Özet:

This study sets out to trace the political strategy for defending cultural boundaries through poetry. Poetic dialogue defines the qualitative formation and development of intercommunal relations. The exchange of cultural capital amongst intercultural poets and readers constitutes an "attempt at communication" between the two communities, an essential form of communication through poetry that acts by accelerating the elimination of racial, ethnic, linguistic, religious and historical conflicts and differences. Cultural osmosis, what modern critical theory calls cultural hybridization, is being more and more systematically fostered between the two communities, and this is apparent from the exceptionally interesting, new editions of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot poetry. An event, we might say, of literary and also historico-political significance is the recent bilingual edition of two major anthologies of Greek Cypriot poetry in Turkish and Turkish Cypriot poetry in Greek, recently compiled by renowned authors – translators. The central theme in essence explores the multiplicity, fluidity and nature of the Cypriot cultural identity. The “Cypriot” cultural identity of Turkish Cypriots, as perceived primarily by themselves, distinct from their Turkish identity, is linked to the expansion of the linguistic and cultural horizon of Cypriot script. Regarding the question as to how far it is literarily feasible for the two sides to come under the more general umbrella term of “Cypriot literature”, provided the term implies a sense of linguistic, political and more generally cultural identity, despite the fact that hetero determination is difficult, our answer is provided by the Turkish Cypriots themselves with their poetry that comprises the most genuine extension of their social identity (interest in the wounded birthplace, use of the island’s mythical and historical symbols, etc.). Modern Turkish Cypriot script is being nurtured in a multicultural and multilingual environment and often uses the language tool of the Other, for various reasons that may be social, historical, political, professional, etc. The paper presents the critical views expressed on the matter of Turkish Cypriot script and the identity of Cypriot literature. It would be of interest to further study the differences in receptivity between Greek Cypriot poets, carriers of the long Modern Greek literary tradition, and Turkish Cypriots, whose poetry stems from another source. The Appendix contains a selection of representative Turkish Cypriot poems (translated into French).

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