Women and Change in Cyprus: Feminisms and Gender in Conflict
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Maria Hadjipavlou is assistant professor in the Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cyprus. Her research interests include the Cyprus conflict, international conflict reso- lution, reconciliation in divided societies, gender and conflict, and feminist theory. WOMEN AND CHANGE IN CYPRUS Feminisms and Gender in Conflict MARIA HADJIPAVLOU TAURIS ACADEMIC STUDIES an imprint of I.B.Tauris Publishers LONDON · NEW YORK To my children Yiorgos and Christina Published in 2010 by Tauris Academic Studies, an imprint of I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2010 Maria Hadjipavlou The right of Maria Hadjipavlou to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Library of European Studies 15 ISBN: 978 1 84511 934 8 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress catalog card: available Printed and bound in India by Thomson Press from camera-ready copy edited and supplied by Oxford Publishing Services, Oxford Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations vi Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 1. Gender, Feminisms and Conflict 17 2. Transformative Methodology and Social Change 53 3. The Cyprus Conflict: Multiple Divisions and Lines of Separation 79 4. The Private and Public Domains: Contradictions and Desires 105 5. The Self and Other: Discrimination, Domination and Hegemony 151 6. The Crossings: Unofficial Her-Stories 183 7. Trans-Border Crossings: Cypriot Women’s Liberation and the Margins 207 Conclusion: The Challenges and Beyond 235 Appendix 251 Notes 259 Bibliography 275 Index 289 Acronyms and Abbreviations AKEL Anorthotikó Kómma Ergazómenou Laoú (Progressive Party of Working People) AWID Association of Women’s Rights in Development CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women EDEK Movement of Social Democracy EOKA Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (National Organization of Cypriot Fighters) EU European Union GOED Gynekeia Organosi Enomenon Dimokraton (Women’s Organization of United Democrats) HAD Hands Across the Divide IOM International Organization of Migration IR International Relations KATAK Institution of the Turkish Minority in Cyprus KISA Centre for the Support of Foreign Workers NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NGO Non-Governmental Organization NOW National Organization for Women NUP National Union Party PEO Pancyprian Federation of Labour RoC Republic of Cyprus SEK Synomospondia Ergaton Kyprou (Confederation of Cypriot Workers) TMT Türk Mukavemet Teşkilatı (Turkish Resistance Organization) UNFPA United Nations Population Fund Acknowledgements This book could not have been produced without the collab- oration and assistance of many Cypriot women from all communities and I want to thank them all warmly for opening up to our joint conversation about issues of oppressions that concern us all – be these from nationalism, militarism, patriarchy or neo- colonialist discourses. The Cyprus conflict has silenced women’s multiple and multicommunal voices and undermined the legit- imacy of our needs and contributions. This book is the first attempt to do that, a kind of protest against the hegemonic male narratives. I hope it will start a dialogue about the complexity and diversity of women’s experiences and issues in Cyprus that are connected to global women’s struggles and help realize the importance of including gender in policy-making. Deep gratitude and respect go to professor Floya Anthias and Dr Cynthia Cockburn for believing in my work and providing me with important suggestions, insights and comments. Their sup- port meant a lot to me. Professor Anthias supported me with the conception of the book, the writing of the numerous versions of the proposal and different probable titles, until the reading of the final manuscript. Dr Cockburn read different versions of chapters advising me what to shorten and how to frame certain issues on feminism. I am thankful to my colleagues and friends Neshe Yashin, Anna Agathangelou, Rebecca Bryant, Yiannis Papadakis, Maria Margaroni, Donna Hicks, Pam Steiner, Stephen Scully, Rosanna Warren, Biran Mertan, Fatma Guven, Mary Layoun, Diana Chigas, Magda Zenon, Aydin Mehmet Ali, Androula Laniti and Avishai Ehrlich for either reading the book proposal and parts of or the whole manuscript and giving me important viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS insights or merely being there for me. Many thanks and love to my partners from the different NGOs-Hands Across the Divide, the Peace Center, the Maronites Graduates’ association, the Armenian Relief Society and the Latin Association