The Greek Civil War in Cyprus: : Ideology, Tactics and the Division of Society

The objective of this paper is to explore the antagonism and collisions between the two dominant political camps—namely the ‘nationalist’ Right and the ‘communist’ Left—under the influence of the Greek civil war, and the impact of this conflict on the local Greek-Cypriot community. In the late 1940s, the political climate affected local societies in such terms that specific stereotypes (nationalists VS communists) divided public life at all levels: sports clubs, grocers, cafeterias, etc. were converted into the battlefield of the two conflicting camps. As a result of this division, people had to choose between the ‘left-wing grocer’ and the ‘right-wing grocer’, support the football team of the ‘communists’ or the one of the ‘nationalists’ and so on. What is striking is that the situation described above is still being played out to this day.