Overshadowed
Situated at the easternmost edge of the Mediterranean Sea, one would be forgiven for forgetting that Cyprus is a member of the European Union. The small island state has been divided since 1974, after internal conflict and subsequent foreign interventions led to the nation splitting into two. Since then, the mainly Greek-speaking community has operated under the Republic of Cyprus in the south, benefiting from EU state membership and an open economy. The north, on the other hand, declared itself an independent state in 1978, becoming the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Its sovereignty is until this day recognized by none except Turkey.
That story has already been told. In fact, it’s probably the only story you’ve ever heard about the island. Once every couple of years, representatives of the two communities will meet with international players to discuss a solution to the ongoing division. These talks always collapse. The process has become so fraught that the so-called Cyprus Problem has even been dubbed the “graveyard of diplomats” by experts in International Relations.
That narrative has led to a sense of exhaustion — especially among the Cypriot youth. With the 50th anniversary of the conflict looming in and reunification seeming farther than ever before, public discourse on the island feels stagnant. It’s meant that other, more tangent issues have taken a backseat while the status quo becomes more permanent with each passing year. It means that the stories of the locals have become overshadowed by failed diplomacy. Progress must wait.
For now, the future is on hold.
“Our documentary shows the lasting impact of the division of the island, decades after the partition, and how this overshadows all other topics on the island. The future is on hold, for now.”
Produced and edited by Angelos Charalambous.
The Protagonists
Andromachi Sophocleous
Political Analyst, 33We met Andromachi in an abandoned mansion – “Archontiko,” as it’s referred to by the Greek Cypriots – in the buffer zone. Hidden from the buzzing street of Ledra in the capital’s centre, the UN-run buffer zone offers a faint glimpse into what the city was before the events of 1974. The mansion sports visible bullet holes and defence sandbags lined along the windows. Andromachi sits on the crumbling stairway at the entrance of the building. “In my eyes, everything is political,” she tells us, “so it’s hard not to think of a story that isn’t political.”
She’s adamant in saying that without reunification, Cyprus has no future. “Living like this, under division, has forced many people to become hidden in the shadows,” she explained. “Migrants, asylum seekers, people from Africa – especially in the North – whose rights are barely discussed in public discourse. Because that discussion becomes a black hole; or at least we think so.”
“If we truly want to have a future for this island, we need reunification.”
Ahmet Şimşek
Author, 26If you were to ask Ahmet who he is, he would somewhat modestly say he is an ordinary 26-year-old who writes stories. The son of two Turkish immigrants, Ahmet has called northern Cyprus his home since he first arrived at the island as an infant. He is Cypriot, he stresses, with Turkish roots. But in the eyes of other Cypriots, he has always been an immigrant. And even though he has lived his entire life on the island, his background and the existing convoluted political situation have meant he has never had the chance to cross to the south.
“I guess one could say I am only from half of Cyprus” Ahmet says. For him, anything south of the crossing points is but a figment of his imagination. His experience of his country, his city even — Ahmet resides in Nicosia, the world’s last divided capital — is confined to the 3,355 km2 of land north of the UN-run buffer zone.
Ahmet made his debut as an author in 2021 with his book Hammurabi, a collection of short stories. It’s named after the ancient Babylonian king, who was renowned for his draconian rule and harsh laws, such as the infamous ‘eye for an eye’. In Ahmet’s stories, these laws appear mentally, not physically; his characters pay for what they did in their past with psychological torture, by remembering their traumas over and over.
“I guess one could say I am only from half of Cyprus”
Katerina Theodoulou
Intercommunal Peace Activist, 28A law graduate, Katerina has dedicated her career to facilitating dialogue between the multiple religious leaders in Cyprus as a means to promote peace and reunification. As an activist, Katerina spends much of her time in the UN-run Buffer zone dividing the south and the north. The area has become a hotspot in recent years for migrants to enter into the south with hopes to claim asylum in the EU.
Like many of its European counterparts, the Republic of Cyprus has grown more and more hostile towards the recent influx of migrants entering the continent. Katerina believes that the government has smeared these migrants as dubious troublemakers to use them as scapegoats for much deeper issues on the island.
“The majority doesn’t have a clue. They only know what the media and the government wants them to believe, which I don’t believe represents reality.
“The reality is that we are talking about human beings that are seeking something better. If we can help, why don’t we?”
“I think that that does not have the coverage it should have.”
