John Burke - Britain and the Cyprus Crisis of 1974: Conflict, Colonialism and the Politics of Remembrance in Greek Cypriot Society

Britain and the Cyprus Crisis of 1974

This book examines the ideological and socio-political discourses shaping the remembrance and representation of Britain and the Cyprus conflict of 1974 within Greek Cypriot society. By combining the official with the popular and drawing on an extensive range of oral history interviews, this monograph shows that a suspicion born out of Britains long (neo-)colonial connection to Cyprus has come to frame the image and understanding of British actions associated with the events, and lasting consequences, of 1974. Indeed, with the island of Cyprus still divided, and the requirement to remember a national imperative, this book has a direct contemporary relevance. However, within the existent literature, while much has been written about the political roots of the Cyprus conflict, no study has yet sought to systematically analyse and understand the influences shaping the history and memory of British actions on Cyprus in 1974. One defined by the existence of partitionist conspiracies, collusive accusations and a series of memory distortions which continue to resonate strongly irrespective of the evidence that is now available. As such, by analysing the influences shaping the image of Britain in 1974, one can begin to understand in ever greater detail the AngloGreek Cypriot relationship in a modern context.

John Burke is a teacher at Newcastle University, UK.

Routledge Studies in Modern European History

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50 Britain and the Cyprus Crisis of 1974

Conflict, Colonialism and the Politics of Remembrance in Greek Cypriot Society

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Britain and the Cyprus Crisis of 1974

Conflict, Colonialism and the Politics of Remembrance in Greek Cypriot Society

John Burke

First published 2018
by Routledge
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2018 John Burke

The right of John Burke to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Burke, John (John Edward), 1987- author.
Title: Britain and the Cyprus Crisis of 1974: conflict, colonialism and the politics of remembrance in Greek Cypriot society / John Burke.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2018. | Series: Routledge studies in modern European history; 50 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017029222 | ISBN 9781138280083 (hardback: alkaline paper) | ISBN 9781315276120 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: CyprusHistoryCyprus Crisis, 1974- | CyprusHistoryCyprus Crisis, 1974Historiography. | GreeksCyprus--Interviews. | MemoryPolitical aspectsCyprus. | Oral historyCyprus. | CyprusColonial influence. | Great BritainRelationsCyprus. | CyprusRelationsGreat Britain. | Great BritainForeign public opinion, Greek. | Great BritainForeign public opinion, Cypriot.
Classification: LCC DS54.9. B87 2018 | DDC 956.9304dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017029222

ISBN: 978-1-138-28008-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-27612-0 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

For Sue, Stephen and Ann Marie

Contents

I would like to thank Dr Violetta Hionidou for all of the help and guidance provided during the course of my research, as without it I would not have been able to pull this project together. I would also like to thank my family for all of their help, support and patience over the years. To my parents, Sue and Stephen, my sister, Ann Marie, and my aunt, Dr Winifred Burke, thank you for all of your help and encouragement; it was always very much appreciated. I would also like to offer my thanks to Angeliki Nicolaidou Mavrommati of the Press and Information Office, as well as all the staff at the Limassol Research Centre for their help during the course of my research. Lastly, I would like to thank all of those people in both Britain and Cyprus who took time out of their lives to sit down and speak to me about their experiences and memories. Without their time, their recollections and, most of all, their kind help, this study would not have been possible.