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The Normalization of Cyprus’ Partition Among Greek Cypriots: Political Economy and Political Culture in a Divided Society

Friday, April 2, 2021

12 p.m. – 1 p.m.

The Program in Modern Greek Studies invites you to join us for the next webinar in the Conversations About Greece series, The Normalization of Cyprus’ Partition Among Greek Cypriots: Political Economy and Political Culture in a Divided Society.

Gregoris Ioannou (University of Glasgow, U.K.) will be discussing his recent book, The Normalization of Cyprus’ Partition Among Greek Cypriots: Political Economy and Political Culture in a Divided Society, with Niyazi Kizilyürek (Member, European Parliament, Progressive Party of the Working Left -AKEL, Republic of Cyprus) and Vangelis Calotychos (Brown University).

This book explores the basic dynamics that shaped the Cyprus problem, with a focus on recent decades. The author deals with the periods, nodal points and fields that produced the conditions for the normalization of partition and also presents the Cyprus problem as viewed from the outside. The chapters approach Cyprus’ division in light of power relations in society, the interaction between the political elite and society, and discuss the political and ideological dynamics as manifested in the public sphere. While analyzing primarily the Greek Cypriot community, the book also refers to parallel developments in the Turkish Cypriot and international communities, arguing that the normalization of Cyprus’ partition is rooted in the political economy and political culture of Greek Cypriots. At the same time, from the perspective of the peace and reunification movement, this is an inherently contradictory and potentially unstable process that can be overturned.

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Meet the Author

Gregoris Ioannou is a political sociologist and a Research Fellow at the School of Law, University of Glasgow. Gregoris has taught at the University of Cyprus and Frederick University. He holds degrees from the London School of Economics (LSE) and the University of Warwick (PhD, 2011). Gregoris’ research work primarily focuses on labour relations and trade unionism, class conflicts and social movements, contentious politics and the South European crisis. He is an external Expert for the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) on “Working Conditions and Sustainable Work” and the European Commission on labour market issues. In 2020 he won a prestigious Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowship, the first award of its kind for the School of Law as well as for the University of Glasgow’s College of Social Sciences.

Niyazi Kizilyürek is a professor of political history at the University of Cyprus specialising on the political history of Turkey and Cyprus. Born in Potamia, his family fled to Louroujina in the face of intercommunal violence in 1964. His later studies in sociology, politics, and economics at the University of Bremen led to an academic appointment at the University of Cyprus in 1995. Upon his entry, he was targeted by fascists, nationalist politicians and media, facing a year-long campaign for his expulsion from the university. He resisted with the support of his co-workers and the university and remained there. In 2014, he was elected Dean of the School of Humanities.