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Echoes from the Dead Zone: Across the Cyprus Divide
In the space of a generation, Cyprus - the island of Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love - has experienced an anti-colonial struggle, post-colonial chaos, internecine fighting and hatred, civil war, invasion, population displacements and physical partition. The narrative of Cyprus' recent history has created numerous attitudes and prejudices which run deep but which have never before been explored on a human level. Now for the first time Yiannis Papadakis, firmly planted in the Greek Cypriot world, sets out to discover 'The Other' - the much maligned Turks. Papadakis decided with some trepidation to travek to Constantinople (to his Greek worldview it was still Constantinople) to learn Turkish. There he discovered that actually it is Istanbul, and that Turkey is not the place of his once imagined demonology. Armed with new insights he returned to Cyprus and delved into the two communities, locked in their mutually contemptuous embrace, to explore their common humanity and to understand what has divided them. He focused on Nicosia where the people who used to live together in one neighbourhood found themselves separated by a 'Dead Zone', two armies and a UN force.
His was a journey to the various sides of the Dead Zone and to the various zones of the dead, the realms of memory and history. This book is the moving, sometimes humorous and always fascinating account of that journey.
His was a journey to the various sides of the Dead Zone and to the various zones of the dead, the realms of memory and history. This book is the moving, sometimes humorous and always fascinating account of that journey.
257 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 18, 2023
4.5 stars
This is an excellent book, anthropology mixed with memoir, by an author from divided Cyprus. Coming to this book knowing virtually nothing about Cyprus, I learned a lot about the country. But this is such an insightful look into conflict generally and the ways groups of people become entrenched in and justify their own positions that I think anyone interested in the psychological side of political conflict would appreciate it.
Cyprus has long been inhabited by both ethnic Greek and ethnic Turkish populations, and belonged to both the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. In the 20th century, it became a British possession, and groups that had historically lived well together grew more distant, both leaning on their historical motherlands for support. After independence, many Greek Cypriots wanted to become part of Greece, and unrest led to atrocities against Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s, with many of them relegated to ghettos. In 1974, a Greek-sponsored coup led to Turkey invading the country and carving out the northern part for Turkish Cypriots – leading to atrocities against Greek Cypriots who lived there and were killed or forced from their homes. Today, almost 50 years later, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continues to exist in fact but to be recognized only by Turkey and seen as occupied territory by everyone else. Negotiations to reunite the country have always broken down, and from this book it’s easy to see why.
Yiannis Papadakis is a Greek Cypriot, who after studying abroad returned home in 1990 to begin studying his country. One of the things that makes the book so interesting is that it is as much about his journey, being forced to confront his own indoctrination and biases, as about the people he meets. He visits Turkey to learn Turkish (after some serious initial misgivings about his safety there, he realizes Turks are regular people too), lives with Greek Cypriots near the border and then crosses over to the Turkish side. (I was initially thrown by the way he talks about the Turkish side, making reference to “pseudo-officials” wearing uniforms decorated with “pseudo-flags,” but this turns out to be representative of his opinions at the time the research began, not by the time he wrote the book.) Eventually he winds up living in a mixed village in the “dead zone” between the two sides, where everyone is suspected of being a traitor.
Cyprus’s history and politics are complicated, as is the author’s analysis, so anything I say here will no doubt oversimplify. But there’s an incredible amount of food for thought here. About the ways both sides manipulate history – not necessarily by lying, but by beginning the tale with their own flourishing empire that’s brought down through the wrongdoing of the others; by focusing only on their own side’s pain, emphasizing their own dead and refugees while refusing to acknowledge wrongs against the others; by paying attention to only the extremists on the other side, painting their views as everyone’s views; by both defining their own side as the threatened minority. About the ways people refuse to understand each other, about the ways propaganda is used, about the repercussions this conflict has in people’s lives. The author sees and hears some striking things, like the refugee family in Northern Cyprus that moved into a Greek Cypriot home, and kept all the furniture and family photos out in case of the prior owners’ return.
He’s also able to draw a lot of connections between the two sides: the two right wings have far more in common than either would ever admit, both invested in insisting upon the evil of the other while bringing their own side closer to the motherland. The two left wings are also similar and seem ready to reach out to each other and bring peace, though when the opportunity comes, they too choose political opportunism. In the end there’s plenty of blame to go around, and the author doesn’t absolve anyone.
