of Tatarstan, The Republic of Sakha, and Tyumen (which has the highest per capita income in Russia). I don’t have my references with me at the moment but Tyumen is enjoying prosperity due to it’s gas/oil industry. Sakha, which is an ethnic autonomous republic in Siberia has the lowest unemployment rate and the highest income in the Russian Far East, and although it’s suffering some hardship, it’s vast reserves of diamonds is keeping it afloat. Tatarstan benefits from it’s strong industrial base, not to mention the Kazan Mil plant is there 🙂 , the Turks seem to like investing into that region which they are ethnically related to.

In contrast, the Jewish autonomous oblast is doing very poorly as well as Chukota, Kamchatka, and Sakhalin somewhat (although Sakhalin has alot of potential). And areas such as Tyva and Karelia are still rather undeveloped and rely heavily on federal funds to keep things running there.