The "La Trobe" Project
Cyprus Conflict Resolution Workshop
1. Background
The "La Trobe" Project has its genesis in two factors that converged in 1999 to create a conducive climate for the occurrence of such a workshop. The first was the manifestation of the subterranean desire for rapprochement that emerged from a series of interactions between certain Greek and Turkish Cypriots that took place last year. The second contributing factor was the completion of a PhD thesis on the Cyprus problem, in the Department of Politics of La Trobe University, which set forward what the author believes to be the essential preconditions for a peaceful symbiotic settlement of the Cyprus conflict. The specific idea for conducting a Cyprus Conflict Resolution Workshop (CCRW) emerged from the contacts between certain Greek-Cypriots and the (Turkish) Cypriot Graduates Association of Australia Inc. (CGAA) as one method through which bicommunal rapprochement could be advanced. The Steering Committee decided that in order to maximise the effect of the CCRW it should come under the auspices of a credible academic institution with expertise in this field such as the Department of Politics at La Trobe University. The International Conflict Resolution Centre at the University of Melbourne has also expressed an interest in hosting the second workshop and a third is envisaged to take place in Sydney.
2. Overall Objective
To learn to identify cultural factors involved in the Cyprus conflict, to adapt the mediation process to reduce suspicion and prejudice by helping people from these different backgrounds and experiences understand each other and recognize shared concerns, values and interest.
3. Project's Aims
1. To bring together Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot intellectuals and activists;
2. Establish communication between the two groups;
3. Map out differences and similarities and ways of resolving them;
4. Contribute to the overall promotion of bi-communal rapprochement;
5. Link up and share information with other such workshops on Cyprus (ie. Cyprus, United States, United Kingdom);
6. To identify in Australia practices which negatively impact on Cypriot communities and propose ways of overcoming them.
4. Methodology
The CCRW will adopt a gradualist and evolutionary process to meeting its objectives. This will entail several stages of meetings and the scheduling of future workshops. The project is guided by the philosophical predisposition of preserving itself as a process of communication and thus avoiding any potential breakdown. In this instance the actual process is more important than the outcome. The first workshop would set modest and achievable objectives conscious of the dangers of overloading and the premature tackling of some of the more controversial issues. By establishing both an internal comfort zone amongst participants and an external momentum in the project, any confidence-building gained during the first workshop would be carried through to the next workshop. This philosophical viewpoint has influenced the initial selection for participants as well as the drafting of the agenda. Participants had been selected on the basis of people who are interested in bicommunal communication. At a later stage, this group could be expanded to introduce individuals with harder political dispositions.
5. Program
Saturday, 15 April 2000
9.30 Registration
9.45 Welcome by Professor Joseph Camilleri, Department of Politics, La Trobe University
9.50 The "La Trobe Project" background, intentions and purpose
Dr Michalis S. Michael & Mr Tümer Mimi
10.10 Conflict Resolution Methods
Professor Joseph Camilleri
10.30 Preconditions for a peaceful symbiotic settlement of the Cyprus Conflict
Presenter: Dr Michalis S. Michael
Moderator: Professor Joseph Camilleri
11.45 Coffee Break
12.00 Multi-culturalism a way to social cohesion in ethnically diverse communities
Mr Has Delal, Executive Director of Australian Multicultural Foundation
Moderator: Dr Gabriella Etmektsoglou
1.00 Lunch Break
2.00 Cross-Cultural Communication Presenter
Professor Desmond Cahill, Department of Language and International Studies, RMIT University
3.00 The Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot Communities in Australia
Presenters: Mimis Sophocleous (on the Greek-Cypriot community)
Tümer Mimi and Yalcin Oytam (on the Turkish-Cypriot Community)
Moderator: Professor Desmond Cahill
4.00 Screening of short-film Espresso (…when people from wrong sides meet) by Adonis Florides & Theodoros Nicolaides (26 mins., B & W, language: English & Greek, 1999). Presented by Mr Tümer Mimi.
Evening: Dinner at Salamis Tavern, 346 Burnley St., Richmond
Sunday, 16 April 2000
9.45 Blood and Peace: the Bone Marrow Campaign to save Andreas Vassiliou and Kemal Saracoglu
Presenters: Mr Jim Wood, Mr Tümer Mimi and through the eyes of 13 year old girl Ms Nitel Mimi
Moderator: Mr Huseyim Türem
10.30 The media in Promoting Greek-Turkish Goodwill
Presenters: Mr Con Nikolopoulos, Neos Kosmos and Mr Levent Efe, Turkish Report
Interactive Discussion,
Moderator: Mr Salih Celebioglu
11.45 Coffee Break
12.00 Rapprochement by students and through art and culture
Presenters: Mr Peter Christophi, Mr Aygun Ozkan and Mr Huseyin Türem
Moderator: Mr Spiros Constantinou
1.00 Lunch Break
2.00 Meeting the Minister: Greek-Cypriot/Turkish-Cypriot delegation in Canberra, its aftermath, problems of bi-communal activities (Case Study)
Presentation: Mr Spiros Constantinou & Dr Yalcin Adal
Interactive Discussion
Moderator: Senator Barney Cooney
3.00 The Way Forward: Concluding Session· Feedback from the Questionnaire· Statements from participants · Future workshops and other related bi-communal activities
Chair: Dr Michalis S. Michael & Dr Yalcin Adal
3.30 Completion of Proceedings
1. The project's title derives from the La Trobe University.
2. These contacts started on the ABC WEB pages on the Cyprus programs (Maria Ziilstra EUROPEANS) then moved to Renmark, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.
3. Michalis Stavrou Michael, Proposals for Resolving the Cyprus Problem (1974-1994), PhD thesis, La Trobe University, December 1998.
4. An interim Steering Committee comprised of five Greek-Cypriots and five Turkish-Cypriots in Melbourne and Sydney was set up as a working cell to coordinate and initiate bicommunal events. The Melbourne Committee has had three meetings: the inaugural meeting took place, 18 January 2000, at Vasili's & Yiannis Greek Tavern, and two planning meeting on 21 March and 11 April 2000, at Salamis Tavern, 346 Burnley Street, Richmond.
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