Turkish Cypriot Community Research Articles

Adverse Childhood events of individuals and its relationship with resilience

ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to examine the relationship between childhood trauma and psychological resilience in the Turkish Cypriot community and to identify the predictors of psychological resilience. MethodThe research was conducted with 354 individuals in a web-based online environment in Northern Cyprus. Data were collected using a “Personal Information Form”, the “Adverse Childhood Events Scale”, and the “Resilience Scale for Adults”. Percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson's correlation analysis were used in the data analysis. ResultsIn the study, 16.67 % of the participants were exposed to war or conflict when they were young and 10.17 % had a mental illness. In addition, it was determined that there were statistically significant and negative correlations between the Adverse Childhood Events Scale scores and the scores they got from the Adult Resilience Scale and the sub-dimensions of the scale. Female gender and education level predicted the scores on the Resilience Scale for Adults positively, and the presence of mental disease and the scores on the Adverse Childhood Events Scale negatively predicted the scores on the Resilience Scale for Adults. Conclusionİn this study, gender, educational status, presence of mental illness, and the total score on the Adverse Childhood Events Scale were determined to be predictive variables affecting resilience. Considering the research findings, it is recommended that nurses plan studies for the protection of the mental health of children and adolescents and the groups exposed to trauma should be psychologically supported to raise individuals with high resilience.

Preserving the traces of conflict: The role and meaning of memory in the rehabilitation of buildings along walled Nicosia's buffer zone

PurposeThis paper focuses on the topic of memory during and post conflict and considers how it is expressed materially, spatially, and symbolically within the urban context of walled Nicosia in Cyprus. This is done to establish and define the role of memory and how this is manifested alongside the buffer zone, following the permanent division of the city (and of the island of Cyprus) in 1974, between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. Study design/methodologyThis academic piece employs the assessment of quantitative and qualitative data deriving from semi-structured interviews taken from relevant stakeholders living and working in Nicosia, as well as the author's qualitative empirical findings to unveil the role and the meaning of memory in the rehabilitation of buildings along walled Nicosia's buffer zone. FindingsThe empirical findings of this research demonstrate that despite the Nicosia Master Plan's efforts to safeguard the Cypriot capital's historic urban core, the ongoing division materialises as a tangible transmitter of intangible meanings, closely linked to the memories of conflict. These memories affect people's perceptions about the areas close to and across the boundary. More specifically, the interview responses point out that public interaction with the areas closer to the buffer zone is limited, selective and can often result in the decay of buildings alongside the boundary. This finding is paralleled by the empirical data, which illustrates the poor physical condition of building stock near the buffer zone. Originality/valueThis research contributes to the academic discussion about Nicosia's heritage by introducing new topics and novel empirical insights linked to the division of the city. These include issues such as the interruption spatial patterns through the existence of the buffer zone, heritage prioritisation and obsolescence. In doing so, the creation and dissemination of new knowledge on the specific characteristics of the walled city is achieved, aiming at encouraging a more informed heritage protection, and to support the efforts of the – originally bicommunal - Nicosia Master Plan on both sides of the Cypriot divide.

‘Empty returns’: home and its unmaking during Greek-Cypriot refugee women’s return visits

ABSTRACT The 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus led to the division of the island between the Turkish-occupied north and the Greek-Cypriot Republic in the south. For approximately 30 years, the Greek and Turkish-Cypriot communities on the island were prohibited from ‘crossing’ to the other side. However, the relaxation of movement restrictions in 2003 provided an opportunity for many displaced persons from both communities to visit their former homes and villages once more. This paper explores the ways in which Greek-Cypriot refugee women experienced these return visits. It draws on oral history interviews to investigate how the physical return and re-experience of the refugee house has been significant to them and their understanding of home. The paper argues that the tension between the remembered and encountered home led to an inability to re-establish meaningful connections in terms of the refugee house, giving rise to a home-unmaking that questioned their association with it. The paper contributes to the existing literature regarding the ways in which home comes under question or is unmade, revealing how return and homecoming can damage previously associated meanings of home and have effects on how a dwelling is understood and experienced.