At any rate, I found it an insightful and fascinating book. While the page count is short, there’s a lot of text on each page, so it isn’t necessarily a quick read. But it’s broken up into short sections, often just a couple pages long, and the writing is accessible. It was published by a small, academically-oriented publisher, but has a lot to offer the casual reader; if it had gone through a big publishing house I could see it as a well-known work of popular nonfiction. Only in a couple of places does the author go off on short tangents that seem to be pet interests of his (the myth and symbology of Aphrodite), and his narrative provides a detailed view of Cyprus and his own journey of discovery about his country and people. I would definitely recommend this one if you can get your hands on it.
This is an excellent book, anthropology mixed with memoir, by an author from divided Cyprus. Coming to this book knowing virtually nothing about Cyprus, I learned a lot about the country. But this is such an insightful look into conflict generally and the ways groups of people become entrenched in and justify their own positions that I think anyone interested in the psychological side of political conflict would appreciate it.
Cyprus has long been inhabited by both ethnic Greek and ethnic Turkish populations, and belonged to both the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. In the 20th century, it became a British possession, and groups that had historically lived well together grew more distant, both leaning on their historical motherlands for support. After independence, many Greek Cypriots wanted to become part of Greece, and unrest led to atrocities against Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s, with many of them relegated to ghettos. In 1974, a Greek-sponsored coup led to Turkey invading the country and carving out the northern part for Turkish Cypriots – leading to atrocities against Greek Cypriots who lived there and were killed or forced from their homes. Today, almost 50 years later, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continues to exist in fact but to be recognized only by Turkey and seen as occupied territory by everyone else. Negotiations to reunite the country have always broken down, and from this book it’s easy to see why.
Yiannis Papadakis is a Greek Cypriot, who after studying abroad returned home in 1990 to begin studying his country. One of the things that makes the book so interesting is that it is as much about his journey, being forced to confront his own indoctrination and biases, as about the people he meets. He visits Turkey to learn Turkish (after some serious initial misgivings about his safety there, he realizes Turks are regular people too), lives with Greek Cypriots near the border and then crosses over to the Turkish side. (I was initially thrown by the way he talks about the Turkish side, making reference to “pseudo-officials” wearing uniforms decorated with “pseudo-flags,” but this turns out to be representative of his opinions at the time the research began, not by the time he wrote the book.) Eventually he winds up living in a mixed village in the “dead zone” between the two sides, where everyone is suspected of being a traitor.
Cyprus’s history and politics are complicated, as is the author’s analysis, so anything I say here will no doubt oversimplify. But there’s an incredible amount of food for thought here. About the ways both sides manipulate history – not necessarily by lying, but by beginning the tale with their own flourishing empire that’s brought down through the wrongdoing of the others; by focusing only on their own side’s pain, emphasizing their own dead and refugees while refusing to acknowledge wrongs against the others; by paying attention to only the extremists on the other side, painting their views as everyone’s views; by both defining their own side as the threatened minority. About the ways people refuse to understand each other, about the ways propaganda is used, about the repercussions this conflict has in people’s lives. The author sees and hears some striking things, like the refugee family in Northern Cyprus that moved into a Greek Cypriot home, and kept all the furniture and family photos out in case of the prior owners’ return.
He’s also able to draw a lot of connections between the two sides: the two right wings have far more in common than either would ever admit, both invested in insisting upon the evil of the other while bringing their own side closer to the motherland. The two left wings are also similar and seem ready to reach out to each other and bring peace, though when the opportunity comes, they too choose political opportunism. In the end there’s plenty of blame to go around, and the author doesn’t absolve anyone.
At any rate, I found it an insightful and fascinating book. While the page count is short, there’s a lot of text on each page, so it isn’t necessarily a quick read. But it’s broken up into short sections, often just a couple pages long, and the writing is accessible. It was published by a small, academically-oriented publisher, but has a lot to offer the casual reader; if it had gone through a big publishing house I could see it as a well-known work of popular nonfiction. Only in a couple of places does the author go off on short tangents that seem to be pet interests of his (the myth and symbology of Aphrodite), and his narrative provides a detailed view of Cyprus and his own journey of discovery about his country and people. I would definitely recommend this one if you can get your hands on it.
