What does Greek sound like to a non speak

Don't be provocative for the blood and all these stupid things. From the first time that some people claimed that Greeks were mixed up with other nations, a lot of reasearches took place on the blood and the physical characteristics of Greeks. What was the conclusion? That they cannot find any connection to the Turkish or Slavic DNA. Serbs, Croatians, Slovenes, Skopjians etc are Slavs. Saying that we have the same religion or we are a friendly nation with one of them (Serbs) is not a proof. 

Byzantine Empire was a Hellenic multicultural Empire (just like Ottoman Empire which was a Turkish Empire included Greeks, Albanians, Slavs etc). Greek language, Greek Orthodoxy, Greek Leaders. The Fall of Constantinople was a defeat of Greeks (ask the Turks for this who are very proud of it) and not a general defeat of all the people who lived in the Empire. Byzantium, Constantinople was the Center of Hellenism. But of course this part of history belongs to all the Balkanian nations and not only to Greece.

Let's talk about the topic of this thread. Anyone who is not interested can go somewhere else to continue this stupid argument.

Aeolus

World is still turning my friend.

Dear friends hi!

I only want to say one thing.

Read "the gates of fire" by Pressfield. The book is.... i cant describe it.

Maybe our friends understand the difference between freedom and slavery.

Freedom since 480 B.C. and you still dont have it in your country.

Dont forget the banner from the recent games between Greece and Panathinaikos. "Ismir Gold medal to Greeks from swimming" in the first and "Instabul turkish since 1453" (or something like that). i dont remember to have any banner in our home matches.

As for the Albanians there are good people (most of them). They just need some years to get civilized.

Hi, this is my first post.

Greek language is spoken very fastly. On the film Rebetiko, the speech between Babis and Marika is extremely fast, as if they are repeating a tongue twister!

As for the ongoing discussions:

I think that all peoples and nations are characterised by the history. History gives them positions and peoples act according to these positions. No one can accuse our Greek friends for getting angry about for they are ruled by the Ottoman Empire. This is universal for every nation, who were dominated by another power. Also, noone can expect that a traditional empire, i.e. the Ottoman Empire, can act as a "social state" of the 20th century.

Being oppressive was the character of the traditional empires. Not only towards their subject nations but also their own people, too. In fact, the Ottoman Empire was also opressive against its Turkish subjects. Ottomans never used the name "Turk" for themselves. Ottomans cared much about taxes, rather than identities and Islam was just a political tool for them.It was only after the independences of subject nations that Turkish natinalism emerged. It was as late as the beginning of the 20th century. It is obviously very late, therefore Turkish nation building has problems even today. However nation building is also very young (since the French Revolution, i.e. the late 18th Century) as a fact. Nations are artificial constructions, though they have some basis in the history. "Imagined Communities
Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism" by Benedict Anderson is a very useful source for this issue.

Nation building requires a "bad" other against whom "we" struggled and became independent. All national histories use this view and they need  this in order to survive. Without glorifying the struggle and anger against Turkey, the modern national Greek identity wouldn't exist. Nor the Turkish national identity would exist without the subject nations' "betrayal" and the independence war against Greeks. It is because of their historical position that the nationalists of Greek, Serbian, etc. formerly subject nations act the "oppressed innocents" while Turkish nationalists act the"tolerant ruler". I think that nationalist views are distorted retrospective visions.

I think the key word is "empathy" for better relations. Turks should admit that Greeks cannot view being ruled by a foreign power as a good thing. Remember that Turks fought a harsh struggle against the Greek Army for not being a subject nation. Also, Greeks should admit that none of the traditional empires would like to grant complete freedom or any land to its subjects. Remember, the Byzantine Empire fought for every inch of its land until the fell of Constantinople (or �stanbul) and they also had cruel kings like  Basil II Bulgaroctonos (The Bulgar Slayer). Of course, this doesn't justify any oppression of any state. It was just the nature of traditional empires.

 Prof. Dr. Herkul Millas, who is a Greek academist born in Turkey and studies the perception of the "Other" in both Greece and Turkey claims that both Turks and Greeks built their nations with the inspiration from the Europeans, they even began to use the names "Turk" and "Hellen" instead of "Ottoman" and "Romios" with this inspiration. (As I remember). He has very useful studies on these peoples' perception of each other and shows the ways to understand them. Ex: Do and Not To Do Guide for Better Turkish-Greek Relations, Turkish Novel and the "Other": The Greek Image in National Identity (I don't know if the original title are these).

Blaming each other for their ancestor's deeds is nonsense. Also, claiming superiority depending on those ancestors is nonsense. All of the ancient cultures are humanity's legacy. All peoples in all countries suffer from oppressions, exploitation, or lack of democracy. Turks and Greeks are also included in this. Both of them experienced military coups and anti democratic practices (Greece between 1967-1974 and Turkey in 1980 and onwards). Like Greeks, Turkish people struggle for better democratic conditions and much things are better in terms of democracy, compared to a few years ago.

I dream of a world without any oppression and dislike nationalistic struggles.

By the way, I don't know how tu quote. I'll appreciate any help, thanks

Your aproach was excellent, although i may disagree with some things too.

Welcome! 

Nice try kotumeyil!  

We shouldn't deny our past. It consists of glorious and opprobrious times and actions.  

Greek sounds like a twister?  I had no idea.