Redefining identity in the Turkish-Cypriot school history textbooks

Abstract

Since coming to power in the 'TRNC' in late 2003, the CTP government has initiated novel attempts at the official level towards redefining collective identity and the boundaries of the nation. Revisions to school history textbooks manifest the inclination to stress the importance of the territorial rather than the ethnic dimension of identity. This paper compares the old and new mechanisms of cultural indoctrination through history teaching and concludes that the strategy of the CTP-led government to redefine nation and identity is consistent with the notion of a united federal Cyprus in the sense that it incorporates the territorial element into the collective identity, demilitarizes history teaching and reduces 'self-other' confrontation.