Makarios cultural diplomacy legacy in the republic of Cyprus

ABSTRACT

The article explores the cultural diplomacy initiatives undertaken by the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) during Makarios presidency (1960–1977) in order to strengthen the state acknowledgement and visibility in the international scenery and promote a nation brand focused mainly on the Hellenocentric aspect of the Greek-Cypriots’ cultural identity. Cyprus, a recently independent state (1960), shaped its cultural diplomacy practices according to the political developments; on the escalation of bi-communal conflicts internally and the international insecurity provoked by the Cold War rhetoric. This paper aims to map certain state cultural initiatives in an attempt to make connections between the internal identity-building process and the external projection of cultural identity and gain a better understanding about how a small-sized state can pursue and project a nation brand abroad by practicing the diplomacy of culture.

KEYWORDS:

• Cyprus
• cultural diplomacy
• public diplomacy
• soft power
• nation brand
• hellenocentric identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Information from Websites

http://www.assia.org.cy/prosopa/michael-kashalos/116-kassialos1.html.

http://www.britishcouncil.com.cy.

http://www.coe.int/en/web/democracy.

http://www.teloglio.auth.gr/.

http://www.law.gov.cy/law/lawoffice.nsf/dmlintercouncilofeurope_gr/dmlintercouncilofeurope_gr.

http://www.cy.usembassy.gov/education-culture/educational-exchanges/fulbright-eu-schuman-program/.

http://www.unesco.org.cy/About-Ethniki_Epitropi,GR-ABOUT-02,GR.

Notes

1. In the 1980s, private cultural foundations of the island initiated activities abroad by promoting its cultural heritage and nation brand. Leventis Foundation (founded in 1979), acting as an independent cultural actor, undertook significant initiatives in cultural diplomacy. It organized lectures, art and archaeologicalexhibitions abroad and coordinated publications about the local culture. It focused also on promoting the archaeological past of the island abroad. The foundation created with its own expenses spaces in well-established European museums, such as the British Museum, the Louvre Museum and the Cycladic Museum in Athens for showcasing aspects of Cypriot archaeological collections. Leventis Foundation also renovated galleries in Metropolitan Museum in New York in order to host and exhibit Cypriot antiquities to an international audience (Spanou 2016, 127).

2. Karaiskou (2010) states that the advertisement in Greece after 1945 used the ancient Hellenic aesthetics in order to communicate its own values and products. In the same way, RoC used symbols from the Greek mythology and culture with a profound acceptance in the Western World. Its ultimate aim was to project a cultural image in the international scenery as Hellenocentric in order to gain political allies for the support of aspirations in the foreign policy.

3. Eurocentrism linked to Western-centrism did not emerge during Makarios presidency but only until a few years before the country’s accession in the European Union in 2004. Argyrou (1996) supports that the state’s accession in the EU is considered by the Greek-Cypriots as an accession to a cultural family in which they had already belonged. This was the basic argument of the newest version of the Hellenocentric nationalism, promoted by the right-wing Greek-Cypriot politicians in the 1990s. The new Greek-Cypriot nationalism was emphasizing the Hellenic cultural contribution to the European cultural structure.

4. https://cy.usembassy.gov/education-culture/educational-exchanges/fulbright-eu-schuman-program/, accessed 24.4.2018.

5. www.britishcouncil.com.cy/about, accessed 02.05.2018.

6. Many other countries hosted on the island either in their embassies building or elsewhere in Nicosia (capital of Cyprus) cultural centres. For example, France promotes the French language and culture with Alliances Françaises, Germany with Goethe Institute, Spain with Cervantes Centre, etc..

7. Scholarships were granted also to Greek-Cypriot students by France, the United States and British Council Commonwealth. Eighty-three (83) scholarships were granted to Greek-Cypriots in 1972, while in 1973, scholarships granted to Greek-Cypriots were tripled (247) (Spanou 2016, 59).

8. The Unification was always the central dream of the Cypriot Hellenism, Phileleftheros, 11 December 1966: 1.

9. An unprecedented people gathering in the performance of the National with ‘Eleni’ two nights ago. Xaraygi, 28 September 1963: 2.

10. The visit to National Theatre of Greece. Phileleftheros, 5 September 1963: 1. The article refers to the donation of 12,000 Cypriot pounds (about 19,000 euro today) by the Greek government in order to cover the travelling and the accommodation expenses of the theatre company.

11. Officially, the RoC wanted to convince about its will to remain a non-aligned state. However, Makarios, the President and the Archbishop of the Cypriot Orthodox Church, could not hide in several occasions his preference towards the Soviet Union, because it was a nation consisted of Orthodox Christians. While Makarios was feeling that the common religious could be an important connecting element between his country and the Soviet Union, his belief suffered from a severe contradiction, since at that time the Soviet Union was declaring atheism (Froese 2004).

12. Huntington (1991), in his book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order, supports that during the Cold War a country’s leader could choose to be neutral, taking into consideration issues of national security, world power balance and ideological preferences. In such a polarized world, it was crucial for each state to answer to the question ‘with who am I?’. The answer to this question defined the country’s position in the international politics and disclosed its friends and enemies in the world.

13. Institute of Foreign Affairs, (2011): 120. Accessed http://namiran.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Declarations-of-All-Previous-NAM-Summits.pdf.

14. Technical and Scientific Agreement Signed for Collaboration between Cyprus Czechoslovakia, Phileleftheros, 14 November 1965: 1.

15. Commercial Agreement between Cyprus and East Germany is renewed, Phileleftheros, 16 February 1968: 6.

16. Excellent the performances of ballet Comisie of Berlin Opera, Phileleftheros, 3 March 1971.

17. Treasures of Cyprus are exposed in Berlin, Phileleftheros, 6 February 1971: 1. Treasures of Cyprus, the best Art exhibition organized in Berlin, Phileleftheros, 9 February 1971: 1.

18. The supervision of the state cultural policy implementation was under the jurisdiction of Educational Services [in Greek, Morfotikes Ipiresies]. During the internal structural changes arisen by the activation of the Law of Need, Educational Services substituted the Department of Intellectual and Cultural Development (1960–1963). The new department supervises until today all the state cultural activities in the RoC, as well the activities abroad (Spanou 2016, 131).

19. Tonis Spiteris was a Greek well-known art critic with international connections in visual arts field.

20. Telloglio Foundation, http://teloglio.auth.gr/, accessed 21.05.2013.

21. http://www.unesco.org.cy/About-Ethniki_Epitropi,GR-ABOUT-02,GR, retrieved 19.8.2017.

22. https://www.coe.int/en/web/democracy, retrieved 23.4.2018.

23. http://www.law.gov.cy/law/lawoffice.nsf/dmlintercouncilofeurope_gr/dmlintercouncilofeurope_gr?OpenDocument, retrieved 23.10.2017.

24. The award winner M. Kassialos, Phileleftheros, 24 September, 1963: 1.

25. http://www.assia.org.cy/prosopa/michael-kashalos/116-kassialos1.html, accessed 29.9.2017.

26. For more details in Danos (2012, 2014).

Additional information

Funding

This study was NOT funded by any funding agency.

Notes on contributors

Georgia Spanou

Georgia Spanou is graduated in 2016 from Open University of Cyprus (Hellenic Culture Department), where she obtained her PhD with the thesis, Cypriot Arts Festivals: Cultural Policy & Management in Republic of Cyprus from the 1960–2004. She also holds a Master Degree from Goldsmiths College (University of London) in Theatre Education. She currently works as museum educator and cultural consultant in museums and galleries in Cyprus.