THE MAJORITY of Greek and Turkish Cypriots find interaction with the other community a ‘positive experience’. According to a survey commissioned by the UNDP in May, 82 per cent of Greek Cypriots and 65 per cent of Turkish Cypriots described their contact with the other community as a ‘positive experience’ while 18 and 14 per cent respectively thought the interaction a ‘negative’ one.
The figures only cover citizens who have already made contact with people from the other community and do not reflect the attitudes of those who have yet to meet people from the other side of the ‘fence’. The survey also revealed that 73 per cent of Greek Cypriots and 79 per cent of Turkish Cypriots responded positively to hearing that their friends or acquaintances had met people from the other community.
UNDP’s Jaco Cilliers yesterday quoted the figures during a meeting of peacebuilding organisations to mark International Peace Day. Cilliers highlighted that building a relationship and demonstrating the power of contact between the two communities remained the only way to solve the island’s problems.
Cilliers runs the UNDP’s Action for Co-operation and Trust (ACT) which has been funding peacebuilding projects for the last two years; bringing Greek and Turkish Cypriots together to work on a range of issues from environmental protection, organic farming, cultural heritage, HIV/AIDS, drug abuse to public welfare. Hailing from South Africa, Cilliers said the most important thing he learnt from his home country was how to keep hope alive.
“In the last two years over 14,000 Greek and Turkish Cypriots have come together for days, weeks, months and even years to advance the quality of life of all Cypriots in different areas,” he said.
Over 40 of the 100 projects funded by UNDP-ACT involve Cypriot youth. According to the survey, over 80 per cent of those participating in youth programmes kept in touch with friends made across the Green Line. The success of these projects proves that “young people want to have a voice in the future of the island”, noted Cilliers.
“Educators at school and at home have a key role to play here. They need to be taught in a constructive way to bridge divisions,” added Cilliers.
Bulent Kanol of the Management Centre stressed the role of civil society in forging inter-communal co-operation on common issues that affect the island as a whole. “Of course there are consequences to not co-operating” on these common problems, warned Kanol.
“There is an untapped resource for solving the island’s problems… this resource is the people of the island who have a right to be partners in the peace process. After all it is the citizens of this island that have the greatest stake in a settlement,” he added.
Cilliers concluded that personal experiences were the most influential in forming attitudes towards the other community.
“Much more needs to be done to create opportunities for Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots to have substantive and meaningful contact,” he said.
