STATEMENT ON THE DONATION OF DR. AHMET CAVIT’s ARCHIVES TO THE RESEARCH INSTITUTE PROMITHEAS

Turkish Cypriot pediatrician, researcher and author, Dr. Ahmet Cavit An donated part of his 50-year old archive to the Research Institute Promitheas.

He was the Turkish Cypriot coordinator of the Bi-communal Movement for an Independent and Federal Cyprus formed in September 1989 as the first bicommunal group after 1958. In February 2003, he won his case against Turkey at the European Court of Human Rights vindicating his right to freedom of assembly which he was denied because of his advocacy of more contact between the two communities in Cyprus which contributed to the opening of the gates after two months in April.

Dr. Cavit published 24 books on the history of Turkish Cypriots and the Cyprus question. He published many articles in Turkish and Turkish Cypriot Press. When he retired he donated part of his newspaper cuttings archives to the Turkish Cypriot archives in Kyrenia.

His archives related to the Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Left movement were donated to Promitheas. Among others, this archive includes newspaper cuttings, articles, journals and books related to bicommunal activities and relations from the 1950s onwards, including the archives of the movement for federal Cyprus and New Cyprus Association. 

The donated archives are important for researchers who wish to investigate the history of the bicommunal movement and the Turkish Cypriot left movement from the 1950s onwards.