Identity
The fact of being what you are.
‘To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.’ - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I am Cypriot, (Armenian-Syrian) Cypriot. Second generation Island born. Daughter of a first generation diaspora born, my mother’s first. Second one, after her, to be born on the Island of Venus. Born to a Cypriot mother, identified as an ‘Alien’ until my early teens.
My father, first generation Syrian born, Syrian Armenian. Both my parents, raised by direct Armenian Genocide survivors. Both sets of my grandparents landing on new shores with the clothes on their back and faith in their heart. Nothing else.
Angel Habetian, me, registered in the department of aliens and immigration few weeks after my birth, stamped by the Republic of Cyprus given an alien card with a serial number and a tiny passport size photo.
Sixty plus years after my grandparents landed in Cyprus as children, started their lives over, learned the language, opened their own businesses, gave back to the community, their granddaughter was to be still seen and identified as an alien and an immigrant.
My household was a tri-lingual one by speech and a penta-lingual one in passing. Armenian, Turkish and Arabic was spoken in the house, English and Greek were overheard on the radio and television or when friends were over.
So where are you actually from?
How many times have you been asked that question and in how many ways do you answer it.
How many minutes is courteous to give a full and reasonable answer that honors all my ancestors plight to keep their identity? How many brackets do I need to insert and how many boxes do I need to tick to ensure the one asking the question really understands where I am actually from.
Armenians are official ethnic minorities in Cyprus, identified as Cypriot, (as are Maronites) for some reason we are both classed as religious rather than ethnic minorities, yet you will find neither of our communities mentioned on any official documents.
When we have to fill out a form we must fill it out as the citizens of Cyprus that we are, however, box number three, ‘other’ is our only option.
Whenever the Cyprus issue is discussed the constitutional term ‘bi-communal’ is used. Referring to the Turkish and Greek speaking Cypriot communities, again, the Armenian and Maronite communities not in sight. Communities that have been part of Cyprus for hundreds of years.
Other - Denoting a person that is different or distinct.
Othered - To view, or treat a person as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself.
On April 22, 2025 I embarked on a pilgrimage to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. I chose that specific date, as April 24, 2025 marked 110 years of the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. I wanted to go place flowers at the eternal flame and send prayers in memory of my ancestors from that very location together with tens of thousands of other Armenians.
This was no ‘holiday’ or retreat, this was coming face to face with the land of my ancestors and thanking them for giving me the privilege to not only be alive, but have the ability to speak and say prayers in my mother tongue.
For some, the Armenian genocide is a thing of the past, for me, and others in the diaspora, it is a very present reality.
The very reason I am an other on those forms, the reason I was classed as an alien and an immigrant, the reason I can only spend 180 visitor days a year in my own homeland, is because I am not Armenian but Cypriot on paper.
Cypriot, but not really, Cypriot of the ‘other’ kind.
Armenian, but not really, Armenian of the ‘other’ kind.
Uprooted: 1915-
