This book develops a holistic understanding of the intrinsic security concerns which lie at the heart of the protracted conflict in Cyprus. This work offers a well-grounded account of intractability in Cyprus by unfolding the rationale and prevalence of competitive approaches held by Greek and Turkish Cypriots alike. The analysis explains how crude security interests give birth to an existentialist security dilemma that has so far prevented Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and their security guarantors, from reaching a durable settlement. This book contains a systematic critique of the breadth and depth of the major security concerns embedded in the proposed federal bi‐zonal framework for Cyprus, uncovering the impetus and rationale of the underlying insecurities that prompt the Greek and Turkish sides to compete on a series of state‐building aspects, including the opposing understandings of self‐determination and sovereignty, the competitive underpinnings of federal institutional design, and the problematic role of third‐party involvement. This book ultimately unravels a deeper and more pragmatic understanding of how competitive security considerations and geopolitical considerations link up to ethno‐federal design in post‐conflict environments. This book will be of much interest to students of conflict studies, federalism studies, statebuilding, European politics, and International Relations.
This book explores the different perspectives and historical moments of nationalism in Cyprus. It does this by looking at nationalism as a form of identity, as a form of ideology, and as a form of politics. The fifteen contributors to this book are scholars of different scientific backgrounds and present Cypriot nationalisms from an interdisciplinary framework, including approaches such as history, political science, psychology, and gender studies. The chapters take a historical approach to nationalism and argue that the world of nations, ethnic identity, and national ideology are neither eternal, nor ahistorical nor primordial, but are rather socially constructed and function within particular historical and social contexts. As a land that was, and still is, marked by opposed nationalisms – that is, Greek and Turkish – Cyprus constitutes a fertile ground for examining the history, the dynamics, and the dialectics of nationalism.
In the first of two volumes, Anastasiou offers a detailed portrait of Cyprus’s dual nationalisms, identifying the ways in which nationalist ideologies have undermined the relations between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. In the context of regional and global conflicts, he demonstrates how the ethnic rivalry was largely engineered by the leaders of each community and consolidated by the nationalist configuration of political culture. Taking a multilevel approach, he maps out the impasse and changes in ethnonationalism over time.
Introduction-The Cause: Cyprus and the enosis dream -- 1. An Appeal to "Mother Greece:" The roots of Greek nationalism in Cyprus -- 2. Imperial Constitution: Rejection and radicalization -- 3. Communists and Clerics: The political struggle for the nationalist narrative -- 4. Taking Up Arms: The continuation of politics through force -- 5. Deepening Divides: Political and ethnic fractures -- 6. Making a Stand: The arrival of Governor Harding -- 7. "A full scale emergency:" Restoring law and order -- 8. False Dawn: The failed road to peace -- 9. On All Fronts: TMT and the threat of civil war -- 10. End Game: Killing a dream -- Conclusion-Defeat of a Cause -- Index.
In the second volume, Anastasiou focuses on emergent post-nationalist trends, their implications for peace, and recent attempts to reach mutually acceptable agreements between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. He documents the transformation of Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey within the context of Europeanization and globalization. While leaders of both communities have failed to resolve the conflict, Anastasiou argues that the accession of Cyprus into the European Union has created a structure and process that promises a multiethnic, democratic Cyprus. With great depth and balance, The Broken Olive Branch presents a fresh analysis of the Cyprus conflict and new insights on the influence of nationalism.
This inquiry into the post-war origins of the Cyprus question is based on previously unpublished or unutilized material from British, American and Greek sources. It focuses on the period from when the problem entered the international arena up to the outbreak of the Greek Cypriots' armed struggle.
