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Introduction
Cyprus transformed from an emigration to immigration country in the 1990s and particularly after its 2004 accession to the European Union (EU). Cypriot educational policy has been inextricably linked to the nation-building project, mainly because of the unresolved Cypriot problem (Trimikliniotis and Fulias-Souroulla, 2006). However, the operation of the Cypriot educational system in an increasingly supranational context (the EU) has challenged the territorially attributed identities by its artificially constructed nation-state (Hajisoteriou, 2010). It is notable that research on intercultural education policy in Cyprus has been scarce. What little research has been done has revealed the barriers to the development of intercultural education policy that mainly derive from the content and structure of the Cypriot educational system (Trimikliniotis, 2004; Angelides et al., 2004; Hajisoteriou, 2012; Hajisoteriou and Angelides, 2013).
In this context, the current research purports to examine the content of intercultural education policies in Cyprus, which have been initiated and/or developed by the national state and particularly the MEC. Furthermore, it examines the ways in which these are shaped by European influences, and the implications of this process for national constructs of intercultural education.
The context of Cyprus
Cyprus is a young democracy as it had not become an independent republic until 1960. The island has always been multicultural due to the existence of the Cypriot and Turkish–Cypriot communities and the constitutional recognition of the Maronite, Armenian and Latin minorities. Nonetheless, the division of the island in 1974 has led to Cypriots’ relocation in the South and Turkish–Cypriots’ settlement in the North. As the Cypriot government is recognised to be the de jure government of the island, this study focuses only on Cypriot state and education institutions. The economic boom in the 1990s and the widespread of the neo-liberal model have led Cyprus to reconsider its pre-1990 restrictive immigration policies. In addition, after its accession to the EU in 2004, although the acquis communautaire has remained suspended in the North, Cyprus has become one of the main entry points of immigrants in Europe, particularly immigrants from the former USSR.
Since the 1990s, large waves of immigration towards Cyprus have created an environment of cultural diversity that is qualitatively different from the diversity resulting from the historically based minority groupings. Nonetheless, immigration issues first...