ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to discuss the construction of socio-political discourse in the Republic of Cyprus. It shows how official political rhetoric has been selected, interpreted, reiterated, and inscribed in words, visuals, and mnemonic enactments, the components of national and cultural memory, in a way that vindicates the historical past and legitimizes future aspirations. The chapter argues that socio-political discourse, initially expressed through the press, has had a profound effect on the awareness of cultural and national identity on the island since the beginning of its existence as a state, in 1960. It suggests that emotional and cultural focus on ‘Mother Greece’ dominated the Greek Cypriot cultural, national, and political narratives, and is the cause of the political course, the aspirations, and upheavals the country experienced until today. The chapter examines how ‘deep memory’ embedded into ‘deep’ and ‘contested’ cities, such as that of Nicosia in Cyprus, holds a crucial role in reconciliation and peace or division and conflict.