This thesis is a study of the emergence and diachronic development of Greek-Cypriot nationalism, and its relation to nation, state, and national identities. The broad perspective of historical sociology is used, and the more specific neo-Weberian analytic framework of cultural transformation and social closure, as developed by A. Wimmer, to demonstrate how nationalism, as the 'axial principle' along which modem societies structure inclusion and exclusion, did not lead to the development of a Cypriot nation state, but to a bi-ethnic national state instead; this was mainly because closure took place along ethnic and not national lines, for socio-historical reasons which the study examines. The study first explores the hotly debated issue 'when is the nation', of whether there was a Greek nation in antiquity, of which Greek-Cypriots were a part, or whether the nation's roots are traceable in Medieval times. Next, the development of national consciousness and nationalism is considered, under three different types of regime: During Ottoman rule, a religious community was gradually transformed into an ethnic community; toward the end of this period, Ottoman reforms did not manage to forge a common new (Ottomanist) identity, for social closure had already progressed along ethnic lines. In early British colonial years, ethnicity was politicized and ethnic consciousness gradually turned into a nationalist mass movement for enosis; despite the overall unity of the movement, two variants of nationalism developed, a more traditional ethnic version, characterizing the Right, and another version, imbued with territorial/civic elements (derived from the Internationalist outlook of the communist party), characterizing the Left The anti-colonial struggle for enosis was led by the Right, and excluded the Left and the Turkish-Cypriots. The fragile consociational regime established at independence collapsed after a brief period of cohabitation between the Greeks and Turks of the island in the bi-ethnic / bi-communal Republic of Cyprus - the study analyses the causes leading to the breakdown. Between 1964 and 67, the Greek-Cypriots turned to enosis again, but after realizing the difficulties and dangers involved in its pursuance, Makarios sought to strengthen independence instead, while limiting the powers of Turkish-Cypriots - in effect, aiming for a majoritarian regime with minority rights for the latter. The clash between pro-independence and pro-enosis versions of nationalism was to characterize this period, leading to the coup and invasion of 1974. With the death of enosis in 1974, Hellenocentric nationalism would give more emphasis to Greek culture and identity, whereas Cyprocentric nationalism would stress the priority of Cyprus, the state, and of rapprochement with the Turkish-Cypriots. The study utilizes data from two surveys coordinated by the author, to analyze in more depth the attitudes and discourses of Greek-Cypriots as regards their relations to the Greek nation and the Cypriot state. The gradual strengthening of Cypriot identity is seen to be connected with a new social compromise, which seems to have prevailed within the Greek-Cypriot community, stressing the importance of the Greek-Cypriot state, and which seems to be the primary explanation of why the Greek-Cypriots rejected the federal solution suggested by the UN sponsored Annan Plan, in 2004. In the same year, Cyprus became a member of the European Union, and the study considers some of the implications of this development for the future of nationalism in Cyprus.
"How and why has nationalism in the respective Cypriot, ethnic communities precipitated into the Cyprus problem, nurturing it into a protracted conflict?". This is the research question guiding the examination of the hypothesis that nationalism has had a most profound influence on the Cyprus conflict. Inasmuch as nationalism constitutes a synthetic, multi-dimensional phenomenon, the research method for its investigation is essentially that of interpretive, qualitative research, conducted in the mode of an integrated, interdisciplinary analysis and synthesis. Moreover, the research method is normed by conflict-analysis and conflict-resolution principles, aiming at establishing an intellectual vantage point that is, as far as possible, beyond partisan positions and adversarial entrapments. Thus directed, inquiry reveals that the inner workings of the "nationalist mind" disclose a world and life view that is patterned as a conflict-habituated, conflict-oriented socio-political, historical force, while the evolution of nationalism specific to Cyprus is found to stage the consistent and perpetual, social and political framework determinant of the Cyprus conflict. the historical interchanges of nationalist inspired violence and the subsequent integration of pain into nationalist, historical memory, are found to structure a sustained form of inter-ethnic alienation, while inter-ethnic, nationalist interaction is revealed to instate a process of repetitive, non-communication between the rival sides. It consequently transpires that the major themes and related issues that underlie the formal negotiation process between the Greek and Turkish sides are, in turn, burdened by the legacy of nationalism. Concluding from function in the modern and contemporary world in general and from its shaping impact on the Cyprus conflict in particular, nationalism is diagnosed as incompatible with the spirit of peace. It is thus imperative that any efforts aiming at bringing about political and social transformation that would effectively induce movement from protracted, nationalist conflict to peace and reconciliation be mediated through the demythologization and deconstruction of nationalism. the optimal process for overcoming the conditions of nationalism in regard to the protracted conflict of Cyprus is the European Union framework of values and institutions, within which rapprochement and peace-enhancing efforts on both the formal political plane and the level of citizen initiatives may acquire the necessary legitimacy for inter-ethnic/inter-national reconciliation.
Ethnonationalist Conflict in Postcommunist States investigates why some Eastern European states transitioned to new forms of governance with minimal violence while others broke into civil war. In Bulgaria, the Turkish minority was subjected to coerced assimilation and forced expulsion, but the nation ultimately negotiated peace through institutional channels. In Macedonia, periodic outbreaks of insurgent violence escalated to armed conflict. Kosovo's internal warfare culminated in NATO's controversial bombing campaign. In the twenty-first century, these conflicts were subdued, but violence continued to flare occasionally and impede durable conflict resolution. In this comparative study, Maria Koinova applies historical institutionalism to conflict analysis, tracing ethnonationalist violence in postcommunist states to a volatile, formative period between 1987 and 1992. In this era of instability, the incidents that brought majorities and minorities into dispute had a profound impact and a cumulative effect, as did the interventions of international agents and kin states. Whether the conflicts initially evolved in peaceful or violent ways, the dynamics of their disputes became self-perpetuating and informally institutionalized. Thus, external policies or interventions could affect only minimal change, and the impact of international agents subsided over time. Regardless of the constitutions, laws, and injunctions, majorities, minorities, international agents, and kin states continue to act in accord with the logic of informally institutionalized conflict dynamics. Koinova analyzes the development of those dynamics in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Kosovo, drawing on theories of democratization, international intervention, and path-dependence as well as interviews and extensive fieldwork. The result is a compelling account of the underlying causal mechanisms of conflict perpetuation and change that will shed light on broader patterns of ethnic violence.
