Slavery changing the colour of Cyprus

When I visited Cyprus for a holiday 19 years ago, I was living in a village called Lapta. There I met a lovely and jovial man named Hamza, who looked exactly like Idi Amin.

I thought Hamza must have been a person who immigrated to Cyprus to find work and stayed. But family members told me he was Turkish and they knew his parents and grandparents and they were all Turkish. On one occasion I met Hamza’s parents and neither of them were black. They had olive skin and I pointed this out. But I was informed that his maternal grandfather was black and the gene had been carried forward.

I saw another Black person in my Uncle’s village, but this man looked Ethiopian. My uncle said that he was ‘Zenci’. I had no idea what that word meant, but I assumed it meant Negro.

I have since found out that Cyprus was an Island that grew with the utilization of Slave labour. When Cyprus was under Ottoman rule, Black slaves were commonly transferred over from Egypt and sold to the rich, Ottoman Turks in Cyprus. The slaves lived with the Turkish families and worked on their land toiling the soil. Female slaves cared for the owner’s children. It was said that, Black slaves were prized possessions as they could do the work of five Cypriots.

After Slavery was abolished the Black slaves stayed in Cyprus, often staying in the same village as their previous owners. Over the years the Black minority has successfully integrated into Cypriot life, creating a sizable mixed race population. There are many Cypriots with dark complexions and this could be the result of racial intermarriages. Journalist, Alkan Chagler has written about Cyprus's dark past, which can be read here.

Today there is a new slavery in Cyprus. The illegal trafficking of Baltic and Slavic ladies for sexual exploitation on both divides of the Island. The Girls are referred to as ‘artistes’ in the South and ‘Natashas’ in the North. According to a study “The Protection Project, The Cabaret Artistes of Cyprus,” published by Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C. it is estimated that one in eight foreign artistes marry Cypriot men.

Last year I entertained some people from Cyprus, who were on holiday in Australia, at my home. Tulay and her family were from the village of Pergamos. They informed me that 4 men from their village had married Natashas and bought them back to live within the village. They confirmed that men marrying foreign girls were becoming a frequent occurrence in Cyprus.

I asked Tulay how the villagers felt about these foreign girls moving into their village. She told me that the girls had settled in well. Then Tulay said, ‘Some of these girls are truly beautiful. We as women sometimes stare at them, so how can we blame the men for being overwhelmed with their beauty.’ I thought that was a lovely and honest response.


Recently while surfing the net I came across a photo of some ‘Turkish’ girls wearing traditional costume at a festival in Pergamos, Cyprus. I immediately remembered Tulay’s words.

In generations to come, the children born from marriages with former new-age slaves will again alter the colour of Cypriots.