Coloniality and States of Exception in Cyprus Today: Law, Politics, and Society Riddled in Contradictions

Birmingham Law School seminar hosted by The Global Legal Studies and Human Rights, Power and Accountability themes.

Speaker: Nicos Trimikliniotis (University of Nicosia)

Abstract

This paper examines the enduring coloniality in Cyprus which permeates all aspects of legal, political, economic, and cultural life in the country. It will examine various aspects of coloniality in practice today from law to politics, culture, and literature, from the economy to immigration policy and rights. The Republic of Cyprus, considered as a ‘buffer state’ in a ‘border society’, was formally declared independent in 1960 and has been a member of the UN since then and an EU member for 20 years. The country’s legal political, economic, and social institutions that operate today were shaped or reshaped during the British colonial period (1878-1960). It is a postcolonial country riddled with contradictions located in a strategic location within a broader troubled region. The ‘Cyprus problem’ has been manifested in the de facto division of the country since 1974 but started in its current form with the intercommunal violence in 1963; currently, the island is torn with a UN-controlled buffer zone known as the ‘Green Line’ that makes up 3% of its territory, with tens of asylum-seekers stranded therein. The country’s sovereignty and independence have been fettered, whilst ‘the divisions of Cyprus’ are interwoven with multiple states of exception with a tendency to proliferate. The question is how to move beyond the pervasive coloniality and the states of exception for Cyprus to overcome its plight and become a bridge for peace and reconciliation in the region.

Speaker biography

Nicos Trimikliniotis is Professor of Sociology, Social Sciences and Law at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. He heads the team of experts of the Cyprus team for the Fundamental Rights Agency of the EU. His research examines migration, racism, state theory, conflict and reconciliation, digitalities, work, precarity, citizenship, asylum and immigration law and labour law, constitutional and European law and fundamental rights. Publications selection: Migration and the Refugee Dissensus in Europe: Borders, Security and Austerity (Routledge 2020); Mobile Commons, Migrant Digitalities and the Right to the City (Palgrave 2015); Beyond a Divided Cyprus: A State and Society in Transformation (Palgrave MacMillan 2012).