The Dialogue Groups are the brainchild of Professor Marco Turk, Adjunct Professor of Law at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution of Pepperdine University, the foremost school of conflict resolution in the US. Recognised internationally for his work as a peace-builder, educator and trainer dealing with ethnic conflict, Prof Turk knows and loves Cyprus well, having lived and worked here as a Fulbright Senior in the late 1990s.

The professor has always maintained that since, after half a century of trying, the top-down approach on Cyprus has failed, a bottom-up approach is needed instead. After the crash of Crans Montana, he suggested holding dialogue groups between ordinary Greek and Turkish Cypriots, where people can discuss the various issues that concern them on a no-holds barred basis. UniteCyprusNow, as a grassroots movement, was ideally placed to organise such meetings.

Because it is not easy to have a meaningful conversation on sensitive issues where everyone will feel heard and understood, Prof Turk returned to Cyprus last year and, with the help of UCN, held a series of workshops to train a number of Cypriots to be facilitators. From then on the Dialogue Groups began to be held on a limited basis, gradually increasing in number as they progressed and interest grew.

The purpose of the Dialogue Group programme is to try a new approach – rather than focusing on resolving problems, the idea is to create understanding between various diverse viewpoints across the island, so all points of view and concerns are considered, providing an opportunity to everyone to have the chance to make their voices heard. Ultimately our aim is to bring people together as human beings so that, without necessarily agreeing with each other, we can at least deal with and respect one another as we move forward with our lives.

The bottom line is to get everyone to abandon the “blame-game” and instead provide the opportunity to focus on our common bond as Cypriots. This will be from a new perspective that emphasises rejoining the conversation with each other to change the future through conversion of the identity-based conflict to one of identity-based cooperation.