european journal of social sciences issn: 1450-2267 - EuroJournals

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European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 5, Number 3 (2007) in the present. These interactions have played a substantive role in determining the accepted structure(s) and orientation of their respective educational systems. I assert that the structure and orientation of the schools are direct products of the political and cultural dimensions of the relationship, but more specifically of the political. The second purpose is to analyze how this conflict has, through events located outside of Cyprus and within the European Union, created a crossroads of sorts where Cyprus and its people are now located on both the Turkish and Greek sides. This is significant because Cyprus is currently a member state of the European Union, but not as a unified nation. The final section of the paper will focus on the substance of the relationship Cyprus has with the European Union. Cyprus is eligible for the monetary and free-trade benefits that accompany membership. These benefits, however, do not apply to the entire island. The Turkish side is without them at the present time. This fact presents an additional stumbling block for the complicated challenges that accompany re-unification of the island’s population. The direction both groups take in the future will depend on how, when, and if they can resolve differences of which the lop-sided nature of EU monetary and other benefits further complicates the situation. All this influences the educational component of the situation in that the curricula being taught in schools is also reinforcing this conflict, making it all the more difficult to get past. This is due to the historical relations between the group, but also the nature of ethnicity as the same history informs its experience. Historical Context of the Island Cyprus occupies an interesting position in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It is a small oblong island nestled less than 100 miles from the shores of Turkey and the shores of Syria. It sits in a location that would naturally receive a large amount of traffic through trade and travel going to different places along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Historically, the island and its populations have seen and been influenced in numerous ways through sea-faring contact with other peoples. This history stretches back to the eras of the Mycenean culture and of the Greek city-states; at least 3000 years. Cyprus has, at times, been a sovereign nation, and other times the victim of colonization. Regardless of the era, name of the dominant culture or invading army, the majority of the island’s population has, with one historical exception, been Greek in both ethnic heritage and language. This means that the dominant influence on the culture of the island’s population has been Greek. The Ottoman Empire conquered and ruled Cyprus for more than three hundred years, from 1571-1878. During this time, Turkish peoples migrated from Anatolia and settled into living and practicing their culture which included educating their young. During the time when Cyprus was an Ottoman colony, the Greek and Turkish populations were allowed to develop their own systems of schooling. An important feature of this lies in the fact that during this period in history the main orientation for these school systems was religious in nature. Turkish populations brought Islamic views with them and the Greeks were allied with the Eastern Greek Orthodox Church. The Ottomans officially recognized the Greek Archbishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church as the official representative, or Ethnarch, of the Greek Cypriot population 2 . This relationship gave the church a high level of influence over the identity of the population, both politically and culturally. Its influence went further because it was the church that established schools and administered their curriculums. These approaches to education in both groups were focused in a way that reinforced the perceptual core of the respective ethnic identities of both Greeks and Turks 3 . After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the island was annexed by the British empire and managed as one of the empire’s many colonies from 1878-1960. It was during the time of British rule that both educational systems of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations took on characteristics that would be considered more ‘nationalistic’ by today’s standards. To those ends, they worked to greatly reinforce their respective Greek and Turkish identities. It was during this time within the Greek 2 Ioannidou, M. (1997). Curriculum as political text: the case of Cyprus. History of Education 26(4): 395-407. 3 Cyprus conflict narrative, http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/index.html (accessed July 11, 2007). 78
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 5, Number 3 (2007) populations that the idea of Enosis 4 , or union with Greece, came into greater form for the Greek population. This was an attempt to fight the power of their British colonizers. The British occupation of the island organized the educational system so that the Greek and Turkish populations could determine, to a large extent, the structure and scope of what subject matter was offered in the schools, but there was still a high commissioner appointed by the English colonial government possessing the approval/disapproval authority over their decisions. Both groups worked within themselves to minimize the influence of British culture in what was being taught to students. An example of this lies in monetary grants that were offered to the school systems by British authorities. These came with the caveat that the subject matter be deemed desirable by the British authorities and reflect positively the British influence of the day 5 . School systems, as a whole, found ways to operate outside the needs of these monetary resources and so the British influence was further reduced. In this context of colonization, it served to fuel the drive of the population in resisting the British influence in as many ways as possible. Life on the island meant that the two ethnic groups had daily interactions with each other that were outside the school systems. While not every school was strictly Greek or Turkish, there were still schools that emphasized one culture and their numbers grew through the subsequent settlement and demographic patterns that emerged within and throughout the communities and the choice of parents for where their children would attend. Through the course of daily life, Greeks and Turks naturally did business with each other and in these exchanges, the Greek language was used as the language of commerce. This bi-lingual ability was seen as being practically useful by the Turkish communities and so the Greek language was considered the lingua franca. The Turkish Cypriot schools began to offer several foreign languages in their curriculums in 1896. These languages included English, French, and eventually Greek. Though the Turkish schools began offering Greek as an academic subject, Greek schools never reciprocated in teaching the Turkish language. While there was pragmatic use of the language in the social context of the island, it was not recognized as an official need by Greek schools. The fact that Turks and Greeks built their school systems apart from one another allowed each group to further develop and implement curricula which further fit into social priorities, most often political, which existed at the time. The curriculum within each schooling system took the form of being a political tool with which both groups could struggle against British colonization. Enosis had been a strong sentiment held in the Greek population throughout British rule. Enosis is an important concept here for two reasons. First, it galvanized the Greek population(s) against the power of the colonizing British. Second, it remained a social belief after colonization ended that eventually led to animosities between the Greek and Turkish populations. We might refer to Enosis as a renaissance, or rebirth, concept with regard to Greek identity. The relationship between the Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus, in both a contemporary and historical sense, has determined the nature and direction of what is taught in their schooling systems. In turn, the curricular substance and orientation of these school systems have been utilized as a bulwark for maintaining the prevailing attitudes and characteristics of a certain political text (and context) to students of the younger generation 6 . The story of this island has been and continues to be the struggle for cultural identity and its legitimacy, and this area is where the political element of the curriculum comes into play for each community, for it serves as a counter-measure to perceived oppressive hegemony from the opposite group. Tolerance being a tool in teaching, though it was once a virtue for at least the Turkish part of the population, has all but disappeared from the consciousness of the present political leadership. However, this is not an issue revolving solely an issue about cultural identity and its sustainment. The 4 Ioannidou, M. (1997). Curriculum as political text: the case of Cyprus. History of Education 26(4): 395-407. 5 Persianis, P. (1996) The British colonial education ‘lending’ policy in Cyprus (1878-1960): and intriguing example of an elusive ‘adapted education’ policy. Comparative Education 32(1) pp. 45-68. 6 Ioannidou, M. (1997). Curriculum as political text: the case of Cyprus. History of Education 26(4): 395-407. 79
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