of Foreign Workers. I worked closely with the researchers Thalia Ioannidou, Mine Yucel, Derya Beyatli, Katherine Scully and Dogus Derya and I thank them deeply for their dedication. My two wonderful children, Yiorgos Alexander and Christina Ariana, sustained me and supported me throughout with their love and trust and at times disciplining me. Thanks to my copy editor Selina Cohen for her wonderful cooperation. I dedicate this work to the women of Cyprus and my two children. Introduction The inner lines express who we think we are, and who is not us, whom we trust and of whom we are afraid. (Cynthia Cockburn, 2004)1 We lost all our property and home in Kyrenia in the 1974 war. I have nothing on this side (the south). I went with my daughter in May and visited my house. A Turkish Cypriot family from Limassol (south) lives there now. They were very nice to me. I told them I am the owner of the house. They offered coffee. … Now that I have seen the house it is impossible to live there, it feels as if it is not mine anymore. The Turkish Cypriots cannot live in their house in Limassol which was turned into a factory. (Eleni, Greek Cypriot, 2003) My father was killed by the Greeks in Limassol when I was 17 years old in 1974. Thirty years later I cannot forgive them for killing an innocent man. I grew up without a father. I still remember the scene of his killing. I avoided Greeks all these years. … I don’t want to live on the other side but I still want to see my old neighbourhood. (Nahite, Turkish Cypriot, 2004) Yes, my parents want me to get married to an Armenian. I have been hearing this since I was a little girl and I know inside me that I will marry an Armenian. I do not blame them because we are a small community. (Mariam, Armenian Cypriot, 2006) When I came back to Cyprus, after I finished my studies abroad, I decided against my mom’s wishes not to marry. I 2 WOMEN AND CHANGE IN CYPRUS started work, got my economic independence and decided to stay single. This was something my mum could never under- stand … because I stand outside the socially expected roles for ‘a normal’ woman. (Zehra, Turkish Cypriot, 2004). The above extracts taken from Cypriot women in focus group dis- cussions raise a number of the questions I discuss in this book. These questions touch on nationalism, militarism, violence, displacement because of war, fear of the ‘enemy’, male dominance, oppression, militarism, and women’s roles, especially as mothers. Cyprus has been the site of such phenomena since the 1950s, which saw the rise of ethnic nationalism and the male-dominated national struggle for ‘self- determination’. Under such conditions, the traditional right to choose a lifestyle that differs from the socially prescribed one is considered ‘out of line’. The gendered aspect of the national question has never been raised or discussed publicly. Women’s issues or viewpoints are considered unimportant. The dominance of the ‘national question’ has left no space for Cypriot women to become involved in their own struggles for women’s rights, liberation from patriarchy and to acquire public visibility. Cypriot women have been trapped in a nationalist patriarchal agenda and later in party politics, which can explain the lack of feminist activism and the absence of women’s independent move- ments. This, however, has slowly started to change. Some of the questions I address in the book include: what happens to women’s lives and roles in armed conflict and post-conflict situations? How do ethnic divisions affect women’s lives and roles and how does this relate to other divisions? What intra- and inter- differences exist among women from different communities? What is it like to ‘cross’ to the other side and meet the ‘other’, the perceived enemy? How do women recognize their victimhood in male-driven wars and move beyond that position? How do female Cypriot pro- fessional employers treat the female migrant domestic workers who cross the borders on both sides of the divide and what are the implications for female migration in a globalized economy and in a context of conflict? Could the development of a feminist conscious- INTRODUCTION 3 ness lead to new conversations about women’s issues? And could the establishment of participatory and representative democracy with equal rights for men, women and others help eliminate gender discrimin- ation and hegemonic discourses? In one of the above extracts, Eleni, who has been displaced since 1974, directs her anger not at the Turkish Cypriot family – with which she in fact empathizes – but at the Greek Cypriot politicians’ false promise that her home and property in Kyrenia will be returned to her once a solution (which men again will negotiate) is reached.