Re-signification of "Cyprus" with the opening of new lines of communication

ABSTRACT: Cyprus has lived through important changes in the last decade. These changes have been, and are, influential in the re-construction of the meaning of the island and of things and peoples related to it. The ongoing de-linking and re-linking of new lines of communication results in the re-articulation of the meaning of all things “Cypriot.” Since 1974, communication between the two main communities on the island was limited as the two were separated not only with a border but with a wall as well. In the meantime, lines of communication have been changing. The significance and authority of the mass media of both sides have been diminished, and the meaning of their messages has been over-determined, with the opening of additional lines of communication. We can count the Internet and the World Wide Web, as well as the formation of bi-communal groups on the island among these. The last and, perhaps, most significant change has been the opening of the border gates on the island (23 April 2003) which allowed interaction and face-to-face communication between hitherto isolated communities. In my dissertation I study how the opening of these and other lines of communication have/are leading to a resignification of things and peoples related to Cyprus. I principally take the signifiers “Cyprus issue,” “peace,” “solution,” “European Union,” “Annan Plan,” “Turkish Cypriot,” “Greek Cypriot,” “Cypriot,” “Turkish,” “Greek,” and “European Cypriot” as cases, and observe both the temporal (from time to time) and spatial (from place to place) changes they are undergoing. The migration stories of Turkish Cypriots, their memories about the ‘home’, the ‘homeland’ and the re-turning ‘back’, the transfer of these stories from older generations to the youth and the experiencing of “new” Cyprus are also discussed in this dissertation. I performed textual analysis of the main newspapers in the Turkish Cypriot Print Media. These newspapers are; Kıbrıs, Halkın Sesi, Afrika, Yenidüzen and Birlik. However, my analysis is not limited to the representations of the printed text, but covers the representations in the social, historical, and cultural text as well. I, therefore, also look at bi-communal activities, demonstrations, web sites, and virtual communities. Keywords: communication, Cyprus, identity, representation, migration (displacement), memory and deconstruction. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………