Based on research conducted from September 2008 through June 2011, this thesis explores the construction of gender and sexuality identities in Cyprus vis-à-vis the socio-political, legal and cultural context within which it is enabled or inhibited. More specifically, it examines how predominant discourses of nationhood and national identity as well as the processes, norms, institutions and mechanisms of Europeanization, affect local approaches to the relationship between national identity, gender and sexuality. -- Chronologically, the thesis covers the period between the early 1990s - when a Cypriot gay man brought a case before the European Court of Human Rights against the Republic of Cyprus - up to the present. However, it also makes references to the 1974 Turkish invasion and occupation of the island, as well as to the events that preceded and followed it, since these have been determinative of the importance assigned to Cypriot national identity narratives by local actors. -- Part of the data examined includes fifty-five interviews with prelates of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, Greek-Cypriot political elites, military officials, representatives of women’s groups, as well as Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer individuals and activists. Through the utilization of a research design that draws on Foucaultian analysis, queer theory, law and national identity studies, the thesis argues that the Cypriot discursive landscape both restricts and enables the negotiation and reconfiguration of identity-formation processes. Namely, although nationalistic, androcentric, patriarchical and heterocentric essentialisms continue to permeate the Cypriot socio-political milieu, nationalism is characterized both by inherent contradictions and by the ability to reinvent itself.

This research concerns the processes and practices of commemoration in Cyprus and how they impact the construction of Cypriot politics in both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities in Cyprus. I engage the study of politics of memory, which can also be explained as the struggle between the dominant ethno-nationalist commemorations and alternative commemorations on both sides of the divide. I deconstruct the practices of commemoration used by the various political regimes for nationalist purposes. I seek to uncover, through qualitative research methods, the alternative cultures of commemoration that are being developed in the name of peace, coexistence and reconciliation. Interviews and observations are used as part of the ethnographic analysis in order to understand how public commemorations take place and are understood in different sites of Cyprus where commemorative rituals occur. Discourse analysis is also used as a method for the analysis of commemorative texts and as a way of approaching and thinking about a problem expressed in scholarly or educational texts and media statements. A literature review on the politics of commemoration shows how the past is collectively remembered, shaped and revised under the guidance of the ruling class to benefit one group over the other as part of the cultural construction of memory in contemporary society. The thesis focuses the landscape of a key public space in the divided capital city of Nicosia, through web-memorializing with the aid of photography and through poems. A concluding chapter considers the power of alternative commemorations and the different possibilities that they can lead to the politics in the future of Cyprus.

Within the field of Nationalism Studies, the relationship between “National Identity” and “ethnicity” has been widely studied. Likewise, the relationship between “National Identity”, “elite interests” and “ethnic conflicts” has also been investigated. In fact, there is a considerable amount of studies focused on the “inter-state” aspects of “National Identity”, “ethnicity” and “elite interests”, however, such studies tend to highlight the “elite” of the “homeland” as the political and social leaders of their ethnicity; seeing themselves responsible for defending the political interests of their ethnic relatives in transnational borders, or liberating them from other states via “secessionist” or “irredentist” policies. Nevertheless, an example of elite of “ethnic kin”, who dominates another state outside its “homeland”, has not yet been widely theorized academically, with a focus on “National Identity” and “elite interests”. This study aims to fill that gap within the literature through the example of President Makarios and Greek Cypriot nationalism. While Cyprus was a British colony, the Greek Cypriot community was mobilized to unify Cyprus with their “homeland” Greece. However, the result of such mobilization was the foundation of a Cypriot state, based on power-sharing between the Greek Cypriot majority and Turkish Cypriot minority. In the post-Independence era, particularly with the consolidation of the military dictatorship in Greece (1967), President Makarios abandoned the Enosis (unification of Cyprus with Greece) policies and made attempts to reconstruct the Greek Cypriot National Identity in favour of a Greek Cypriot-ruled independent Cypriot state. President Makarios also ignored Greek Junta's manipulations about the Cypriot politics. The subsequent struggle continued until the Athens-led coup d'état that overthrew the President (1974). This thesis shall follow Brass’ “Instrumentalist” theory and shall analyze the reconstruction of the Greek Cypriot National Identity. The thesis will also investigate the role played by the interests of both the President and the Greek Cypriots in constructing this new National Identity.

Conventional wisdom holds that ethnic nationalism is incompatible with politics of compromise and reconciliation in conflict-ridden societies. This dissertation provides empirical evidence to the contrary by examining the revision of Greek unionist nationalism in Cyprus, under the transformative leadership of former Cypriot president Glafkos Clerides. The first part of the dissertation focuses on the development of various manifestations of nationalism in the Greek Cypriot community, highlighting particularly the limitations hindering the development of a civic form of nationalism in the island. The second part of the dissertation focuses on Clerides’ liberal brand of ethnic nationalism and argues that the former Cypriot leader provides an insightful example of how liberal nationalism can be combined with policies of compromise and peace building, informing relevant literature, which has provided considerable theoretical insight but lacks sufficient empirical evidence. Based on the work of Yack (2012) and others (Beissinger 2008; Kymlicka 1996), this dissertation argues that while several myths and certain significant limitations hindered the development of Cypriotism, Clerides’ liberal brand of ethnic nationalism was able to facilitate reconciliation and accommodate federalism in Cyprus. To support this argument, the dissertation relies on the hitherto unpublished archive of Democratic Rally and personal interviews with Clerides and several of his associates and critics. Specifically, it demonstrates how Clerides’ transformative leadership led to the revision of Greek unionist nationalism in the post-1974 era. Coming to terms with the intransigent ethnic ‘unionist’ legacy of the Right, historically associated with the goal of union with Greece, Clerides led the way to the revision of Greek nationalism and was the first to endorse federalism in the Greek Cypriot community. Yet Clerides’ political transformation did not aim at abandoning nationalist sentiments and symbols. His perception of a federal state as a multinational entity, allowed him not to undermine the two national communities of the island in its effort to promote a single Cypriot polity. In this context, the linkage of a federal solution with the accession of Cyprus to a federal Europe became a key component of his policy for the solution of the Cyprus problem. In view of current negotiations, the political legacy of Clerides can be informative for stakeholders, both inside and outside the island.