Connecting to the past for peace: Nicos Anastasiou @ TEDxNicosia

In 1974, war tore Nicos Anastaisou from his classmates. At TEDxNicosia, he shares his personal story of how reconnecting with those friends inspired the Cyprus Friendship Programme, a movement to reunite Turkish and Greek Cypriots and bring about a new generation of dialogue.

Nicos Anastasiou, an Economics teacher by profession, has been involved in bi-communal citizen peace building work in Cyprus on a voluntary basis for the last 20 years. His work included bringing together in the buffer zone people from the two communities who, before the 1974 war, lived in mixed villages. He has contributed to the creation of numerous bi-communal groups like educators, deaf people, dancers, musicians, and theatre enthusiasts.
He has worked extensively with young people in efforts to create genuine friendships despite the generalized negative stereotypes that one community has of the other. He is currently one of the two Principal Coordinators of the Cyprus Friendship Programme, an all volunteer project that 'pairs' together teens from the two communities in Cyprus and through them bringing together their families and friends.

After decades of conflict in the island of Cyprus, the two largest communities, the Turkish Cypriot and the Greek Cypriot, have been separated geographically as well as psychologically. In this TEDxNicosia talk, Nicos Anastasiou shares stories of citizen peace-building and how ordinary were separated due to the conflict are reconvening again and how the younger generation is learning to turn the pain of the past from a wall that separates them to a bridge that brings them together.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. * (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[AlexandraPap]

God bless you, Nicos. You are doing a divine job. You have found a new volunteer in me. If all peace believers stick together and work together nothing will stop the dividing wall and the dividing bitterness from collapsing.

[Indexilia]

Thank you Nikos for inspiring us to believe and to try uniting the heart of our country.

[burcuarpalikli]

Kıbrıslı Kıbrıslıdır, bunu hiçbir şey değiştiremez! Geçmişse geçmişte kalmıştır. Bizim sadece 10, 20 yıllık bir geçmişi kapsayan bir tarihimiz yok, bizim ortak geçmişimiz bunun çok ötesinde. Böyle görüşünü paylaşan birini görünce gerçekden mutlu oldum. Teşekkür ederim.
Cypriot is cypriot, nothing can change it! Also, the past is already passed. We do not have a past that covers 10, 20 years, but our common history is far beyond that. I am really happy that I saw someone who shares his opinion like that. Thank you.

[mickaelgilbay]

Peace in Cyprus, peace on the world !!

[ikmecyprus]

thank you, for that - very, very much. A powerful message indeed. May what you aspire become a reality. Glad to have met you.

[Ishkiia]

What a creative way of making something dreadful into something so beautiful

[giorgiocurzi]

How may have a Nico's contact? thank you

[yapayzeka]

o zaman annan planına niye hayır verdiniz dıhdıhlarım..