Nicosia Master Plan for the Historic Quarters of Selimiye and Omeriye in Cyprus: A Comparative Evaluation

Following the division of Cyprus in 1974 between the Greek Cypriot (South) and Turkish Cypriot (North) Communities, the island has been dealing with a pluralism of social, economic, political and administrative concerns affecting its heritage as well as heritage management. These concerns are particularly visible in the capital of Nicosia, where the historic core of the city has been equally divided between the two communities and has been managed by separate municipal bodies since then. The Nicosia Master Plan (NMP) was introduced as a bi-communal initiative to assist in collaborative management of the city’s heritage, and to prepare its historic core for a possible future event of re-unification. Through the assessment of selected NMP initiatives meant for the historic quarters of Selimiye and Omeriye respectively, this paper attempts to critically examine the impact of division (prompted by conflict) on the heritage of Nicosia. This is achieved through evaluation of the effectiveness of NMP’s efforts on each side of the Cypriot divide. The hypothesis here is that the existing buffer zone significantly impacts its adjacent areas, whereby buildings with closer proximity to the border suffer the most. Despite NMP’s overall contribution in safeguarding a significant part of the city’s historic urban core, the findings demonstrate a departure from its broader bi-communal heritage protection trajectory. Furthermore, novel insights into the use of specific heritage rehabilitation methods are presented and critically discussed, shedding light into the future – pertaining to their impending impact, and on the ways these could assist the heritage protection of the walled city.

Review of: "Developing and Evaluating the Marriage Education Program: The Example of the Turkish Cypriot Community."

Review of: "Developing and Evaluating the Marriage Education Program: The Example of the Turkish Cypriot Community."

Advertising as discursive reflections of the political realm: Turkish-Cypriot advertisements between 1940-1974

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how conflict/war and its political economic and socio-cultural reflections influenced Turkish-Cypriot advertisements. It provides an analysis of the Turkish-Cypriot advertisements during 1940–1974, which was characterised by intermittent inter-ethnic armed conflict, to illuminate how they are related to the commercial, political, economic and socio-cultural unravelling of the era.Design/methodology/approachCompositional interpretation and social semiotic analysis (Rose, 2016) with a critical lens have been adopted as research design. Social, cultural, economic and political conditions of the time were also used in the analysis.FindingsFirstly, this paper shows that the advertisements increased in complexity although very incrementally through the studied period, especially in comparison to the advertising of the countries that directly influenced the commercial sphere in Cyprus such as Britain, Greece and Turkey. Secondly, this paper shows that the advertisement messages were directly shaped by key events in the socio-political realm. Especially during the 1940s (British rule) and the bicommunal Republic of Cyprus era, the Turkish-Cypriot community newspapers featured a cosmopolitan range of advertisements paid for by Greek-Cypriot, Armenian-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot businesses. After 1963, when the armed conflict began and the communities retreated to separate parts of the capital city, the featured advertisements mostly reverted back to the 1950s political economic agenda: firstly, they intended to build ethno-community consciousness by transforming Turkish-Cypriots who were scattered around in different towns, villages and cities into a public/community; secondly, they were used in developing the burgeoning Turkish-Cypriot business enterprises and the making of a consumer class.Originality/valueAs no such study was conducted so far, this paper shows, through the continued and increasing existence and variety of the advertisements printed in Turkish-Cypriot newspapers, the trajectory with which the Turkish-Cypriots met the consumption codes of the era under armed conflict. Secondly, the authors observe the “state” authority (in this case, the community administration) directly and indirectly influences both the business agenda and the building of community consciousness. Thirdly, the authors show that the Turkish-Cypriot community had normalised commerce under armed-conflict.

When the Cemetery Becomes Political: Dealing with the Religious Heritage in Multi-Ethnic Regions

When the Cemetery Becomes Political: Dealing with the Religious Heritage in Multi-Ethnic Regions

Tweet for peace: Twitter as a medium for developing a peace discourse in the hands of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot leaders

PurposeThe article examines how the two Cypriot leaders – the Greek-Cypriot community leader Nicos Anastasiades and the Turkish-Cypriot community leader Mustafa Akinci – have used their Twitter accounts during the period leading to the intensification of the Cyprus peace process between 30 April 2015 and 31 October 2016.Design/methodology/approachThis article presents, using descriptive analysis and thematic analysis, how the two leaders have used Twitter in the negotiations' period.FindingsThe analysis shows that the leaders, during the time frame examined, developed both pro-peace discourses around the Cyprus problem and para-social and vicarious intergroup contact that contributed in what Hogg (2015) defines an intergroup relational identity that is an effective form of “bridging” leadership across communities.Originality/valueThe article argues that Twitter is a tool that, in the hands of political leaders in segregated public spheres caused by yet unresolved ethnic conflicts, can become a useful tool for constructing both a positive meaning around issues concerning the rival sides and transforming opposing social identities in the formation of an “extended sense of self that includes the collaboration partner” (Hogg, 2015, p. 191).Peer reviewThe peer-review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-03-2022-0161

