Multiple Realities and the Role of Peace Education in Deep-Rooted Conflicts: The Case of Cyprus

Abstract

After the 1974 events, the coup d’etat and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus we witnessed the massive displacement of people from both communities. Turkish Cypriots were given Greek Cypriot homes and properties to settle in and many Greek Cypriot refugees who fled from the north to the south of the island either stayed initially in refugee camps or were given Turkish Cypriot homes and properties. For many this act of forced political exchange meant “invading” the private space, memories, and family history of the first real owner. Much literature—poetry, prose and drama—was produced on both sides of the divide about this experience and its meaning. Some of it empathetic to the absent other who, through the material objects left behind, gradually becomes present in the new life of the new owner as narrated in the epigraph written by a Turkish Cypriot whose family was given a Greek Cypriot house. Some other literature selectively excluded the other and mourned the loss of its own side and kept the longing alive with the “Do Not Forget” campaign. This campaign was launched on both sides of the divide. Respective governing elites called upon their own side to “not forget” or rather to remember selectively certain “chosen traumas and chosen glories” (Volkan, 1978). This official appeal that gives rise to different and competing narratives and by extension to different realities contributed in part to the construction of the conflict culture in the past 30 years mainly based on the past and the understanding of the problem as defined by each side separately. Education, being the state institution, that is used to reproduce the official narrative and interpretation of the conflict can also play a significant role in socializing the new generation in peace education and conflict resolution.