european journal of social sciences issn: 1450-2267 - EuroJournals

European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 5, Number 3 (2007)
The Post-Conflict Educational Establishment of Cyprus: Civic
Sensibilities within a Divided European Union State
James Barbre
Visiting Assistant Professor
213 Willard Hall, School of Educational Studies, College of Education
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078
E-mail: j.o.barbre@okstate.edu
Tel: (405) 744-2016; Fax: (405) 744-7758
Abstract
The use of schooling and orientation of school policy does not strictly serve the purposes of
enlightening the population or preparing them for the future. In the event that conflict has
been a recent event, regardless of the context, schooling and the execution of the civics
curriculum may also be utilized as a means to separate groups of people, thus making
reconciliation all the more difficult. Cyprus is an example of such a place where conflict
has occurred in recent memory and the outcomes of that conflict continue to divide
segments of the population and a younger generation. As a result, educational institutions
in the major ethnic communities, namely Greek and Turkish, have become a reflection of
the events that separate the island’s populations. They have been built and sustained in the
name of ethnic allegiance and cultural identity. This lack of pragmatism is greatly
extending the time required for the island’s populations to reunite. This article will
examine the situation in through historical analysis and suggest an inevitable outcome,
should the conflict go on as it has and not be resolved and the implication that will hold for
schools.
Introduction and Purpose
Cyprus is a small island with a long and complicated history. Not only for the relations between its
people, but with regard to their relationship with the nations that have at one time ruled or exercised
influence. Series of conflicts and events between the various ethnic groups, of which Greek and
Turkish are the largest, have culminated with the establishment of isolationist tendencies and the
attitude of marginalization toward the each other. The tone and substance of the resulting political
relations have shaped the way native Cypriots regard each other, both historically and in the
contemporary sense, as individuals and as larger groups. This has had a resounding impact on the
education students have received at all levels of school, in both the Greek and Turkish communities.
This fact has a substantial set of implications not only in that it separates the two largest ethnic groups
of the island, but also in that it influences the realities, perceptual and otherwise, that they construct in
reference to each other 1 .These attitudes have characterized their civic, historic and national identity as
it is taught and experienced through education as being juxtaposed to each other.
There is a two-fold reason that this situation is worthy of analysis. First, it is important to
articulate the nature of the historical interactions, sometimes peaceful and other times not, as
experienced by the Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations. The relationships they have had are hardly
clear cut with regard to cause and effect because the cause/effect factors do not strictly lie with one
group. Causal factors are attributed to the other group by both sides for the way things have turned out
1
Richmond, O. (1998). “Implications for making peace: building negotiating positions during the Cyprus conflict.” Paper
delivered at ACGTA seminar in London.
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