ABSTRACT
THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT THE affective interaction which a group with a specific history has fashioned with various complexes of law and state-craft. I study Turkish-Cypriots as they relate to and transact documents produced by several different administrative structures and practices. The focus on Turkish-Cypriots is significant, as they have been subjects and ‘citizens’, since 1983, of an unrecognized state, the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ (TRNC), which is considered illegal under international law Documents produced by this ‘state’ for identity verification and travel, then, form a centrepiece of my enquiry here, where I explore what it means, affectively, to deal with internationally unrecognized forms of certification. Identity cards and passports issued by the ‘TRNC’ are technically not recognized anywhere outside Northern Cyprus, and yet there have been a set of state practices in place whereby people have had to organize their lives whilst verifying it through these documents.
