Nested Borders

Migration, Sovereignty and Liminality along the Green Line in Cyprus

Bibliographic Data

ID4947447
AuthorsSeçil Dağtaș (0000-0001-8037-9855, University of Waterloo, corresponding author), Suzan Ilcan (0000-0003-3809-261X, University of Waterloo)
Year2025
Volume31
Issue1
Pages1-27
Publication date2025-06-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeopolitics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1465-0045 • E-ISSN: 1557-3028
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14650045.2025.2511201
OpenAlexW4411151302
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited75

Cyprus’ 2004 accession to the European Union (EU) transformed the significance of the ‘Green Line’ – the United Nations (UN)-monitored buffer zone that has separated Turkish and Greek Cypriots since the island’s 1974 partition. Today, this zone serves as a de facto external EU border, dividing the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) from the unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). This paper adopts a multiscalar approach to study the geopolitics of bordering along the Green Line with a focus on the (im)mobility of asylum seekers from Middle Eastern and African countries on the island. Drawing on policy, media, scholarly materials, fieldwork and interviews, we argue that the Green Line constitutes a ‘nested border’ of unevenly layered jurisdictional and governing practices by the UN, EU, RoC and TRNC. These overlapping border regimes create uncertainties, disjunctures and liminal encounters for migrants and reflect broader geopolitical developments that include and transcend Cyprus’ longstanding ethnic conflict

Archaeology · Economic geography · Geography · Geometry · Liminality · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sovereignty · Cyprus History, Politics, Society · Law · Mathematics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics

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