Who do Greeks consider closer?

I think if the Italians where conquered by Turks there wouldnt be a difference between an Italian and a Greek, they might have more in common then usual they have imo.

Originally posted by Jay. Well, I;m Serb and i have plenty of Greek friends, so i'm very close to them.

Our traditional culture resembles the other balkanian cultures. Traditional songs and dances etc vary from place to place, and generally resemble thier neighbouring cultures. In this terms (traditional culture), Albanian and Bulgarian are equally close to us. Italian also in the islands.

So now there are 3 more greek members  . One of them feels closer to Turkey, one to Italy and one to FYROM.

Originally posted by xristar By the way, according to genealogical analysis (of the Bologna university I think), we Greeks are mostly related to Iranians,

Alexander had arranged a mass wedding between approx 100
(was it??) of his officers and persian women in 324BC at Susa. 
(Which had been a political stunt in order to promote peace
and brotherhood between the two races.  And it worked,
because there was no further hostility after this event). 
So obviously there'll be traces of Greek genetic code in
people of those areas.
Which also explains the existence of blonde, blue-eyed,
freckled, fair skinned people in these regions, which on
a biological/physical level, from what i know, is contrary
to the natural/normal dark features of this race...just like
their Asian counterparts, ie Mongolian, Indian, Chinese, etc.

Originally posted by dorian First anthropological studies have shown that the slavic contribution to the greek gene pool is slight and the conclusion is that the greek DNA is genetically distinct.

 

Matter of fact, the Greeks haven't been subjected to racial
hybridisation as much as the propaganda/fallacies would have
us believe. 
Why is it that generally you can pick a Greek a mile away,
moreso than say, someone from Austria, France, Switzerland
or Germany, Belgium, etc. No pun intended there, but i'm sure
some of you will understand the point i'm trying to make.
Just some sources i have come across to support this.

Until the early 1990s, Greece had been an extremely
homogenous society, but with the collapse of communist
regimes in Eastern Europe it suddenly experienced big influxes
of immigrants, particularly from Albania.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4101469.stm

Greece is the most homogeneous country in Europe and
one of the most homogenous countries in the world, with an
almost 97% majority of citizens sharing the same national
identity, religion (Greek Orthodox Christians), language
and race. but there is also a 1.3% Muslim minority which
lives mainly along the borders with Turkey), This means that
there are no great social and political disturbances (especially
since the restoration of democracy in 1974) or other similar
problems. Greek society is very coherent and the Greek family,
a basic social institution, seems strong enough to support its
members even at the most difficult times. As a result, the high
rate of unemployment does not spawn problems like
homelessness or a high criminality rate.
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/greececor3.htm

Greece is the most ethnically homogeneous country
in the Balkans,with ethnic Greeks making up more than
95 percent of the population
(not accounting for illegal immigrants).
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761572872_3/Greece.html

GREEK SOCIETY HAS DEVELOPED over a period of nearly
3,000 years, with only few interruptions, in a physical and
geographical environment that contributed unique qualities
and facilitated widespread dissemination of the elements
of its civilization. Despite centuries of occupation by
Roman and Ottoman empires, the Greeks maintained an
unusually homogenous ethnicity that today includes
only very small minorities.
Greece's ethnicity is reflected in the 97 percent of Greeks
professing membership in the nation's established church,
the Orthodox Church of Greece.
http://www.photius.com/countries/greece/society/greece_society_society_and_its_envi~8344.html

Angel studied skeletal material from the Paleolithic to
modern times, and participated in examinations of skeletal
material throughout the East Mediterranean. With respect
to Greece, he found that the morphological types already
established in the third millennium BC, if not before that,
persisted in all subsequent ages. Thus, he emphasized
the racial continuity of Greeks, stating epigrammatically [2]:
"Racial continuity in Greece is striking."
http://dienekes.angeltowns.net/texts...morphological/

Originally posted by kotumeyil I just wonder why some Greeks jump over Turks and feel similarity with Iranians. Until now I met about 50 Greeks and they looked and behaved very much like Turks except their languages and crosses hanging on their necks.

Surely you must be aware of the Greek women, girls, boys
(janissaries) who had been kidnapped/stolen throughout the
ages, by the Turks and therefore assimilated into the Turkish
gene pool by force.  So, wouldn't it stand to reason that some
Turks will resemble Greeks?..
that is, there are genetic remnants of these Greeks evident in
the modern Turks... probably explains why certain Turks don't
resemble their Mongolian ancestors as much any more.
And just like Kotsos said, a lot of Greeks were forced to
Islamicise and are under the guise of Turks, or are simply
Turkish citizens, but "Greeks" in essence...  After all a 'pure'
Turk is of Asian origin, and a Mongolian descendant and are
technically dark featured.. so any 'so-called' Turk that is fair,
ie blonde or blue-eyed, has definately foreign, most probably,
greek, armenian, russian genes contributing to that. 
No offence dude.. they're the facts.. not my words alone.

