Voices of Turkish Cypriots

This site provides oral histories from Cyprus.

At this time, the only posted personal stories are from Turkish Cypriots in the North of Cyprus, which they know as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). 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 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 South and the Turkish Cypriot North, and the possibilities for peace and reunification between the two communities.

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" with an eye to the reconcilliation efforts between the island's communities.

As of Winter 2009, proposals are in motion to include the oral histories of Greek Cypriots in an expanded "Cypriot Voices."

• 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.
  
• Eastern Mediterranean University, in the Turkish North
  
• 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]

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 18 December 2008.
Comments:  moderator @ tcvoices.org    [email address modified to prevent automated address collection by spammers]