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Cyprus Critical History Archive,
Nicosia<http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/8354>
by Nikos
Christofis<http://dissertationreviews.org/?author=1444>
A review of the Cyprus Critical History Archive, Nicosia, Cyprus.
The Cyprus Critical History Archive is the largest newspaper collection in Cyprus dealing
with the various forms of violence generated by the Cyprus issue that took place during
the period 1955-1964. This review will detail the history of the archive and the
collection of newspapers it contains, and provide a basic overview of the Association
which hosts the archive.
History of the Archive
The Cyprus Critical History Archive (CCHA) is housed in the Home for Cooperation (H4C) in
the Ledra Palace area of the Buffer Zone in Nicosia, Cyprus. The Archive was instituted as
a joint initiative of the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research (AHDR) and the
Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Cyprus Centre. The Archive was based on a new
initiative of the PRIO Cyprus Centre that aims to investigate a) how divisive historical
narratives have emerged in Cyprus, b) how they are reproduced, and c) what questions we
might ask about their production. In response to the need to address these critical and
sensitive issues, the initiative has launched an archival project – along with the
organization of workshops and seminars on historical reconciliation – intended to collect
available information on intercommunal relations and conflict-related violence in a single
library and database.
The Cyprus Critical History working group was formed in August 2009, after a PRIO
conference on the politics of history in November 2008 and under the initial leadership of
Dr. Rebecca Bryant, in response to the need to address the above issues. During the first
steps of the CCHA project, the founder of the PRIO conference, the Chrest Foundation, was
among the first to provide funding that allowed the Archive to flourish.
Collection
The primary goal and aim of the Archive is to collect and catalogue all available
information on intercommunal relations and conflict-related violence in Cyprus, and to
make this information available to researchers and to the public. The initiave was
launched in recognition of the fact that there is currently no single source to which
researchers from either side of the island may turn for comprehensive, multi-lingual
information about the history of the conflict. To fill this need, CCHA has collected a
vast amount of written and oral materials documenting past crimes and violations
(approximately 30,000-35,000), translated most of these and made them available them in an
online database. Currently, the Cyprus Critical History Archive covers the period
1955-1964, and it is about to complete the process of digitizing and cataloguing the
thousands of articles that were gathered by the Greek and Turkish Cypriot newspapers of
the island. The online database was launched for public use in February 2013.
Currently the CCHA covers the Greek Cypriot newspapers Eleftheria, Haravgi, Mahi, and
Kypros, and the Turkish Cypriot newspapers Halkın Sesi, Bozkurt, Nacak and a limited
number of private collections, as well as newspapers in English, such as the Cyprus Mail.
Eventually, it is hoped that the project will extend its temporal scope to 1974, while the
typology of sources will include private and public archival documentation, photographic
archives, audio-visual material and oral accounts from Cyprus and abroad.
The digitized collection of newspaper articles is organized under broad categories,
depending on the kind of violence the articles refer to, ranging from gender-related to
non-physical violence (psychological violence, public humiliation, peer-pressure, etc.) to
collateral damage, etc.
In addition to the Archive, there is a reference library in the Association for Historical
Dialogue and Research where the researcher can consult or borrow from a very good
collection of books on Cyprus (Greek, Turkish and English). The library holdings are
constantly being increased, especially as a result of generous donations, such as that of
the late Peter Loizos. The library’s focus is on Cyprus, including the Turkish Cypriot
community, meaning that there are numerous books on the Turkish Cypriot community that
fulfill the immediate needs of most scholars.
Practical Matters, Current State and Future Plans
The placement of the archive in the buffer zone makes it readily accessible to researchers
from both communities. In addition, the internet website of the archive provides unlimited
access to scholars and researchers of all nationalities, as the archive material
collection is free to the public. For those who would like to physically visit the CCHA,
it is open to the public Monday to Friday, 9 am to 6 pm. The staff of the Home for
Cooperation, the NGO that works as an umbrella association and hosts different NGOs, are
kind and extremely helpful. The library’s staff, as well as in the secretariat of the
Association, are all well–trained and well-informed with regard to the function of the
CCHA. Researchers can use or borrow library books by becoming members of the association
(20€) or as a basic library member (5€). At the time of writing, the Association for
Historical Dialogue and Research has not yet decided whether or not it will extend its
coverage to 1974, but this possibility is being carefully considered.
The Cyprus Critical History Archive can be accessed here:
http://www.ccha-ahdr.info/.
Nikos Christofis
Turkish Studies, Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS)
University of Leiden, The Netherlands
n.christofis@gmail.com<mailto:n.christofis@gmail.com><mailto:n.christofis@gmail.com>
Image:
Photograph<http://europeandcis.undp.org/blog/2013/04/10/cyprus-critical-…
by Pembe Mentesh, 10 April 2013.
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Nikos
Christofis<http://dissertationreviews.org/?author=1444> | March 21, 2014 at
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