For nearly 60 years, the tiny Mediterranean nation of Cyprus has taken a disproportionate share of the international spotlight. In The Cyprus Problem, James Ker-Lindsay--recently appointed as expert advisor to the UN Secretary-General's Special Advisor on Cyprus--offers an incisive, even-handed account of the conflict. Ker-Lindsay covers all aspects of the Cyprus problem, placing it in historical context, addressing the situation as it now stands, and looking toward its possible resolution.
During the Cold War the small state of Cyprus was of great strategic importance to the West. Britain, the United States, and Nato all had valuable installations there; and any armed conflict between Greek and Turkish Cypriots could easily suck two nearby Nato members - Greece and Turkey - into war. When therefore, intercommunal fighting broke out in Cyprus in December 1963, the West was deeply embarrassed. This book examines the consequential efforts of, first Britain, and then the UN, to keep the peace.
In the lead essay for this volume, Joshua Foa Dienstag engages in a critical encounter with the work of Stanley Cavell on cinema, focusing skeptical attention on the claims made for the contribution of cinema to the ethical character of democratic life. In this debate, Dienstag mirrors the celebrated dialogue between Rousseau and Jean D'Alembert on theatre, casting Cavell as D'Alembert in his view that we can learn to become better citizens and better people by observing a staged representation of human life, with Dienstag arguing, with Rousseau, that this misunderstands the relationship between original and copy, even more so in the medium of film than in the medium of theatre. Dienstag's provocative and stylish essay is debated by an exceptional group of interlocutors comprising Clare Woodford, Tracy B. Strong, Margaret Kohn, Davide Panagia and Thomas Dumm. The volume closes with a robust response from Dienstag to his critics.
"[U]shers the reader into the complexities of the categorical ambiguity of Cyprus [and]... concentrates... on the Dead Zone of the divided society, in the cultural space where those who refuse to go to the poles gather." -- Anastasia Karakasidou, Wellesley College The volatile recent past of Cyprus has turned this island from the idyllic "island of Aphrodite" of tourist literature into a place renowned for hostile confrontations. Cyprus challenges familiar binary divisions, between Christianity and Islam, Greeks and Turks, Europe and the East, tradition and modernity. Anti-colonial struggles, the divisive effects of ethnic nationalism, war, invasion, territorial division, and population displacements are all facets of the notorious Cyprus Problem. Incorporating the most up-to-date social and cultural research on Cyprus, these essays examine nationalism and interethnic relations, Cyprus and the European Union, the impact of immigration, and the effects of tourism and international environmental movements, among other topics.
Focusing on the period from September 1964, when Senor Galo Lasso Plaza assumed the UN mediatory role, to the coup d'etat and the Turkish invasion ten years later, Cyprus Before 1974 seeks to unpick the internal conflicts which led to the failure of the peace process in Cyprus. Marilena Varnava studies three phases: Plaza's mediation of 1964-1965; the negotiating impasse on the island during the period 1965-1967; and finally the inter-communal talks of 1968-1974. Varnava argues persuasively that each of these successive phases, particularly the latter two, were inextricably tied to political and social developments within the two main communities on the island itself. In particular, Cyprus before 1974 focuses on the events of 1968 - when the Greek-Cypriot political leadership, and the President of the Republic of Cyprus Archbishop Makarios III, failed to grasp the nature of the changes within the island's post-independence arena. Recurrent attempts within both communities during the talks of that year to create faits accomplis favourable to their own bargaining positions served to heighten the barriers to a stable and peaceful outcome. This study enlarges our understanding of the underlying issues which the Turkish invasion of 1974 were to throw into stark relief and is essential reading for all those who study the Cyprus problem and conflict resolution.
Cyprus, the idyllic “island of Aphrodite,” is better known as a site of conflict and division between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, rather than for its film production. Constandinides and Papadakis work to rectify this dearth of information by discussing the ouevre of filmmakers engaging with the island's traumatic legacies: anti-colonial struggles, post-colonial instability, interethnic conflict, external interventions and war. Starting with the cinema of the 1960s, when the island became a republic, the collection focuses on the recent decades of filmmakers exploring issues of conflict, memory, identity, nationalism, migration and gender, as well as the work of filmmakers who chose to cooperate across the ethnic divide. Cypriot Cinemas utilizes a methodology that engages all necessary perspectives for an illuminating critical discussion: historical, theoretical and comparative (Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot films in relation to regional film cultures/practices). While the volume develops a discussion based on the reading of the political in Cypriot films, it also looks at other film cultures and debates such as (s)exploitation films and transnational cinema.
"The book describes how the Greek fixation with Enosis--union with Greece--led to a one-sided war against the Turks and the brutal massacres of their men, women and children."--Provided by publisher.
The UN-led Cyprus peace process is in desperate need of radical transformation. This book makes a notable contribution towards changing the current discourse by empowering the main parties to better value their relationship. By altering goals and perceptions, the authors explore alternative visions for the future of Cyprus, suggesting both realistically feasible and politically challenging ideas. Using an exciting, innovative and multifocal approach, the authors discuss the practical application of resolutions and explore the radical disagreements of the conflict at both social and political levels. Reflecting on the idea of a ?'post-settlement?' situation and the prospect of such a reality, chapters illustrate the problems, challenges and political dynamics of Cyprus. The book explores the conceptual approaches to dialogue; a review of Greek, Turkish and Cypriot policies; the challenging roles of the UN and EU; Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot perspectives on the conflict, and finally dialogical reflections and debates on past and future problems. Allowing open and expressive dialogue, this book will interest those in academic and practitioner roles focused on international politics, conflict resolution and peace studies. It allows for further understanding of the complex perspectives presented in Cyprus that have great relevance in other international settings. Contributors include: C. Adamides, A.B. Akter, D. Christofias, G. Christou, B. Ekenoglu, D. Eroglu, A. Günal, M. Hadjipavlou, A. Heraclides, E.Içener, M. Kontos, N. Loizides, M.S. Michael, N. Moudouros, Y. Omerou, I. Özejder, S. Sonan, A. Sözen, M.A. Talat, G. Vassilou, Y. Vural
The Cyprus conflict was for long an inactive volcano, but it erupted violently in 1955, 1963 and 1974. Now more of a smouldering fire, its persistence is a serious obstacle on Turkey's route to EU accession. Uniquely utilizing Turkish sources, this book looks at how the conflict has developed since 1978.
Over the past fifty years the Cyprus Problem has come to be regarded as the archetype of an intractable ethnic conflict. Since 1964, the United Nations has been at the forefront of efforts to find a political solution to the dispute between the island's Greek and Turkish communities. And yet, despite the active involvement of six Secretaries-General (U Thant, Kurt Waldheim, Javier Perez de Cuellar, Boutros Boutros Ghali, Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-Moon), every attempt to reach a mutually acceptable solution has failed. Here, James Ker-Lindsay draws together new and original perspectives from the leading experts on Cyprus, including academics, policy-makers, politicians and activists. All have addressed one deceptively simple question: 'Can Cyprus be solved?' Resolving Cyprus presents a comprehensive overview of the Cyprus Problem from a variety of approaches and offers new and innovative ideas as to how to tackle one of the longest running ethnic conflicts on the world stage. This represents an essential contribution to the body of work on Cyprus, and will be required reading for all those following the debates surrounding the Cyprus problem.