Turkey’s ‘Soft Power Interventionism’ in the Turkish Cypriot Community: Agents, Objectives, and Implications

ABSTRACT This article explores the rationale and modus operandi of Turkey’s soft power projection in north Cyprus [‘TRNC’] with the aim to better understand its effects on the Turkish Cypriot political and social spheres. The study explores the recorded activities carried out by Turkey’s most prominent soft power agencies in north Cyprus and cross-checks findings with field-notes collected from 2018 to 2021. While acknowledging that under AKP’s rule, religion, history, and humanitarian ideals have constituted the backbone of Turkey’s soft power agenda in areas important to its foreign policy interests, the analysis demonstrates that Turkish soft power does not simply rest on the attractiveness and persuasiveness of its ‘message value’ alone. Turkey exercises a centrally coordinated and multi-dimensional soft power that capitalizes heavily on dependencies and local vulnerabilities. With the use of subtle and direct forms of coercion and interference, understood as part of a legitimate exchange of ‘influence for security’, Turkey’s soft power content and methodologies have become particularly problematic, as they do not presume the purely voluntary, independent, and co-opting nature of relations between the powerholder and the receptor community.

Undivided trauma in a divided Cyprus: Modified emotional Stroop study.

The purpose of the study was to examine the subliminal existence of war-related trauma in the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities in Cyprus. Previous research has demonstrated that Cypriots, regardless of their ethnicity have been affected by many psychological burdens, including anxiety and trauma related symptoms due to the wars in Cyprus (1963, 1974). The emotional Stroop task has been widely used to determine the presence of PTSD and its impact on executive functions. Hence, it was hypothesized that traumatic stress specific to the wars in Cyprus would be evident through interference of information processing of war-related words in a modified version of the Emotional Stroop Task specific to the conflicts in Cyprus. Two versions of the modified emotional Stroop task for Cyprus (MEST-CY) were developed in the two languages (Greek and Turkish) spoken by the 2 communities, with neutral and war-related words relevant for each community. A sample of 111 Cypriots from both ethnic backgrounds (56 Turkish Cypriots, 55 Greek Cypriots) took part. Participants from both ethnicities showed significantly greater latency scores (interference) for war-related words compared to neutral words. This is the first study to show emotional trauma and changes in cognitive functioning related specifically to the wars in Cyprus, in both communities. Due to its specificity in detecting attentional bias to war-related words which are specific to Cyprus, MEST-CY can serve as a useful assessment tool for the presence of war-related PTSD and as a pre- and posttask for PTSD intervention studies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The needs analysis of the marriage education program for Turkish Cypriot community: Development phase.

This research is a needs analysis to develop a marriage education program to be held in the TRNC. The aim of the research is to compare the views of married and divorced individuals about marriage education and to determine their needs for marriage education. For this purpose, it has been determined in which subjects they see themselves as sufficient or inadequate, in which subjects they are willing to participate in the training and in which subjects they are unwilling. In this study, embedded design, one of the mixed research methods in which qualitative and quantitative methods are used together, was used. The dominant dimension of this study is the qualitative research method, and the supporting dimension is the quantitative research method. In the qualitative aspect of the research, the sample group was studied with 16 married and divorced participants living in the TRNC. In the quantitative dimension, a total of 385 married or divorced participants were consulted using the sample calculation of unknown universe. The findings are as follows; In both quantitative and qualitative dimensions, the majority of the participants think that if marriage education is given, they can have a healthier and happier marriage. Married and divorced individuals, effective communication, ways of conflict resolution, respect for differences in understanding in raising children, the causes and consequences of cheating, the importance and functions of the family, expectations from marriage and spouse, the processes experienced by new couples, attitudes and behaviors that may adversely affect marriage, power balance and marital status. They stated that they wanted to receive training on adjustment, relations with families in marriage, marriage and business life, anger control, coping with violence and prevention, spending habits and its effects on marriage, effects of financial difficulties on marriage, sexual life and problems in marriage. A training program will be developed for these determined subjects and will be applied to 20 participants in a semi-experimental model through the TRNC Ministry of National Education. The marriage psycho-education program to be prepared will be developed on the basis of a cognitive behavioral approach.

