Imaginations of Europe in Turkish Cypriot Media Discourses

- Presentation speakers
  - Bahar Taseli, Cyprus International University
Abstract:

In this paper I will examine the ways in which Europe and Europeanness are imagined in Turkish Cypriot media discourses. By focusing on the aftermath of the Annan Plan referendum (April 2004), I will explore how different columnists represented the failure of the Annan Plan as well as the missed opportunity to join the European Union. While the majority of Greek Cypriots voted against the plan, the majority of Turkish Cypriots voted in favor. The internationally boycotted state of TRNC, the economic crises, the dependence on Turkey, and the dominion of extreme Turkish nationalist Rauf Denkta constituted some of the reasons why Turkish Cypriots favored a radical change. Europe was now the place where people’ wanted to be’ and hence the Annan Plan was welcomed by a great majority of Turkish Cypriots. In my analysis of opinion pieces selected from various local newspapers, I will demonstrate how Eurocentric and often Orientalist, as well as self-Orientalist, themes are often embedded in Turkish Cypriot discourses.