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Contribution short abstract

This paper explores how grassroots cultural initiatives support reconciliation in post-conflict Cyprus. Focusing on the bi-communal Home for Cooperation, it examines community-led practices as alternatives to top-down diplomatic approaches and their role in fostering dialogue and social cohesion.

Contribution long abstract

After decades of ongoing conflict and tension, the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities remain polarised, and Cyprus continues to be a divided island. The limited success of traditional, top-down diplomatic approaches has made the need for alternative, more community-led forms of reconciliation increasingly apparent.

This essay investigates how grassroots cultural initiatives contribute to social cohesion and reconciliation in post-conflict Cyprus, focusing on the role of bi-communal cultural organisations as bottom-up actors in development and peacebuilding. In particular, it examines how these initiatives challenge dominant, institutionally driven understandings of development by prioritising local agency, everyday interaction, and non-economic forms of value creation. The analysis centres on a case study of the Home for Cooperation, a cultural organisation located in the UN Buffer Zone in Nicosia.

A qualitative approach was employed, including fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with members of the Home for Cooperation, to assess the organisation’s practices, challenges, and broader significance.

The essay highlights the potential of grassroots cultural practice to function as an alternative development pathway, complementing formal peace processes while reconfiguring power relations at the local level. At the same time, it underscores the importance of inclusive, multilingual, and decentralised approaches if community-led initiatives are to contribute meaningfully to reconciliation and to the imagining of alternative futures in post-conflict contexts.