Embracing Afro hair, resisting colourism: Black women’s experiences in North Cyprus

ABSTRACT This paper takes the intersectional domains of power framework to examine Black Cypriot women’s experiences with Afro hair in a community where black colour, hair, and features are othered. This paper draws particular attention to the interpersonal and cultural domains of power. We examine how hair prejudice has endured within families and in the Turkish Cypriot community by focusing on space and time differences. We compare the experiences of five women who were born in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1980s. We aim to connect the history of slavery and colonialism to show how the unique experiences of Black women in Cyprus are also tied to global racism.

“Blue Homeland” and Cyprus: The “Survival of the State” Coalition and Turkey’s Changing Geopolitical Doctrine in the Eastern Mediterranean

The importance of the Eastern Mediterranean for the Turkish state is diachronic. In recent years, however, a renewed interest of Ankara is being recorded as a result of the developments in the energy sphere. This is expressed through various forms of interventionist policy of Turkey in the area. This article examines the reshaping of Turkeys geopolitical dogma and its connection with Turkish perception of the Eastern Mediterranean. It examines the impact of the failed coup attempt in 2016 on the ruling power bloc and its reflections in the Turkish geopolitical doctrine. In this framework the article explores the reinstatement of the need for survival of the state ( devletin bekası ) as a result of the reshaping of the ruling coalition and the legitimisation of the attempt to strengthen the authority of the state. At the same time, the ideological construction of the Eastern Mediterranean is important, as it can reveal the process of construction of security issues or the instrumentalisation of real threats through which geopolitical orientation is reshaped and specific policies are implemented. This study consequently reviews the identification of the Eastern Mediterranean with a wider hostile region and analyses the functioning of the blue homeland concept as a legitimising axis of Turkish politics. The concept of blue homeland is examined in conjunction with internal developments in Turkey and especially the change of balance in the power bloc. Finally, the last part of the article analyses the ideological legitimisation of the blue homeland concept in Turkeys strategy for the Eastern Mediterranean. Through these dynamics, the change in Ankaras perception of the Turkish Cypriot community and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is also identified.

Ethnic Protection Rackets: Turkish Cypriot Statebuilding before 1974

ABSTRACT For the ten years prior to the Turkish partition of Cyprus into Greek and Turkish Cypriot zones, the Turkish Cypriot community lived in distinct ethnic enclaves governed by a parallel Turkish Cypriot administration. I argue that Turkish Cypriot elites formed a system of reciprocal relations with their community by acting as ethnic protection racketeers. With few material resources, but a demand for protection during intercommunal fighting, Turkish Cypriot leaders monopolised protection over and within enclaves, while also deterring co-ethnics from leaving their protection despite poor conditions. Ultimately, this influenced Turkish Cypriot preferences in UN-led talks, demanding to retain autonomy over specific territories they controlled, especially in providing security.

Language learning under the shadow of conflict: Teachers’ beliefs about teaching the language of the “other”

Attitudes and motivation play an important role in successful foreign language learning. However, in a limited number of unique contexts across the world language learning takes place despite a history of conflict between learners' native and target language-speaking communities. Cyprus is one of these contexts with a long history of conflict between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots continuing to today. Previous research has indicated learning the language of the ‘other’ community can have several positive outcomes. However, little is known about the experiences of the teachers working in such conflictual contexts. To that end, semi-constructed interviews were conducted with five of the nine active Turkish Cypriot Greek-language teachers teaching in state schools. Findings indicate Turkish Cypriot Greek language teachers believe Turkish Cypriots learning Greek could contribute to establishing peaceful and harmonious relations between the two communities in Cyprus as well as provide numerous pragmatic benefits for the Turkish Cypriot community. Furthermore, according to the participants, learning the language of the ‘other’ community also, over time, improved Turkish Cypriots' attitudes towards the Greek language, its culture, and speakers as well as increased their motivation to continue studying the language in the future. Finally, school commemoration ceremonies and a lack of instructional materials and institutional support both stemming from the conflict on the island were noted as the major challenges faced by Turkish Cypriot teachers teaching Greek in Cyprus.

