Paper short abstract:

Based on an ethnographic study of what Turkish Cypriots call the ‘war generation’ (savaş nesli), I argue that the production of historical knowledge and experience in northern Cyprus is entangled intimately with the subjectivities of elderly war veterans in northern Cyprus.

Paper long abstract:

Based on an ethnographic study of what Turkish Cypriots call the ‘war generation’ (savaş nesli), I will argue that the production of historical knowledge and experience in northern Cyprus is entangled intimately with the subjectivities of a special category of elderly people in northern Cyprus: the veterans of the historic paramilitary organisation called the ‘Turkish Resistance Organisation’ (the TMT). The TMT was a secret organisation that was formed in the final years of British colonial administration in Cyprus in the late 1950s to fight against the Greek Cypriot anti-colonial movement, and for the division of the island between Greece and Turkey. The membership of the TMT was through an ‘oath’ (yemin) of secrecy. The present-day Cyprus appears very similar to what the TMT desired: it is divided between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

However, as the idea of a reunited Cyprus has been gaining more support among Turkish Cypriots since the early 2000s, the past actions of the TMT are being revaluated. During my fieldwork, I noted how many young Turkish Cypriot considered the elderly veterans of the TMT, a social category which often includes their fathers and grandfathers, to be ‘living histories’ who in their ‘oath-bound’ (yeminli) subjectivities hold the true knowledge of the past events which led to the ethnic conflict and division in the island. As ‘oath-bound’ subjects, however, the TMT veterans often resist younger generations' attempts to have them ‘confess’ the past, making the production of history intertwined intimately with the subjectivities of the elderly TMT veterans.