Assessing Transnational Re‐negotiation in the Post‐1974 Turkish Cypriot Community: ‘Cyprus Donkeys’, ‘Black Beards’ and the ‘EU Carrot’

Abstract

This article discusses the construction and re‐negotiation of identity within the Turkish Cypriot community. This process is analysed in the context of its transnational position between Greek Cypriots and Turkey, as well as the Diaspora, the immigrants and the European Union. Further, it describes how competing conceptions of national and regional identity—located between Turkish nationalism and expressions of Cypriotism—developed among Turkish Cypriots after 1974. Addressing issues such as the debate on European identity within the community, identity formation in the Turkish Cypriot diaspora and the controversial issue of immigration to northern Cyprus, it argues that despite their strong transnational orientation, Cypriotist identity discourses also reveal a significant exclusionary potential.

Notes

[1] Note on the usage of disputed official names in this article: While the Republic of Cyprus is the only internationally recognized government of Cyprus, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is recognized solely by the Republic of Turkey. The official Greek Cypriot position considers the TRNC as an illegal regime set up in territories of the Republic of Cyprus under Turkish occupation. The official Turkish Cypriot position, on the other hand, regards the government of the Republic of Cyprus as the ‘Greek Cypriot administration’ only of the southern part of Cyprus. Since this article does not address the complex legal issues related to the Cyprus conflict, the author uses the expressions which are accepted in each community. This choice of words does not include any preference for the legal view of any one of the conflicting parties.

[2] This paper’s narrative is based predominantly on face‐to‐face, in‐depth and expert interviews conducted during fieldwork visits to Cyprus on several occasions between 2004 and 2005.

[3] The term yavru has a dual meaning: (1) newborn animal, also used for a small child or baby; (2) small in the sense of ‘cute’ and ‘loveable’. Turkish Cypriot opponents of Turkey’s influence in Cyprus often criticize the expression yavruvatan for its patronizing connotations.

[4] Regarding his remark on the ‘Cyprus donkey’ Denktaş himself later claimed that he had only quoted Archbishop Makarios, Greek Cypriot President of the Republic of Cyprus 1960–1977 (interview with the Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris 22 November 2005).

[5] If not further stated, all originally Turkish quotes were translated by the author.

[6] In Cyprus meze is a main dish, while in Turkey it means ‘starter’.

[7] Author’s note: Some Turkish Cypriot supporters of Cypriotness intend to stress a common Cypriot identity by writing the components of the regular Turkish expressions Kıbrıslı Türk and Kıbrıslı Rum (‘Turkish Cypriot’ and ‘Greek Cypriot’) in one word, thus Kıbrıslıtürk and Kıbrıslırum.

[8] Robins and Aksoy (2001: 689) point to the difficulties in calculating the number of Turkish Cypriots living in Britain, as census data do not clearly distinguish them as a separate group.

[9] For his empirical survey (conducted in 1993–1994) Alicik asked 120 young second‐generation Turkish Cypriots in Britain (aged 12–24) about their belonging to a certain nationality: 26.67 per cent answered ‘Turkish Cypriot’, 20.0 per cent ‘Turkish’, 13.33 per cent ‘British’, 10.83 per cent ‘Anglo‐Cypriot Turk’ (rest: other categories). To the question ‘When someone else asks your nationality, how do you answer?’ 32.5 per cent answered ‘Turkish’, 28.33 per cent ‘Turkish Cypriot’ and 19.17 per cent ‘British’ (rest: other categories) (Alicik 1997: 192–193).

[10] According to an analysis Hatay (2005: 14) refers to in his report the TRNC population breaks down as follows (for 2003): 120,302 (66.1%) were born in Cyprus or were of Cypriot descent, 32,396 (17.8%) were born in Turkey, 25,662 (14.1%) were born in Cyprus to parents who were either born in Turkey or are of mixed Turkish/Turkish Cypriot origin, 3094 (1.7%) were Turkish Cypriots born in a third country (UK, Canada, Australia, etc.), 546 (0.3%) were of Bulgarian‐Turkish origin.

[11] According to Hatay’s (2005: viii,6) findings the approximately 102,000 temporary residents from Turkey is distributed as follows (for 2005): 16,277 registered workers plus families, 20–30,000 non‐registered workers plus families, 1695 tourists (annual average), 18,398 students and around 500 teaching staff, 35,000 Turkish army personnel, with families and conscripts.

[12] The census was the first conducted under the new TRNC government, which claimed the survey had been undertaken according to EU and international standards. Nevertheless the census was criticized by the Greek Cypriot government of the Republic of Cyprus, who called it ‘illegal’, and Turkish Cypriot opposition groups. Included in the ‘de facto’ population of 264,172 are TRNC citizens (no information on the citizen’s origin was given), tourists, 47,601 registered workers (after a strict registration campaign against ‘illegal’ workers in 2005) and about 29,000 students (among them 26,551 students from Turkey and 2680 foreign students) (statement of TRNC Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer, cited in Kıbrıs 6 May 2006).

[13] Kurdish immigrants in Northern Cyprus have always had a rather ambivalent status. While they were seen as a useful element during the official settlement policy in the 1970s, they were also officially regarded with a certain suspicion and directly or indirectly affected by Ankara’s policy towards the Kurds in Turkey. The Turkish Cypriot sociologist Muharrem Faiz, for example, reports on the evacuation of some Cypriot villages with Kurdish inhabitants during the intensified activities of the Kurdish movement in Turkey in the 1990s (interview with Muharrem Faiz 8 November 2005). On the other hand a comparatively small number of Kurdish refugees coming from Turkey sought political asylum in the southern part of the island.

[14] During fieldwork in 2004 and 2005.