Hyphenated Identities: Voices from the Watchtower During the Cypriot Civil War

Abstract As an implication of the ethnically and nationally diverse nature Mediterranean polities, identification-driven boundary-making strategies bear considerable relevance for their political processes, both in contemporary context historical past. By utilizing a Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), this study provides interpretative exploration Greek-Cypriot elite discursive framing regarding Turkish-Cypriot ethno-national identity during Cypriot Civil War (1963–1967). The available interpretations period lead us to expect exclusionary strategy boundary contraction be more prevalent than inclusionary one expansion discourse elites. Through examination sample primary textual sources, analysis disconfirms such expectation, as figures primarily constructed broader, inclusive frames civil war. relative absence prevalence indicate applicability Wimmer’s (2008) universalist approach ethnic boundary-making, contrast expectations that are built by Cyprus-specific evidence. This thus lays groundwork future research delineate Cyprus beyond ethno-nationally divided island.