Emmanuel Achiri
Advocate for International student's rights, 29Having lived in Cyprus for seven years, Emmanuel knows the struggles of being an international student in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus first hand. The TRNC’s status as an internationally unrecognized state has rendered students coming from abroad vulnerable to human trafficking and exploitation.
“I think that that does not have the coverage it should have. And international students are the most vulnerable because you know, agents lie to them, they are deceived, they are misled, and then they come here and find that, okay, well, they are not where they expected to be.”
According to Emmanuel, the mechanisms in place to protect international students have failed to act adequately against these dangers. After the murder of a Nigerian student Kennedy Taomwabwa Dede in 2018 shook his community, he joined forces with his peers and founded the NGO Voices of International Students (VOIS).
Ali Furkan
Entrepreneur, 26Ali is a Turkish-speaking Cypriot entrepreneur who runs a café in the old city of Famagusta. For him, his very existence as a Cypriot from the north has been overshadowed by the ongoing deadlock. The political situation has meant that people like him can feel almost invisible on the European stage. Even as a citizen of the Republic of Cyprus, he is forced to jump through many hoops to access the same rights as his Greek-speaking peers. “We actually want to be seen,” Ali says. “We want to do something with the world, be it our sports clubs or in terms of trade.”
Despite the hurdles, Ali has decided to build a life for himself in Cyprus and set out to create positive change within his community.
“Yes, the opportunities in Cyprus are bad, but if we don't come and take a hand, who will? If I go, if you go, who will stay?”
“To be honest, I don’t even want to bother thinking about it. I'm tired, I'm frustrated”
Eirene Constantinou
Interdisciplinary Artist, 30The child of two internally displaced Greek-speaking Cypriots, Eirene admits that as an artist, she’s struggled to find her place on the island. That motivated her to open her art space in Larnaca in 2017, run entirely by artists. There, creatives can get together to experiment, collaborate, and most importantly, have dialogues.
For Eirene, life on the island feels stagnant. She describes its state as delicate, like a “fragile robot” moving on crutches. “One small thing can go wrong, and the whole thing will collapse.”
“Why do I think reality is like it is? The way we are now? So many reasons. To be honest, I don’t even want to bother thinking about it. I'm tired, I'm frustrated, it's possible that there aren’t any reasons at all.”
Epilogue
Zeroing in on just one untold story from Cyprus isn’t an easy task. Too often, outsiders' perception of the island fails to go beyond the division. The complexity of the country’s very existence has forced locals into neat boxes with labels like “Greek,” “Turkish,” or “immigrant” to fit a simplistic, albeit approachable narrative.
But Cyprus is more than a line drawn on a map, and there are so many more stories worth telling. There’s a yearning from the island’s youth to move on from the bloodshed of our past and rediscover our identity, with all its complexities and beauty. There are folks like Katerina, who recognize the urgency of holding the political class accountable for their actions – especially when they start pointing fingers at disadvantaged communities. Or, like Ahmet, who as a result of the ongoing stalemate is confined to a small fraction of the land he calls home. And then there are minorities, be it international students like Emmanuel or refugees stuck in overcrowded camps, who find themselves in dangerous situations thanks to the precarious nature of the Cyprus issue.
The longer the island stays divided, the larger this breeding ground for injustices shall grow. And so will the youth continue to be at the mercy of the mistakes of their ancestors.
Campaign
We promised Cyprus has many more stories to tell – and we can definitely deliver on that! Parallel to this multimedia project, a campaigning team made up of ten locals from all parts of the island came together to create a channel for folks to share their stories. The campaign, dubbed Unshadow Cyprus, can be found on Instagram.
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Natalie Lamprou – Journalist & Lead EditorAngelos Charalambous – Video Producer & Editor
Ramazan Safa – Journalist & Editor
Andreas Charalambous – Journalist & Editor
Eliza Kozakou – Photographer
Campaign Team
Folarin Odusola
Maghazi Ahmed
Anna Christou
Ashraf Saleem
Klaudyna Rozmyslowicz
Uahana Katjiuongua -
Mick ter Reehorst – Managing Editor & Sprint Facilitator
Julia Rignot – Head of Production
Dylan Ahern – Campaign Manager
Floris Rijssenbeek – Campaign Manager
Jochem Jordaan – Campaign Manager
Gleb Bondarenko – Video Editor
Delaney Tarpley & Lauren Blue – Video Producers
Thijmen Ganzevles – Digital Design