On 24 July 2015, I drove from my pappou’s village of Agia Irini (Akdeniz) in the north-west of Cyprus to the nearby town of Morphou (Güzelyurt) to interview two women who grew up in Agia irini. One of them is the wife of my friend Ibrahim; the other, her cousin. “Hoş geldiniz” said Serpil, as she welcomed me and my […]
On 24 July 2015 I visited my pappou’s village Agia Irini (Akdeniz) for the last time this year. After arriving back from a short break on Crete late the night before, my travel partners James and Alex and I got up early and hit the road. We crossed at the Kermia border crossing and made our way to the village […]
On 15 July 2015 my interpreter and I travelled to Episkopi to interview a Greek-Cypriot couple from Agia Irini – Kostas and Irini. Kostas is my great-uncle Iordanis’ childhood friend and koumbaro. We were told to go to a pharmacy and ask for directions when we arrived in Episkopi. A lady drew us a map and we eventually found the […]
On a sweltering hot day on the 14th of July 2015, I visited the village of my yiayia (grandmother) – Polis Chrysochous. I interviewed my Aunt Anastasia, who told me some fascinating stories of what the village was like both before and after the 1974 war. Anastasia was born in 1949 and remembers making flaounes (Cypriot Easter bread) and giving […]
On 13 July 2015 I visited Morphou again. I interviewed several Turkish Cypriot men that day, three of whom were refugees from Polis Chrysochous in the Greek-Cypriot south of Cyprus who settled in Morphou after the 1974 war. Artam was a lively and warm man who was affectionate and very open about his life. Born in 1944, Artam grew up […]
On 13 July 2015 I visited Morphou once again, and met a man there named Ramadan. My friend Ibrahim had put me in touch with him, and I soon found out that Ramadan was born in 1964. I thought to myself: Surely he is too young to fit within the criteria of my research project; this will be a waste of […]
On 8 July 2015 I travelled by myself through the Kermia border crossing to the north of Lekfosia. I met a lovely man there named Kudret, who took me to interview his mother, his aunt and a close family friend. The first person I interviewed was Kudret’s mother, Sadiye. Sadiye was a gentle and kind woman who was fasting for […]
On 7 July 2015 my interpreter and I travelled to Morphou (Güzelyurt) to meet with two Turkish Cypriot refugees who live there. We met at the Cumhuriyetçi Türk Partisi (CTP) office in Güzelyurt. The CTP is a social-democratic political party in Northern Cyprus which is pro-unification of the island. Several of the men that I interviewed in Morphou belonged to […]
While in Polis Chrysochous on 17 June 2015 I visited a man named Christodoulos, a school teacher who was born in 1929. The day that he finished primary school his teacher came to his house. Christodoulos’s father Yiannis thought that he was in trouble but the teacher said “No! He is my best pupil and I want him to continue […]
On 19 June, my father and I crossed the Ledra Street border to meet our friend Ibrahim from Morphou and his close friend Christos. They took us to meet Tayfun, Ibrahim’s brother-in-law who grew up in Agia Irini / Akdeniz. Tayfun had a bold, yet warm and vibrant presence about him. We met him in his currency exchange shop where […]
Stories of Friendship from Cyprus 
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