Public Attitudes Towards Peace: The Greek-Cypriot Position

Abstract

In 1974, Turkey divided Cyprus by military force into the north and south, giving the Turkish Cypriots full control of the north. Since then, the United Nations (UN) has attempted to resolve the Cyprus problem, but diplomatic efforts have always fallen short. In 2004, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed a plan that would reunify Cyprus. In a public referendum that followed, about two-thirds of Turkish Cypriots voted for the plan; however, three-quarters of Greek Cypriots rejected the plan. To help illuminate Greek-Cypriot public opinion, a telephone survey is conducted with 150 randomly selected Greek-Cypriot citizens (with a response rate of 87%). Results demonstrate that about four-fifths of respondents do not mistrust Turkish Cypriots and believe they can peacefully coexist with them. Still, 43% of respondents report that Greek Cypriots as a group are not very well prepared to reunify with Turkish Cypriots. Perception of ethnocentrism for both sides is found to be at comparable, mediocre levels. Narrative analyses suggest that the Annan Plan be revised to assure, among other things, (1) complete and timely demilitarization of the island, (2) removal of all Turkish settlers, (3) containment of extremist elements from both sides, and (4) fiscal backing from the international community to the Turkish-Cypriot side. The social and political implications of the findings, study limitations, and some future research needs are highlighted.

Extended intergroup contact in frozen conflicts: Experimental evidence from Cyprus

“…Generations of Cypriots have now grown up on a divided island and know no other reality. Perhaps for this reason, survey research has persistently demonstrated that attitudes toward reconciliation are less favorable among the young than among the old in the Greek Cypriot community in Cyprus (''Solving the Cyprus Problem, 2011Problem, , 2013Georgiades, 2007;Sitas et al, 2007;Yucel and Psaltis, 2020). Second, the type of contact that Cypriots engage in upon crossing tends to be shallow and transactional.…”

Teaching Conflict Resolution: A Model for Student Research in Cyprus

“…Th e Turkish Cypriot nationalist position can be juxtaposed with the Greek Cypriot nationalist position to demonstrate how views become entrenched, reinforced, and intractable (Stavrinides 1976). Research has also been done on the attitudes regarding the possibility of peace (Georgiades 2007); ethnocentrism is found to inhibit the peace process in spite of the fact that Greek Cypriots generally do not mistrust Turkish Cypriots.…”

Child abuse and neglect in Cyprus: an exploratory study of perceptions and experiences

“…Culturally speaking, because of frequent marketing research, the Cyprus public is much more accustomed to participating in brief phone research than face to face interviews or mailed surveys. Moreover, previous studies have repeatedly shown that telephone survey research is an effective way of assessing public opinion and sensitive experiences in Cyprus (Georgiades, 2003(Georgiades, , 2006(Georgiades, , 2007(Georgiades, , 2008Georgiades and Potocky-Tripodi, 2000). Interview data were handwritten verbatim by the researcher.…”