Managing Intractable Conflicts: Lessons from Moldova and Cyprus

The Role of Mass Media in the Settlement of the Cyprus Problem
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other side thus helping each other not only to get access to primary information on
the news, but also helping their colleagues to understand the background of a story;
this included featuring articles of journalists from the other community. In those
early days, columnists from one side were utilized by newspapers on the other side,
only up to the point that they would express aligned and favorable opinions - going
beyond this point was not acceptable.
Problems still exist between the journalists’ organizations where The Union of
Cyprus Journalists (UCJ) and the Turkish Cypriot Union of Press Workers (BASIN-
SEN) are having difficulties cooperating even under the General Assembly of the
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), which both organizations are members
of. It remains, however, “the first example of formal institutional cooperation
between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot journalist associations after decades of
separation” (Kahvecioglu, 2008).
Currently, there isn’t an established agreed roadmap on how to establish and promote
a sustainable unified media sector in a post-conflict, after a solution, Cyprus, despite
the fact that there is an identifiable imperative need for common institutions in the
future that can foster ownership and participation e.g. a press and information office
composed of Cypriots from all communities and a common media regulatory body
(Simopoulos, 2012).
Various international organizations have supported a series of journalism symposia
and trainings from journalists not only from both sides of Cyprus, but also Greece
and Turkey addressing issues of mutual concern, such as objectivity when covering
conflict and the Cyprus problem; establishing mutual understanding about the
background and intentions of each sides’ various stakeholders (political and
others); and the representation of Cyprus and of the other community in the media
(Hisscocks, 2008).
Finally, it is important to present an exemplar case of cooperation between journalists
from both sides, namely, journalists Sevgul Uludag and Andreas Paraschos, where by
cooperating closely they were able to tackle the very difficult and sensitive issue of
missing persons (victims of the hostilities from both communities, who have never
been found). With their collaboration, they were able to detect mass graves and
“unearth” untold stories, thus partially disassociating this humanitarian issue from
political hurdles, sensitizing the public opinion about the “pain of the other”, and
achieving unprecedented progress (Uludag, 2006).