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Cypriot Greek has been cited as “the last surviving Modern Greek dialect” (Contossopoulos 1969:92, 2000:21), and differences between it and Standard Modern Greek are often seen as seriously disruptive of communication by Mainland and Cypriot Greeks alike. This paper attempts an anatomy of the linguistic ‘difference’ of the Cypriot variety of Greek. By placing this in the wider context of the history of Cypriot Greek, the study and current state of other Modern Greek dialects, and state and national ideology in the two countries, Greece and Cyprus, it is possible to identify both diachronic and synchronic, as well as structural and ideological factors as constitutive of this difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the Europeanization of Greece and Turkey's policies towards their respective Turkish/Muslim and Greek/Orthodox minorities. It begins with a comparative survey of nation-building processes in both countries. It shows that as bilateral tensions rose, minorities' rights as citizens were increasingly compromised by the perception that minorities were agents of their kin-states. Greek accession to the European Economic Community in 1981 catalyzed a slow process of internationalization of European norms of minority protection among policymakers, though pockets of resistance persist to this day. Turkey, meanwhile, became a candidate for membership in December 1999. The carrot-and-stick incentive structure of the accession process led to a rapid succession of taboo-shattering reforms, catalyzing a partial transformation of minority policies. By 2007, however, an altered calculus of domestic and international forces impeded the implementation of reform and consequently the transformation of minority treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]