ABSTRACT
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, but seven openings were made across the internal border in 2003. Following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, these crossings were controversially reclosed. While this decision was nominally enacted on medical grounds, the border closures were consolidated by social media statements from the President of the Republic, Nikos Anastasiades, condemning “the illegal flow of migrants” through the border in the months prior. This statement was dispatched to the leader of the northern part of the island, Mustafa Akıncı, before being released online. Anastasiades’ discourse seemingly equates the coronavirus pathogen with the movement of migrants and asylum-seekers. He also evokes international media depictions of the “refugee crisis” that had reescalated on the Greece–Turkey border. His rhetoric alludes to coverage of the two neighboring states to bolster domestic divisions between Greek-speakers and Turkish-speakers in Cyprus. This was criticized by the UN Peacekeeping Force that released a counterstatement. This chapter analyzes statements by Anastasiades, Akıncı, and the UN (in English, Greek, and Turkish) to examine connections between representations of the pandemic and the island’s history of partition. It is crucial to investigate how social media in the twenty-first century act as tools of political division.