September 6, 2023
Early ethnographic memoir that looks simultaneously at both communities. A good intro to the anthropology of Cyprus, the i sights of someone who had no forerunners to this particular situation in late 80s early 90s...
July 21, 2024
As a British born child of Turkish Cypriot parents, I had yet to read an objective summary of the Cyprus situation and how it came about.
Yiannis Papadakis Has come as close to achieving that as anybody to my limited knowledge.
He achieves this by laying out his own prejudices and biases in the earlier part of the book, then sets about trying to confirm or disprove them by venturing into “the other camp” so to speak.
The outcome, for me, is a well balanced assessment of the current situation (as of the time of publication in 2005), and the continued division despite the relative free movement for many years now.
Coincidentally, I complete this book as the world, via Reuters discusses the 50 year anniversary of “the Turkish invasion”
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/...
My own thoughts are very simplistic.
The problems of the past, and ever since, are about vested interests (British colonialism), then the small extremist minorities driven by ideology and/or selfish motives.
Overlay this with the excessive nationalism that exists in both Turkey and Greece, and an acceptable compromise and solution becomes a distant dream.
Turkish and Greek Cypriots have grown up separately, gone to different schools, been indoctrinated with different accounts of history for too long, to ever build up the same outlook that existed before 1974.
The EU must also take a share of the blame for allowing Greek Cypriot Cyprus to achieve full status despite having turned down a unification of sorts via the referendum.
This book is a long overdue, and welcome insight into the island that is described as beautiful by so many British people who either live in Cyprus or visit regularly.
Yiannis Papadakis Has come as close to achieving that as anybody to my limited knowledge.
He achieves this by laying out his own prejudices and biases in the earlier part of the book, then sets about trying to confirm or disprove them by venturing into “the other camp” so to speak.
The outcome, for me, is a well balanced assessment of the current situation (as of the time of publication in 2005), and the continued division despite the relative free movement for many years now.
Coincidentally, I complete this book as the world, via Reuters discusses the 50 year anniversary of “the Turkish invasion”
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/...
My own thoughts are very simplistic.
The problems of the past, and ever since, are about vested interests (British colonialism), then the small extremist minorities driven by ideology and/or selfish motives.
Overlay this with the excessive nationalism that exists in both Turkey and Greece, and an acceptable compromise and solution becomes a distant dream.
Turkish and Greek Cypriots have grown up separately, gone to different schools, been indoctrinated with different accounts of history for too long, to ever build up the same outlook that existed before 1974.
The EU must also take a share of the blame for allowing Greek Cypriot Cyprus to achieve full status despite having turned down a unification of sorts via the referendum.
This book is a long overdue, and welcome insight into the island that is described as beautiful by so many British people who either live in Cyprus or visit regularly.
March 27, 2023
It takes courage to trudge through the swamp of nationalist politics burdened by the narrative you’ve been raised on and try to look at both the “other” and your own side through the lens of objectivity.
Greek Cypriot Yiannis Papadakis chose to do just that. He set out as an anthropologist to look at the two sides of the Cyprus divide and went on a journey of discovery that was enlightening for both him and his readers. In doing so, he broke barriers: he spent time in Istanbul to learn Turkish, he lived at the edge of the dead zone that divides Nicosia, both on the Greek side and on the Turkish-occupied side of Nicosia, he lived inside the dead zone, in the village of Pyla, the only remaining mixed village in Cyprus. He connected with people from both sides and of all stripes.
The book would have benefitted from a more thorough historical background, and some maps, for readers who are not intimately familiar with the Cyprus issue. It could also use better editing. Regardless, it’s an illuminating and thought-provoking read with valuable insights.
Greek Cypriot Yiannis Papadakis chose to do just that. He set out as an anthropologist to look at the two sides of the Cyprus divide and went on a journey of discovery that was enlightening for both him and his readers. In doing so, he broke barriers: he spent time in Istanbul to learn Turkish, he lived at the edge of the dead zone that divides Nicosia, both on the Greek side and on the Turkish-occupied side of Nicosia, he lived inside the dead zone, in the village of Pyla, the only remaining mixed village in Cyprus. He connected with people from both sides and of all stripes.
The book would have benefitted from a more thorough historical background, and some maps, for readers who are not intimately familiar with the Cyprus issue. It could also use better editing. Regardless, it’s an illuminating and thought-provoking read with valuable insights.
