ETHNOS AND ETHOS: SLOVAK SLAVIC RECIPROCITY AND GREEK-CYPRIOT ENOSIS

The author studies similarities and differences in the development of the Slovak and Greek Cypriot national movements in 19th century. He pays main attention to the ideas of ‘Slavic reciprocity’ and ‘enosis’, as core factors of these 19th-century national movements. He came to the conclusion that, in spite of geographical distance and cultural dissimilarity, both ethnic groups and their respective national movements shared many features. He considers these national movements a manifestation of the universal ethos of modern times. The ethos of the Slovak as well as Greek-Cypriot national movements between the 19th century and the end of World War I primarily lay in the fight for man’s rights and freedoms, humanity, human dignity, and justice not only as individuals, but also members of their own ethnic group. This was an effort to pursue the right to a person’s freedom of decision-making in linguistic, cultural, and educational issues, without any external pressure, orders, or prohibitions from the political power. This was a pursuit of the original Enlightenment intention following liberalism which was, however, often deformed when presented by ruling nations and reflected the nationalist ideology and colonial policies towards small ethnic groups living in multi-ethnic empires.