BOOK REVİEVV*
Salih, Halil İbrahim. Cyprus: The impact of Direrse Nationalism on a State. University, Alabama: The Univers'ty of Alabama Press, 1978, x + 203 Pp.
The Cyprus question has been on the ccllective mınd of vvorld public opinion espeeially since the outbreak of the inter-co'mmunal strife betvveen the Greek majority and the Turkish minority on the island in 1963. The present volııme by Dr. Salih is a vveleome addition to the grovving literatüre on the causesand effects of the Cyprus crisis.
The author ties the ıeason for the ongoing crisis to the con-cept of diverse nationalism. vvhich means that neither side made a conscientious effort to create a sense of identification vvith the State of Cyprus, vvhich vvas born in 1960. The Turks on the island therefore, tended to regard Turkey as their mother-land, and the Greeks adhered to a greater Greek natioalism , the logical result of vvhich, for the Greeks, vvas the ultimate union vvith Greece, Enosis.
The book gives the reader a concise historical background in the first chapter and goes on to deseribe , in subsequent chapters, the developments leading to the coup of 1974 and the Turkish intervention.
Dr. Salih is an American citizen of Turkish Cyprıot origın. This could have caused him to be slanted in his opinions. This, hovevver, is not the case. The author presents a very balanced and impartial evaluation of the Cyprus problem. Reading through the book, one sometimes gets the impression that some seetions vvere vvritten vvell before the publication date of 1978, espeeially vvhen he uses the present tense vvith regard to events involving Archbishop Makarios vvho passed avvay in 1977.
1977] BOOK REVıEW 115
The fact that there is a rather voluminous appendix is useful in that it contains many of the pertiııent majör documents and diplomatic correspoiıdence. This will facilitate a more thcrough understanding of both the recent histoıy and the present situation on the istand.
One vvishes that there was more of an attempt made in the book to place the Cyprus problem in a theoretical context: either that of nation building, or that of crisis-management and resolu-tion. This is the one majcr shortcoming of the book. It tends to be skimpy on analysis and relies too much on the descriptive method.
Prof. Salih's book is well-written and easy to read. The inclusion of various photographs of the principal characters and some of the conferences helps to hold the interest of the ı cade.. This relatively short study (118 pp. excluding the appendix) vvill be very useful for those vvho want to get a quick grasp of vvhat the complicated Cyprus problem is ali about.
