The Constructed Cypriot Home — Concluding Remarks

Abstract

In many ways the conflict in Cyprus was a conflict over the meaning of home. Domestic and foreign political players, in particular, Greece, Turkey, Britain and the USA, have variously battled for control of the territory, using different historical narratives to justify their claims. In the process, strategies of inclusion and exclusion led to the promotion or marginalisation of particular individuals or communities, based on their ethnicity, nationality and politics. As a result of these conflicts and campaigns, many Cypriots became refugees, either being internally displaced in Cyprus or exiled to Britain, Australia and elsewhere. This experience of forced migration inevitably led those involved to reassess the meaning of home. It is the stories of some of these individuals, who emerged from a context of political turmoil into an unexpectedly prolonged exile in Britain, which so generously informed this research.