VIRTUAL Barcelona
Abstract
By 1964 partition in walled Nicosia, Cyprus, was developing as something unavoidable; a natural continuation and an urban process – but also as a response to insecurity and fear, and to create de facto situations. After the breakdown of the Republic of Cyprus in December 1963, the city had to be reorganised from different perspectives to accommodate the function of two entities-cities. Both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot community took on the task of reorganising their own part of this segregated space. Administration functions, government bodies, urban growth and development, all doubled. Two capital cities with their own religion, laws, administration, language, political structures and ways of life were emerging. This involved a great expenditure of capital and energy in material and symbolic ways, as the established road networks, services and other essential components of the city had to be readjusted to serve two systems instead of one, affecting the governance of populations and urban everyday living. This paper assesses this situation, while analysing how it institutionalised spatial and social segregation and consolidated the idea of two different entities. Boundaries – physical and imaginary – link people and their identities to territory in a process that tends to naturalise cultural and social differences; especially when the ‘Other’ is almost completely invisible. Thus, (the image of) Nicosia within the walls, as constructed by each community between 1964 and 1968, came to be known and/or interpreted as multiple physical spaces and was an active agent in shaping their subsequent perceptions and reactions. The Cyprus problem is ongoing; therefore, Nicosia is still functioning as two cities, and its future is most certainly uncertain – thus, an ever-evolving case study as to how past politics (and people) affect urban features and futures.
Maria Christodoulou holds a BA in History form the University of Leeds, an MA in Modern and Contemporary History form the University of Cyprus, and a PhD from the University of Leicester. She has published in Cypriot journals and has presented papers in local and international conferences. Her field of study is contemporary Cypriot History (1955-74), and her main research interests include urban manifestations of nationalism, intercommunal relations between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus, everyday life and politics, and cultural history.