Cypriot Voices

This site provides oral histories from Cyprus, in the Eastern Mediterranean.

At this time, only personal stories from Turkish Cypriots lilving in the north of Cyprus are posted on this site. The focus is on the personal stories told by Turkish Cypriots who lived through "the troubles" on Cyprus between 1963 and 1974. Oral histories were collected in 1996 by students at Eastern Mediterranean University in North Cyprus.

In the Winter of 2011, the oral histories of Greek Cypriots will be included in an expanded "Cypriot Voices."

In addition to these collected personal stories, the site provides some a link to contemporary scholarly discussions of Cyprus history and the conflict. These histories focus on the circumstances leading to the division of the island between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, and the possibilities for peace and reunification.

The information in this site is intended to help visitors better understand the perspective of Cypriots in what has come to be known in the international community as "the Cyprus Issue." Cyprus today is a divided island; the world community officially recognizes the entire island as the Republic of Cyprus, with administration in what is essentially the Greek South. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is recognized only by Turkey and is considered occupied territory by many Greek Cypriots.

When this site was launched in 1996, graphics were kept to a minimum and photos were reproduced in black and white to provide faster access for visitors from parts of the world with limited telecommunications infrastructure.

The original site title, "Voices from Turkish Cyprus," was changed in 2008 to "Voices of Turkish Cypriots" and "Cypriot Voices" in 2010 with an eye to the reconcilliation efforts between the island's communities.

• Personal and official histories Turkish Cypriot oral histories and link to discussion of the Cyprus conflict.
  
• About this portion of the project "Voices of Turkish Cypriots".
  
• The Cyprus Conflict  An excellent educational web site exploring many aspects of the issues related to Cyprus.
  
• Night Vision Puppets at the 50th Anniversary Party of the UN Photo Essay of Puppet Show at the Ledra Palace Hotel, Green Zone, 1995.
• Cyprus stories, people, vignettes on YouTube [www.youtube.com/sfmediaprof]
• Digital Storytelling -- Nicosia, 2008 on YouTube [www.youtube.com/sfmediaprof]

For a look into the culture and the oral histories of Greek Cypriots, see Nicos Philippou's Off the Map (2005 Intercollege Press, Nicosia) and Coffee House Embellishments (2007 University of Nicosia Press).

All pages of this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License
Please notify the coordinator of use:  moderator @ tcvoices.org

Last updated 16 May 2010.
Comments:  moderator @ tcvoices.org    [email address modified to prevent automated address collection by spammers]