Cyprus
Despite the changing international and regional environment, the Cyprus conflict has endured for
over 50 years. In the early pre-independence years it took the form of a dispute over the exercise
of the right to self-determination which brought the major local communities into conflict. Less
than 15 years after the power sharing republic was established it was transformed into a dispute
over the military action of Turkey which resulted in the partitioning of the island and the almost
complete physical separation of the two primary communities.
Contrasting visions amongst the local communities in relation to the future form of governance, demography and human rights issues on the one hand as well as the diverse (putative) interests of the Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus on the other have consistently militated against an agreed political solution.
For 30 years these communities have been hermetically sealed from the other and their respective political discourse has remained mutually exclusive, inflexible and ethnocentric, sustained over a long period of inertia where each party to the conflict felt that it has had more to lose from a solution than gain in the longer-term. More recent developments have, however, altered the dynamics of the conflict. Some restrictions on movement across the Green Line were raised in 2003, and a UN sponsored settlement was put to referendum in 2004. Further, the accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the EU a few months later set in motion conditions for the possible ‘ normalisation’ of civic and political life.
These emerging realities have, over the past four years, created the possibility for individuals and communities of interest to explore and occupy new spaces conducive to engagement, exchange and deliberation. This paper explores how new spaces have become occupied by Cypriots given these developments and how this has been productive of ambiguity and ambivalence which coexist, and are in tension with, more conventionalised forms of action and expression.
A number of particular examples will be explored to demonstrate how this marks the current conjuncture. The movement across the line of division by Greek Cypriots which have to conform with requirements placed by the self-proclaimed ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ which is at odds with official discourse from the Greek Cypriot controlled Republic of Cyprus. The failure of the Annan Plan as a negotiated settlement and the fate of the refugee seeking the return of his or her property in conditions where a solution appears distant if not unobtainable caught between pragmatism and official assertions of principle. Finally, a Greek Cypriot dominated Republic, now a member state of the EU, seeking to maintain control of the established position it has always defended but which can come into conflict with EU driven interpretations and resulting actions.
Dr. Yiouli Taki
INDEX
Contrasting visions amongst the local communities in relation to the future form of governance, demography and human rights issues on the one hand as well as the diverse (putative) interests of the Republic of Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus on the other have consistently militated against an agreed political solution.
For 30 years these communities have been hermetically sealed from the other and their respective political discourse has remained mutually exclusive, inflexible and ethnocentric, sustained over a long period of inertia where each party to the conflict felt that it has had more to lose from a solution than gain in the longer-term. More recent developments have, however, altered the dynamics of the conflict. Some restrictions on movement across the Green Line were raised in 2003, and a UN sponsored settlement was put to referendum in 2004. Further, the accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the EU a few months later set in motion conditions for the possible ‘ normalisation’ of civic and political life.
These emerging realities have, over the past four years, created the possibility for individuals and communities of interest to explore and occupy new spaces conducive to engagement, exchange and deliberation. This paper explores how new spaces have become occupied by Cypriots given these developments and how this has been productive of ambiguity and ambivalence which coexist, and are in tension with, more conventionalised forms of action and expression.
A number of particular examples will be explored to demonstrate how this marks the current conjuncture. The movement across the line of division by Greek Cypriots which have to conform with requirements placed by the self-proclaimed ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ which is at odds with official discourse from the Greek Cypriot controlled Republic of Cyprus. The failure of the Annan Plan as a negotiated settlement and the fate of the refugee seeking the return of his or her property in conditions where a solution appears distant if not unobtainable caught between pragmatism and official assertions of principle. Finally, a Greek Cypriot dominated Republic, now a member state of the EU, seeking to maintain control of the established position it has always defended but which can come into conflict with EU driven interpretations and resulting actions.
Dr. Yiouli Taki
INDEX