The Cyprus High Commission in the UK in partnership with the Hellenic Institute, the Centre for Greek Diaspora Studies, and the Centre for the GeoHumanities at Royal Holloway, University of London, and the Fitzwilliam Museum – University of Cambridge, present the exhibition Creating Diasporic Worlds at the Cyprus House, 5- 19 July 2022. The joint Armenian Institute - Royal Holloway University submission has been one of the three winners and commissioned as part of this exhibition.
A short film, titled “The Green Lines in London’s Green Lanes”, created by AI’s own Olivia Melkonian (creative producer and digital strategist) and Anoushka Berberian (graphic designer and video editor) and executive produced by the chair Rebecca Jinks and director Tatevik Ayvazyan explores the Cypriot diaspora in North London.
Is the Green Line replicated in London’s diverse, intergenerational Cypriot communities? Through the medium of film (supported by oral histories and curated and organic soundscapes, overlaid on VHS and modern footage from Cyprus), we explore intergenerational attitudes in London’s Armenian, Turkish, and Greek Cypriot diasporas.
“We lived in the Old City, and we went for walks in the gardens on top of the city walls. We had a lot of Turkish and Armenian neighbours, and all along the street, you would hear Armenian and Turkish; everybody socialised with everybody, looked after each other's children, we ran around and played.”
Home to many of varying religious, linguistic and ethnic backgrounds is a small island in the Eastern Mediterranean sea. Known today as the Republic of Cyprus, the country is divided into two parts. Generations of communal living and engagement on a large scale halted in the twentieth century, as tensions between the two majority communities were forged from foreign interference.
In the late 1960s, Cypriots fleeing unrest from their native island and choosing England as their destination began to congregate in the North of London. By the mid 70s, this community had grown to a point where the council of Haringey was forced to address it. Luckily for some, civil workers had been organising in the years leading up to the divide of Cyprus, and supported the influx of refugees in education, work, housing and social services.
Today, areas such as Wood Green, Turnpike Lane, Green Lanes and Enfield hold most of the Cypriot diaspora - a place where in some ways the two communities return to communal living. Community centres, supermarkets, restaurants and bakeries resemble early twentieth century and historic Cyprus; Turkish and Greek spoken in Cypriot dialects peppering the streets, with shared delicacies from both communities available to buy and share.
“The Green Line in Cyprus divides the island, but the Green Lanes in Haringey join these communities instead of dividing them.”
We wanted to speak with these communities and gain perspective on the question “How does London’s Green Lanes reflect Cyprus’ Green Line?” Our search narrowed down to three main ethnic groups (Turkish-Cypriots, Greek-Cypriots, and Armenian-Cypriots) and three generations. With many of our own community members coming from Cypriot backgrounds, we could easily secure our Armenian interviewees. Our research began on a whim - a visit to Yaşar Halim bakery and supermarket on Green Lanes and a conversation with the owner led us first to the Turkish Cypriot Community Association just down the road, which became a centre of familiar faces, food and friendliness. Next, we travelled further North to Wood Green, finding the Cypriot Community Centre on Earlham Grove that provided a space to learn, meet elder community members and take in the history of the space, which was founded in 1979. Speaking the minimal Turkish and Greek that I know, my time in North London was a much warmer experience than crossing the Green Line in Nicosia, where my interchanging greetings of “Yassas” and “Merhaba” were surrounded by barbed wire, deserted watchtowers and officials in uniform.
Thus far, this project has been an overwhelming exploration of historic and present communities, neighbours and cultures. Listening to the experiences of people from a diverse range of backgrounds, their memories and definitions of “home” have all echoed a resounding similarity. The divided Cyprus of today is not in the people’s favour. And although North London offers a glimpse of this historic past, the trauma of war and conflict transcends both borders and generations, leaving the unanimous dream of a united Cyprus a distant, but desperate, hope.