Rethinking narratives on Islam in North Cyprus: a new perspective

ABSTRACT North Cyprus, which has experienced perennial conflict since 1963, has recently been witness to heated debates revolving around the role of Islam in making and re-configuring Turkish Cypriots’ social and political landscape. The reason behind such debates derives from the historical narrative established on a Kemalist-secular understanding of religion among the Turkish Cypriot community vis-à-vis the conservative-Islamist narrative. This article is an attempt to analyse and explore the role of religion in the Turkish Cypriot community and how these two established narratives have, in recent times, come under discussion with the ascendancy of the Justice and Development Party in neighbouring Turkey. Within this context, this article will explore the roots and reflections of these two key narratives on politics and society in North Cyprus, and will argue that the recent public debates among the secular and Islamist Turkish Cypriot elites are not very new, only external dynamics have become more influential nowadays. As a corollary, we will also scrutinise the role of religion through semi-structured interviews conducted with key political elites, opinion leaders and Turkish migrants’ associations in North Cyprus.

The politics and ethical dilemmas of architectural conservation in an unrecognised state: insights from northern Cyprus

ABSTRACT There is little known about the architectural conservation policies, mechanisms, and dynamics within the contested boundaries of unrecognised states. This paper redresses this lack of information and discusses the situation in northern Cyprus, an exemplary case of a long-surviving de facto state. Following its secession in 1974, the Turkish Cypriot community assumed responsibility for a substantial portfolio of monuments and heritage structures with complex ethnoreligious legacies. Except for some limited local resources, conservation works have been externally-funded, mainly from Turkey, the United Nations, the United States, and the European Union. This paper explores conservation governance and the diplomatic manoeuvrings of the local and international actors . There are de facto authorities, which keep cultural heritage under their control but cannot safeguard it, and the Greek Cypriot-led Republic of Cyprus, which links the conservation of cultural heritage to resolving the Cyprus problem. As well, there are foreign agents whose growing heritage diplomacies mark their presence in northern Cyprus by providing support for conservation. The analysis reveals an imbroglio with numerous complexities and potential ethical issues and dilemmas. It suggests that heritage conservation in an unrecognised state becomes a tool of soft power for international actors and is linked to wider geo-political tensions.

Civil Society in Peace Referendums: Inclusion and Campaign Mobilization in Northern Ireland and Cyprus

This article asks whether civil society’s inclusion/exclusion in peace negotiations shapes their involvement in peace agreement referendum campaigns. It seeks to answer this question through a qualitative comparative analysis of the Northern Irish Good Friday Agreement and Cypriot Annan Plan experiences. It finds that civil society’s push for inclusion in Northern Ireland and in the Turkish Cypriot community was followed by their greater mobilization in the referendum that strengthened the overall “yes” campaign, while this did not take place in the Greek Cypriot community. Drawing on the literature on European integration referendums, it argues that peace referendums need to be preceded by inclusive negotiations.

Nationalism and Reconciliation in Cypriot Documentary Film, 1976–1987

This article examines the production of documentary films about the Cyprus conflict produced between the late 1970 and late 1980s. Two films have been selected for analysis: Cyprus: The Other Reality (1976, dir. Lambros Papadimitrakis and Thekla Kittou), an anti-nationalist documentary produced in the immediate aftermath of the Turkish incursion of the island, and A Detail in Cyprus (1987, dir. Panicos Chrysanthou), which looks back at the social effects of the incursion and the estrangement of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities. Based on original interviews with their directors, this article gives an account of the production histories of the two documentaries and looks at their means through which they were distributed to the public. The article also examines the ways in which these two films represent the Cyprus conflict, in particular their engagement with the prevailing nationalist ideologies at work in both Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities and the alternate concept of Cypriocentrism. Finally, this article examines the ways in which both films were politically suppressed following their release within the Republic of Cyprus.

A theoretical approach to the Cyprus Problem: Neoclassical Realism with Neoliberalism

Abstract This paper, which covers the period of the 2004 Annan Plan and its rejection to date, places the Cyprus Problem in an International Relations theoretic framework. It searches for a “foreign policy outcome,” essentially a decision by the leaders of the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities, to politically reunite these two communities under the auspices of the UN. The paper provides a synthesis of the neo-liberal and the neoclassical realist paradigms, aiming to better interpret the existing experience and to shed light on the prospect of a future solution to the problem. The strategic environment for the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is ‘permissive’ because the message sent by the international system for reunification does not require the use of hard power. The leaders of the two communities play a key role, although the strategic political culture in small states such as the TRNC is not developed and state-society relations are underdeveloped. Also, the civil society at large can play a role in influencing the leaders' images regarding the reunification opportunity.