Ethnic Nationalism and Adaptation in Cyprus NEOPHYTOS G. LOIZIDES Queen’s University Belfast Both ethnic communities in Cyprus have maintained strong political and cultural ties with Greece and Turkey, respectively, and at some point of their twentieth century history, each has aspired to become part of either the former or the latter. Yet the way this relationship has been imagined has differed across time, space, and class. Both communities have adapted their identities to prevailing ideological waves as well as political opportunities, domestic alliances, and interests. The article evaluates different responses to ethnic nationalism, highlighting impor- tant intra-ethnic differentiations within each Cypriot community usually expressed in the positions of political parties, intellectuals, and the press. While the current literature identifies two major poles of identity in the island, ‘‘motherland nationalism’’ and ‘‘Cypriotism,’’ the article suggests that the major focus of identity of Cypriots is identification with their respective ethnic communities in the form of Greek Cypriotism or Turkish Cypriotism. In fact, contentious politics in Cyprus from the ENOSIS/TAKSIM struggle to the April 2004 referendums demonstrate the interplay of external constraints and collective self-identification processes leading to the formation of these identities. The article concludes by identifying the implications of identity shifts for deeply divided societies and conflict resolution in general. Keywords: nationalism, identity, movements, Cyprus, EU enlarge- ment, conflict resolution I am Child of Anatolia. Everything on me is Turkish. My roots are in Central Asia. I am Turkish in my language, culture and history. My country is my motherland. Cyprus culture, Turkish Cypriots, Greek Cypriots, a common state, all these are nonsense. The Greek Cypriots are Byzantium, they are Greeks, we are Turks. They have their Greeceand we have our Turkey. Why should we live under the same state? We declared once taksim (partition) or death. Now that we are so close to taksim why should we choose death? Some people talk about the so-called Turkish Cypriots or Greek Cypriots. There are no Turkish Cypriots, no Greek Author’s note: This article is based on a number of interviews the author conducted in December 1999. For his research, the author invited representatives from the major Greek Cypriot political parties, independent politicians as well as members of related NGOs. Specifically, the author would like to thank Giannakis Omirou, President of Socialist EDEK; Kaiti Cleridou, former MP for Democratic Rally; Kypros Chrysostomides, former government spokesperson and current MP for Leftist AKEL; George Iacovou, former candidate of DHKO and AKEL for the presidency of the Republic and former Minister of Foreign Affairs for Spyros Kyprianou, George Vasiliou, and Tassos Papadopoulos governments; Takis Hadjidemetriou, former MP and vice president of EDEK; Takis Had- jigeorgiou, AKEL MP and President of ASTRA radio; and George Hadjigeorgiou, former MP for AKEL. The author would also like to thank academics Ceasar Mavratsas and Niyazi Kızılyu ¨rek, as well as the president of the New Cyprus Association, Josef Payatas, for providing insightful interviews on this topic. Elizabeth Doering, Elvan Kayral, Turgut Durduran, Barbara Karatsioli, Paul Magocsi, Elizabeth Thompson, and Antonis Ellinas as well as the an- onymous reviewers of International Studies Perspectives offered helpful comments on an earlier version of the article. r 2007 International Studies Association. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK International Studies Perspectives (2007) 8, 172–189.