Pyla: a mixed borderline village under UN supervision in Cyprus

Abstract

This paper considers ethnic conflict within Cyprus involving Greeks, Turks and the United Nations., The focus for discussion is the village of Pyla on the 'Green Line' and the key question to be answered is: to whom does the border belong? The answer is that everyone in the village including the UN is involved in maintaining the boundary and thereby preventing ethnic violence breaking out. Procedures of everyday peace-making are carefully observed which prevent outsiders from stirring up trouble. However, this mutual responsibility is fraught with continuing tension between the three parties (Greek, Turkish and UN) created by the wider context of ethnic conflict at national and international levels. The best which the local people can hope for in current political conditions is the continuation of an uneasy balance between the theee parties and a precarious containment of the endemic ethnic tension.