Editor’s Note

Even before I assumed the editorship of JMGS I had heard complaints that Cyprus was underrepresented in the journal. Indeed, there had been only two articles on Cyprus published in the journal in more than a decade, and one was a review article on books about the island. To date, one article on Cyprus has been published during my editorship of the journal.

In this issue there are four articles about Cyprus, one of which deals with an Islamic shrine and another almost exclusively with Turkish-Cypriots. Moreover, there is an article on the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey which is written mainly from a Turkish point of view. Some readers may feel that it is inappropriate for a journal of modern Greek studies to feature articles that are mostly about Turkey or Turkish-Cypriots, and, indeed, one of the referees of these articles raised this very question. In the end, however, all recommended the articles for publication in JMGS, a decision with which I concurred.

Nassos Papalexandrou provides some interesting and original perspectives on the history of Cyprus since the seventeenth century through the accounts of certain visitors to the island. Although he focuses on an Islamic funerary monument, he places it in a broader context, pointing out that it has been a site of pilgrimage for both Muslims and Christians and, further, that it shares some suggestive characteristics with the nearby Stavrovouni Orthodox Monastery. Mete Hatay and Rebecca Bryant examine nostalgia among Turkish-Cypriots, but they make frequent reference to Greek-Cypriots and contrast the character of memory and nostalgia on both sides of the Cypriot Green Line. Asli Iğsiz’s contribution is about a book written by a Turk who tries to close a chapter in his own personal history of the population exchange. This involves trips to Greece and interactions with Greeks, both living and dead. Thus, despite their primary focus on Turkish-Cypriots or Turkey, all of these authors provide information that is of value to scholars of Greece and Cyprus.

My other concern with this issue is the dearth of articles on literature; unfortunately, there is only one, albeit a very good one. I will try to do a better job of balancing issues in the future, and I encourage those with good articles with literary themes to submit them for publication.