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The bilingual anthology
Stories by Greek
Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots
, which was
recently published in Greek and Turkish by the
Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education
and Culture, aims to further strengthen mutual
understanding between the two largest commu-
nities in Cyprus.
The anthology includes 54 stories by 44 authors
– 26 Greek Cypriot and 18 Turkish Cypriot. With
the exception of certain older writers (Nikos
Nikolaides, Yiannis Stavrinos Economides,
Kostas Montis, Hikmet Afif Mapolar and
Semih Sait Umar), whose works are honoured
in the publication, the rest of the authors created
their entire literary work (or most of it) over
the past 50 years; namely from the date of the
establishment of the Republic of Cyprus.
Reading the combined stories, one can easily
spot some interesting analogies, but also
specificities. Some texts refer to relations
between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, their
harmonious co-existence in older times, or
the climate of suspicion and controversy that
was created in times of political crisis (mainly
after the 1974 Turkish invasion of the island or
during the bi-communal conflict in 1963-64).
Many of the stories focus on the tragic invasion
and its painful consequences. Such texts are
undersigned by Yiannis Katsouris, George
Philippou Pierides, Panos Ioannides, Petros
Sofas, Ibrahim Aziz, Christos Hadjipapas,
Emilios Solomou, George Haritonidis,
Myrto Azina Chronides, Yiannis Garpozis,
Andreas Maloris, Niki Marangou, Antonis
Georgiou, Gürgenç Korkmazel and Gürkan
Uluçhan. In many cases, national stereotypes
are reproduced, with the ultimate aim of
overturning and overthrowing them.
Elements of the British rule in Cyprus are
imprinted in stories by older writers, such
as poverty and deprivation, patriarchal and
phallocratic perceptions, the undermined status
of women in a traditional society, but also the
social awakening and effort of certain women
to escape the traditional morals and demand
their right to love and life. The stories by Ivi
Meleagrou, Özden Selenge and Nilgün Güney,
and to a smaller degree, those of Niki Marangou
and Titsa Diamantopoulou, take readers into the
world of the woman. Dominating the texts are
the feelings of intense introversion, the coiled
evolution of storytelling and the portrayal of
the feminine eye and sentience.
Many other texts are dominated by human
affairs and problems, the longstanding topics
of literature and life. For example, the problem
of loneliness is the main theme of stories by
Kostas Montis, Panikos Peonides, Mehmet
Arap and Emre Ileri. Three stories, by Antis
Hadjiadamos, Stefanos Stavridis and Mehmet
Arap, explore the paradox, metaphysical,
Stories by Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots
