Cyprus: Political Parties Material

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0101 PP.CY
Held at	: Institute of Commonwealth Studies   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/resources/library ›
Full title	: Cyprus: Political Parties Material
Date(s)	: 1957-
Level of description	: Collection (Fonds)
Extent	: 2 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Institute of Commonwealth Studies
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Cyprus was ruled by Britain between 1878 and 1960, first under 'lease' from the Ottoman Empire and then as a colony after 1914. A growing desire amongst the Greek Cypriot majority for 'enosis' or union with Greece culminated in an armed uprising between 1955 and 1959. The Turkish Cypriot minority naturally opposed enosis and instead favoured partition, a solution unacceptable to the majority. Agreement on independence made Cyprus a republic with minority rights protected by the constitution, these accords being guaranteed by Greece and Turkey as well as Britain. Continuing intercommunal violence and military posturing by the two 'mother' countries culminated in the 1974 Athens-inspired coup and subsequent Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus. Most of the materials held here deal with the events of 1974 and arguments over how to resolve the division of the island, although the significant collections of EDEK and AKEL materials show the complicated position of the Greek Cypriot left, who were hostile to the Greek military junta and also suspicious of Cyprus being used as a pawn by NATO due to its strategic importance.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Platforms, speeches, manifestos, constitutions, posters, leaflets, letters, photographs, reports issued by Anorthtiko Komma Ergazomenou Laou (Cyprus), the Centre Union (Cyprus), the Cyprus is Turkish Party, the Democratic Party (Cyprus), the Democratic Rally (Cyprus), the EDEK Socialist Party of Cyprus and the Pancyprian Renewal Front as well as various miscellaneous materials.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English and Greek

System of arrangement:

Alphabetically by party, and then in rough chronological order.

Conditions governing access:

Open to all for research purposes; access is free for anyone in higher education.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies can usually be obtained - apply to library staff.

Finding aids:

Records at item level on library catalogue (SASCAT).

Archival Information

Archival history:

The ICS political parties collection was begun in 1960-1961, with special emphasis being placed on primary material such as party constitutions, policy statements, convention reports and election manifestos. Since then, the main method of gathering material has been to appeal directly to political parties throughout the Commonwealth, though contributions from Institute members and staff following visits to relevant countries have been significant. More recently material has been collected by means of downloading documents from the websites of the major parties.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Allied Materials

Related material:

See also Cyprus: Trades Unions Material (TU.CY), Cyprus: Pressure Groups Material (PG.CY) and Cyprus, Northern: Political Parties Material (PP.CYN), as well as Political Party, Trades Unions and Pressure Group Materials for other Commonwealth countries and related material in the library's main classified sequence, all held at the ICS.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Description compiled by Daniel Millum, Political Archives Project Officer at the Institutes of Commonwealth and Latin American Studies.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Created 03/03/2004 AIM25