"82 per cent of Cyprus was Greek-occupied, 18 per cent Turkish, there were hot-heads on both sides, when this happens it turns the people involved against each other."
The name Stavros Michael will not be unfamiliar to this newspaper's readers, it frequently appears in council matters relating to transport and waste; Stavros is that department's director.
Our People's long suspected there was a good story to be had behind such an un-Kiwi name; Stavros didn't let us down, he's an exuberant character delighted to lift the lid of a life where aggression was the norm - not solely in Cyprus. He served as a soldier in Iraq at the height of that country's war with Iran, based in "the hell hole" (his words) of Basra.
Out of the military he lived and worked in the United Arab Emirates before settling in New Zealand 30 years ago.
But first things first - what of Cyprus, his life there, its customs?
A descriptive story-teller he takes us to the village of his birth, not far south of Cyprus' capital, Nicosia.
"We were a population of 800, my grandfather had a lot of vineyards, wheat, vegetable gardens, there were shepherds, goats and sheep, we were a very tight-knit community. Our families were large, close, similar to the Maori whanau concept."
To demonstrate how tight, he talks of the difficulties a girl from his village would have marrying outside it.
"Everyone out of the village, even two miles down the road, was a 'zeno', a stranger, it's where the word xenophobia comes from. Young people were introduced to each other by their families and stayed in the one place."
He uses his home village to demonstrate the effect "the troubles" (again his words), had on small communities.
"Before them there were eight girls, 24 boys around my age, now there are only six of us alive, I have three first cousins still missing in action, it was not a pleasant time for us."
His grandfather's land was confiscated, replaced by a refugee camp. "The village lost its character, our population grew by 3000-4000. The troubles had a huge economic impact on our small island, my father's machinery was locked up in the north, he had to go to Libya to make ends meet."
As soon as he began earning his army pay packet Stavros contributed to the family finances.
This continued when he moved to the Middle East. "I went because I had the military experience, a sergeant in charge of an anti-tank regiment."
Our People asks our standard question of a military man: 'Did you kill anyone?'
He fudges the answer. "We were at war, there are things that are better left behind, and it was a very traumatic period for us."
From Basra he moved to Dubai, swapping his uniform for civilian life and work with a multi-national engineering company. "I was still earning money for my family."
There's another insight here into the Greek Cypriot way of life. "It is tradition when our sisters get married the bride's family builds them a house. I go back regularly and am made to feel I have houses there, they are not my houses, they are my sisters' - they worship me for helping build them.
"When I'm there it's like putting a different skin on, I become a typical chauvinist male, I am not sexist. I have four daughters, but in Cyprus there's still a strong sense the male is the provider, the woman cares for him."
Talk of his daughters is premature, we remind him we have yet to hear of how he came to be in New Zealand.
He laughs his head off saying it was of course because he met a girl, a Kiwi nurse also working in Dubai. "I was a young man, she was a young woman."
When she returned home he came too. "All I knew of New Zealand was that it was a faraway, exotic place, a dot on the map. We arrived in Wellington in December, my girlfriend said it was summer. Getting off the plane a southerly was blowing, I said 'hell, this looks like the South Pole', remember I came from a warm Mediterranean island, had lived in the Middle East."
His tune changed on the drive to his girlfriend's Lower Hutt home. "Seeing all the hills, the trees, everything was green, coming out of the desert I said 'this is not hell, it's paradise'."
With the Cyprus situation still "dicey' and 'over' the Middle East lifestyle Stavros stayed, married his girlfriend and once his qualifications were officially recognised worked as a geotech lab technician by day, studying for his civil engineering degree by night.
Work with the Wellington City Council followed, he was there 25 years. Six years after his first marriage ended he re-married - the ceremony was in the council building, with then Wellington mayor Kerry Prendergast officiating.
"I began to look for other challenges. I heard about this [Rotorua] job, came here in 2014.
"I love Rotorua, maybe it is because I come from a small community that I'm more comfortable in a small community than a large metro city and it's peaceful."
STAVROS MICHAEL:
Born: Cyprus, 1959.
Education: Nisou Primary, Cyprus Polytechnic Nicosia, Massey University.
Family: Kiwi wife Melissa, four daughters, extended family in Cyprus.
Interests: Reading, history, international politics "I'm a socialist by DNA". Exercise "I'm at the gym at 5.30am every morning, I think it's a remnant from the army." Soccer. "Rugby's alien to me." Landscaping.
On New Zealand: "A fantastic place - its geographic location, its sense of can-do, its fairness. "I made a conscious decision 'I am in New Zealand I will do as New Zealanders do'."
Personal philosophy: "Be what you want to be seen to be."