Events/Meetings Prior 2003 Vs Post 2003
Sporadic meetings prior to 2003 for artists, NGOs and academics, and
non-existent for students
Specific location: the meetings could only take place in Pyla,
Foreign facilitators:
Increased frequency in the organization of activities in post 2003
period
Duration of meetings: the most effective meetings are the ones that
create an “enclosed” environment where participants are “forced to spend
a lot of time together, exchange views and learn to understand the other
better”. However in most cases the communication between the
participants cease after the meeting
“Recycling of participants”: the same usual persons attend the meetings
Social Pressure
Family pressure: family members, relatives
Peer
pressure: classmates, colleagues, friends
Authority (indirect) pressure: Ministries, high ranking officials, elite
“Nationalists’” influence: young people are easily influenced, thus, is
easy to put pressure on persons who want to get involved in bi-communal
activities
Personal pressure: Greek Cypriots participating in bi-communal events
were portrayed as “tricksters” who wanted to betray Turkish Cypriots,
thus, putting significant pressure on the Turkish Cypriots who might
wanted to cooperate with them.
Implicit pressure: persons could participate in bi-communal events but
under their own individual capacity and not as members of their
institutions, this was mainly applied for the academic and research
institutions.
Religious pressure: due to demographic changes religion is becoming more
visible and is instrumentalized on the side of the politicians
Legal Issues
Political legitimacy: the issue of indirect recognition of “TRNC” is a
hot issue and is one of the main reasons one could not participate in
bi-communal activities for both personal scruples and the social
pressure to be considered a “traitor”. The participation can supposedly
contribute in giving a status to the other community that does not or
should not exist.
Educational Barriers
History books and educational system: the way history is portrayed
creates negative feelings for the “other”. The social instigation of
communal detachment is as early as the primary school where the image of
the “other” is presented by teachers based on their own individual
opinion and ideology mostly influenced by the official depiction in the
educational textbooks and exercise books.
Use of Technology
Use
of internet (YouTube, Facebook) to advance positions and views and to
upload videos and pictures of current activities. More specifically, the
ones in favor of the bi-communal activities upload videos and pictures
of their common activities that portray them having a good time, while
the ones against upload videos or pictures with negative comments.
Role of the Media
Role
of the media: media on both sides tend to have negative stance towards
bi-communal activities. Particularly, in politically important periods
(i.e. the time of Annan Plan) media portrayed those involved in
bi-communal work in a rather critical manner. Most of the times media
follow certain political groups, thus, having their own agenda.
Lack of Communication and Language Barriers
Lack
of communication: no direct telephone lines
Language barriers and translation: problems arise in the use of
sensitive terms and when terms cannot be translated
Academic Obstacles
Co-authorship of articles and books and co-hosting of conferences face
the obstacles of location, publishing house and the assertion of the
institutional affiliations of the authors. Academics when questioned
whether they could follow the research work of colleagues from the other
side they responded that this could be done primarily through internet.
If the work is done by local publishing houses then it is unlikely that
the libraries or academic institutions would carry that work.
“Other’s” Culture and Sensitive Issues
Religious Beliefs: the Turkish Cypriots mentioned that many times during
meetings the food offered contained pork. Ignorance of main beliefs
Use
of the “Other” as a “Token”: in bi-communal events both Greek and
Turkish Cypriots they are often used as “tokens” to prove that there are
participants from both sides
Social projection of the “other”: the “other” is the one responsible for
the pain and suffering