Abstract:

This article studies the political usages of patriotic celebrations and school textbooks by Turkish nationalism in Northern Cyprus. It shows that since the division in 1974, a memorial calendar has been used to diffuse a state nationalism that proposes a simplified narrative of the history of the conflict. Such narrative glorifies the role of Turkey and provides stereotypes on the violence of Turkish Cypriots, inducing that peaceful coexistence would be impossible. By celebrating the memory of the martyrs, Turkish nationalists have imposed an ideological and conflicting political discourse based on the feelings of fear and threat to justify their national liberation struggle and TRNC’s independence. An analogous discourse based on the belonging of Cyprus to Hellenism and the resistance against British colonial rule and Turkey dominates the Greek Cypriot political space. But alternative internal memories also exist within each community, and propose less essentialist and more nuanced interpretations of the history of the conflict.

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