Originally posted by xristar we drink greek/turkish coffee

i can't believe i'm hearing this from a fellow 'greek'.. any Turk
would ascertain that, they are traditionally 'tea' (ie chai)
drinkers mainly..
which again, is due to their asian origins. 
The coffee drinking habit was adopted when they came
in contact with Europeans..
I won't say it's solely Greek coffee, cos i'll get my hit
bitten off.. hehe.

Originally posted by Neoptolemos A clarification first: I (as well as other Greeks) said that we feel close to Serbs in terms of religion, not because of religion, which is not the same thing. It is true, however, that one of the main reasons that we feel close to Serbs is religion; the other one being our traditional friendly relationships with them. With Bulgarians, on the other hand, we have traditionally been rivals/enemies (note that i'm not speaking for today). That's why it's much more likely to hear about "Orthodox Brotherhood" between Greeks and Serbs, as opposed to Greeks and Bulgarians.

totally agree with Neo here.. i was going to say the same thing
in response to NikeBG's comments.

Originally posted by Bulldog Well its one way traffic then, some Greeks may like to think Itallians are close to them but the feeling isn't really mutual and I can say this for sure Wink and there are not many similarities, being mistaken for an Itallian could happen to any Mediterrannean people, infact Southern Itallians are closer to the Maltease or Northern Tunisians in many aspects rather than Greeks.

All those places you mentioned, have seen Greeks, ie Ionians,
colonise there also.. just like they did in Italy, specifically
southern Italy, including 'sicily'!!!... so there'll be some
resemblances across the board.

I would say, that genetically we look more like the Southern
Italians, and yer there's truth in that phrase 
"una fazza , una razza" (ie one race, one face) due to the
whole Magna Graecia deal.

But on a cultural level, would have to say, Serbian.. and
yer religion plays a major role, cos let's not forget a lot
of customs and traditions are derived from it.. we have
similarities in music and dance.. and i tend to click more
with my serbian/fyromian/slavic friends than i do
with Italian, due to more common ground...

so my vote goes to Serbia.

 

In my opinion we are closer culturally to the Balkan people due to the common religion or due  to the common history.So I would say that we are pretty close to the southern Albanians,the Bulgarians,the Serbs or the Romanians.We have the same balkan mentality.Even the folcloric music is sometimes similar or the heroic-epic songs are similar.All these songs praise the bravery of heroes that fell fighting the Turks.

With the Italians we have also many similarities especially regarding the people from the Ionian islands like Corfu,Zakynthos etc.We have also a common history for at least 2000 years in antiquity and in medieval times(Greek colonisation,Hercules' expeditions in northern Italy,Battle of Imera,Syracuse,Archimedes,Sicilian expedition of Athens,Roman conquest of Greece,Roman Empire,Eastern Roman empire(Byzantium), themata of Longobardia and Sicily,Battle of Lepanto-1571)

for Cyprus:
Moreover Turkish-Cypriots consisted a minority of 18% in 1960.

Considering that this is (i think even more)  the percentage of Kurds in Turkey today,when we talk about "Turks" we must always mean the Kurds as well.

Now ...as for physical appearence i was in Poland for 2 weeks.
They thought of me as Italian (3 times) ,Israeli,and Spanish (this last ,partially cause of the way i speak english )

Originally posted by xristar   The turksih cypriots (which obviously you have in mind) are islamized Greeks. There has not been any immigration wave from Turkey to Cyprus, after the island was occupied in 1571 (if I recall correctly). Obviously the muslim turk speakers natives of the island are in their biggest part converted Greeks.

It is obvious only in your distorted and nationalistic world vision which sees everything as Hellenistic and Greek.

Turkish Cypriots are not and have never been Greek. 

Originally posted by Ellin Surely you must be aware of the Greek women, girls, boys (janissaries) who had been kidnapped/stolen throughout the ages, by the Turks and therefore assimilated into the Turkish gene pool by force.  So, wouldn't it stand to reason that some Turks will resemble Greeks?..

Originally posted by bg_turk Originally posted by BlindOne  Cypriot's don't differ from Greeks Again another fallacy. A siginificant portion of Cypriots have nothing in common with the Greeks, neither linguistically nor in terms of religion.