Mediator vs. Instigator Strategies Th rough Human Rights Education: The Case of Cyprus .......... 361

“The history clichés which are being taught at secondary schools are nothing more than a sham injected into young minds”. “The human rights education [...] is a social right just like the regular right to education. It is possible to say that the government in northern Cyprus violates both educational and fundamental human rights”. ”History of revolution of the Republic of Turkey and Ataturk’s history is one of the compulsory courses in the cur-riculum northern Cyprus, while human rights are not. Human rights have been added into the compulsory courses in the schools of Turkey; however, the question why north Cyprus has been deprived of this right still remains”. If one would like to make a link between the partition of the island and this deprivation; then probably the most logical one would be following: if many people achieve an awareness level the division causes human right vio-lations in the region, then suppressing possible insurrections would be very difficult. The lack of human rights education plays a controlling mechanism over the population.

I would like to address the “mediator” mechanism of implementing human rights edu-cation in Cyprus over the “Cyprus problem”. Cyprus remains an island divided into two halves today. In an island where each half is still seen as “other”, if not enemy; one of the fundamental ways of eliminating otherness would be remembering that we are all human beings – through education. The Republic of Cyprus that practices control over south Cy-prus in reality, has implemented such educational tools to some extent; however, there is a lack of any effort regarding the issue in north Cyprus. That is why I would like to examine what is being controlled by the lack of human rights education while the leaders of both sides negotiate on solving the Cyprus problem.