Communicating across the divide in pre-checkpoint Cyprus

By Antonis Pastellopoulos, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Cyprus

The events of 1974 produced a situation of near-complete separation between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot community, severely restricting civilian contact across the island. While rare exceptions did in fact exist, the post-1974 separation remained almost absolute prior to the opening of the checkpoints in 2003. Communication between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot civilians was therefore essentially cut off....