Nicholas Sundin, Ben Atkinson, Sarah Edwards & Esther Michel-Spraggett

• BA (Hons) Geography
• Attitudes to and effects of international actors in the Cyprus conflict

Cyprus has been an island long divided along national/ethnic lines, since independence from Britain in 1960, and since the Turkish invasion in 1974. Since then, a number of international actors have sought to bridge the divide and end the conflict. The United Nations has maintained a peacekeeping force since 1964 after intercommunal violence broke out and patrols the buffer zone between the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to this day. Talks continue to try and resolve the conflict but they have so far failed to find a resolution. The RoC joined the European Union in 2004, which has raised further questions, issues, and potential solutions to the conflict, especially considering Turkey’s changing internal politics and relationship with the EU. The financial crisis of 2008, followed by subsequent crises in the Eurozone and Cyprus itself in 2013, lead to the European Central Bank bailing out the RoC and imposing strict conditions, causing political backlash within the RoC (Johnson, 1997).The United Kingdom has maintained a military presence in Cyprus after independence with the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia – technically British Overseas Territories - acting as both a platform for British power projection in the Mediterranean and Middle East, and as a means to direct internal Cypriot politics to suit British foreign policy. The bases have also elicited protest and opposition - when Demetris Christofias was elected president of the RoC in 2008, he pledged to remove foreign bases from Cyprus (Stergiou, 2015).

Funding sources: Newcastle Expeditions Committee, Royal Geographical Society

Project Supervisors: Dr Craig Jones, Dr Matthew Benwell and Dr Nick Megoran.