November 6, 2019
Brilliant insight on a hot, politically sensitive and rarely covered (in Greece) issue: the Turkish Cypriots. The book is based on the author’s, painful personal on site research and the interviews he took from Turkish Cypriots in Turkey and both sides of the Green line in Cyprus. A true page turner with tension building up after every chapter as uncomfortable truths are revealed before the eyes of an ever enquiring researcher. Thoroughly enjoyed the chapter on Pyla. Must read.
August 22, 2023
One of the best books out there about the Cyprus problem. Highly recommend reading this to get a view of both sides of the story.
September 28, 2025
An excellent summary of the Cyprus problem from the perspective of a greek Cypriot learning about the Turkish Cypriot experience. Overall worth a read to get smarter on both sides of the issue.
Read
October 21, 2007http://nhw.livejournal.com/654449.html[return][return]This is an honest, courageous, very intelligent and very emotional book. Papadakis, himself a Greek Cypriot from Limassol, examines the stories told about their past by Greek and Turkish Cypriots. And he does it through a candidly effective mixture of analysis and chronicling his own reactions as he learns and experiences more about his own past, as well as the history of his island. I couldn't recommend the book to an absolute beginner on Cyprus - the lack of a map or a timeline would I think make it too confusing - but for anyone who knows even a little about the place I think it is a great read.[return][return]Papadakis starts by going to "Constantinople" to learn Turkish in preparation for his hoped-for fieldwork. This in itself causes him to re-examine everything he thought he knew about Greek and Turkish history and culture. There are then three chapters in Nicosia (which he correctly refers to by the Greek name, Lefkosia, or the Turkish name, Lefkosha, depending on which side of the line he is on); he starts by settling into a neighbourhood in the east of the old city, to find out what people say about the conflict and their past relations with the Turkish Cypriots; then he gets to spend a month in the north, hearing the other side of the story; and then he finds that on his return to the south he is a target for special attention from the Greek Cypriot secret police. Barred from returning to the north, he goes back to Turkey - this time to Istanbul - to talk to young Turkish Cypriots there. He finishes up with a few weeks in the shared village of Pyla/Pile, within the UN-controlled zone. In every chapter he returns to the potent images of the Dead Zone of the book's title, and of Aphrodite, who starts as a cuddly Greek goddess of love, and ends up as a much more sinister figure. He comes to the following conclusion about the way in which the two communities in Cyprus fail to confront their own, and each other's, histories, conclusions which are probably generalisable to other situations:[return][return]It was all based on four simple premises.[return][return]First premise: They have propaganda, we have enlightenment. They try to deceive others, we try to show them the truth.[return][return]The second was a bit more complicated: their propaganda has been more successful than our enlightenment. This was based on a sub-premise, itself a manifestation of the Dead Zone: the rest of the world is with them. The world was split into those with us or against us. Nothing in between. Since no one was completely with us - as they should be since we were absolutely right - they were unfairly against us.[return][return]Then came the last two premises involving assertions and threats, but posing as understanding whispers of admission. "This is a critical time for Cyprus. The discussions are in a critical phase. Let's not talk about our mistakes now." This was an argument whose strength had not diminished after forty years of use. The main news headlines had been the same for more than forty years: "THE CYPRUS PROBLEM IS IN A CRITICAL PHASE"[return][return]And finally: "You may be right, we did some bad things too. But we can't admit to these. Do they ever admit theirs? Do they ever criticize their side?"[return][return]Put together, these four premises worked wonders. Those who used them claimed to be opposed but were in perfect cooperation.
February 26, 2013
An account of a Greek Cypriot anthropologist who wanted to understand the Turkish perspective as well as his own, his problems dealing with his own prejudices when he visited Istanbul, his harassment by the Greek authorities (and invitations to spy on them from the Turks) when he gained permission to stay in North Cyprus for three months doing research, and his eventual settlement in the only significant human habitation in the Green Zone.
Very much an insider account, this is valuable because the author is a trained academic who can recognise his own prejudices and put them into context.
Very much an insider account, this is valuable because the author is a trained academic who can recognise his own prejudices and put them into context.
September 25, 2010
A very good book about the history of cyprus, but also about the voyage of discovery as the author (a cypriot greek) confronts and challenges his own prejudice and stereotypes about the "other", in this case embodies by people of Turkish descent.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews