Reputation on the (green) line: revisiting the ‘Plaza moment’ in United Nations peacekeeping practice, 1964–1966

Appointing a United Nations (UN) mediator to work in tandem with the United Nations Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in March 1964 led to fundamental shifts in how the UN Secretariat inner circle orientated the organisation’s presence in Cyprus. The escalating crisis between the two communities in Cyprus and political pressure from UN member states to respond before Cold War superpower nations became engulfed, prompted the creation of UNFICYP and the recruitment of a UN mediator on 4 March 1964. This article argues that the UN leadership intended to restore member state trust following the controversial Congo mission (ONUC) and expand the organisation’s diplomatic agency through the innovation of deploying the dedicated mediator alongside the armed mission. However, the success of the meditator was diplomatically limited by the localised dynamics of the Cyprus conflict and the willingness of the Guarantor parties to surrender their sovereign imaginaries of post-colonial Cyprus. Ultimately, the experiment in field-based mediation forced the UN Secretariat leadership to acknowledge the incompatibility of appeasing all member states on one hand whilst leading field-based political negotiations with the other.

Journalism in conflict-affected societies: Professional roles and influences in Cyprus

Covering a conflict for journalists when they are members of one of the conflicting parties has some professional and moral dilemmas. It creates tensions between their professionalism and sense of belonging to their community. This article, focusing on journalism on both sides of Cyprus, explores how journalists think of their role in conflict-affected societies. Based on semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with journalists from the Turkish Cypriot media and Greek Cypriot media, it explores journalists’ self-reflection of their roles and the forces they believe that affect their work when reporting on the Cyprus conflict. The findings show journalists do not have a fixed identity but a changeable one. They renegotiate and reproduce the meaning and role of journalism in society, and move between professional and ethnic identities depending on the state of the conflict.

The Impact of the Cyprus Conflict on Turkey's EU Accession Process

This study aims to analyze the impact of the Cyprus conflict on Turkey-EU relations while considering several factors: 1) the EU conditionality approach, 2) Turkish-Greek relations, 3) component problems of the Cyprus conflict 4) the recent developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and their impact on Turkey-EU relations. The main focus is on the documents and decisions of different bodies of the EU and how they link the Cyprus conflict to Turkey’s accession process and how Turkey reacts to them. For this purpose, a content analysis of documents, decisions, and protocols issued by the European Council and Commission and Progress Reports on Turkey is conducted. The conclusions drawn from the research are the following: 1) the Cyprus conflict and Turkey’s tense relations with Greece have negatively impacted and continue to impact Turkey-EU relations, 2) Turkey, to some extent, conformed to EU conditionality when it did not refer to the Cyprus conflict, 3) the problems of rights to ports/airports of Cyprus and the issues of property and IDPs shape the strained relations between Turkey and the EU, and finally 4) the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean concerning rights to hydrocarbons currently and in the near future will determine the geopolitical dynamics in the region. Keywords: Turkey-EU relations, Cyprus conflict, Greece, conditionality, “TRNC”, accession.

Cyprus – meeting point for global and regional players

The Cyprus Island, located in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, is known for decades of conflict known as the “Cyprus conflict”. The resolution to the conflict is, first of all, influenced by the citizens of local communities. However, we should not forget about the external actors. First and foremost international organisations (UN, EU) and the significant world or regional countries (USA, Russia, Great Britain, Turkey, and Greece) are also significant and very active and efficient in this process. These countries have an important influence on activities in the Eastern Mediterranean and assert their interests in the mentioned region.

Problematising the peacebuilding strategies through embedded and situated research in Pyla

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use Foucault’s genealogical analysis to problematise the influence of political agreements and resolutions on Cypriots’ social life and to examine spatial practices. At the same time, this paper deals with the implications of the UN’s vision for Pyla in Cyprus as a prototype of integrity and bi-communality. Furthermore, it analyses and problematises the UN mandate system in order to challenge “peace-keeping” strategies. Design/methodology/approach This investigation has been achieved through the author’s experience of situating and being in the site as well as through conducting site-specific interventions, performances, walking, observations, writing and interviews. Adding to these analytical methods, the involvement of the feminist theories in different ways allowed author to be more critical, reflexive and personal. In addition, the author critically analyses legal documents such as the Cyprus Constitution and the UN’s reports, documents and resolutions in order to understand the connection between politics and accordingly the creation of space. Findings This embedded critical spatial research into the in-between village Pyla establishes a new methodological understanding for design interventions that do not target a solution but, by implementing a reflexive practice, they create resistance practices. Focusing on these practices should allow a critical reflection on the previously applied urban development programs and their impact on Pyla and other cities and villages in Cyprus. The findings and outcomes that are presented through this research can be used by different powers for a critical reflection on the role of design in conflict situations. Research limitations/implications One of the limitations of this research has been the lack of direct contact with the Greek Cypriot inhabitants of the village in order to understand their specific views on the conflict and their participation in the everyday life of the village. One of the reasons for this has been the differences in language which has made it difficult to approach the citizens and discuss their struggles as they would not necessarily confine in an outsider. Nonetheless, the author has tried to capture Greek Cypriot views in the circumstances of the UN and authorities meeting and, where possible has relied on literature to guide the understanding of the village life and Greek Cypriot role in it. Originality/value The author’s critical reflection on the unification-focused resolution strategies for the divided Cyprus (created by the UN, academics and architects) established the unique strength of this research paper. This research does not perceive the Cyprus conflict and its division as a problem, instead, it recognises the conflict and works within its division in order to understand the hidden political transformations, powers, appreciations and practices which become subordinate to the conflict. Different practices challenge the idea behind the normalisation processes that the UN aimed to achieve and reacts to those who came up with unification strategies; nonetheless, this should open new visions in the negotiations between the different powers.

Education in Conflict: Postwar School Buildings of Cyprus

The terms cyprus, conflict, crisis and war have been almost inextricably intertwined throughout the history of this Mediterranean island. The education system played an important role socially and school buildings played an important role visually first in the dissemination of nationalism when the ethno-nationalist movements within the turkish and greek-cypriot communities increased dramatically under British colonial rule (1878-1960), and later in the dissemination of internationalism in the mid-twentieth century. Despite the increased conflict and nationalism, which was reflected by neo-greek architectural elements, the striking impact of the international style turned school buildings into representations of the communities' attitudes towards modernism. By the mid-1940s these attitudes towards modernism also served as a latent way for communities' identity struggles and for the sovereignty of each community to exist. After world war ii the style embodied by many school buildings conveyed science-based modern thought; modernization attempts for political, economic and social reforms; and the strong commitment of the first modernist cypriot architects to the spirit of the time and the philosophy of the modern. Under this scope, postwar school buildings in cyprus are identified as unique artifacts transformed from an ‘ethnicity-based' image into an ‘environment-based' form that is more associated with the modernization, decolonization and nation-building processes from which local nuances of mainstream modernism emerged. At this point the modernization process of the state, identity struggles of the communities and architects' modernist attempts could be interpreted as providing a fertile ground for new social and architectural experiments, and could answer questions about how postwar school architecture managed to avoid reference to historical, ethnic and religious identities when there was an intentional exacerbation of hostility between the two ethnic communities and about school buildings predominantly followed principles of the international style even though both the greek and turkish-cypriot education systems were instrumental in strengthening local nationalisms and even ethnic tensions.