Agency in waiting: innovation and repetition in a novel Turkish Cypriot nationalist commemoration

This paper focuses on the Dawn Watch commemoration in northern Cyprus that has been organised since 2010 to mark the anniversary of Turkey's military operation/invasion on 20 July 1974. I argue that the Dawn Watch utilises the innovative ritual practice of ‘keeping watch' to subjectivise participating Turkish Cypriots as the ‘guards/watchmen' who have made Turkey's military presence in Cyprus possible. This novel commemoration seeks to address growing disinterest in Turkish nationalist narratives and commemorations in northern Cyprus, which conventionally reduce Turkish Cypriots to historically unimportant figures who were merely ‘liberated' by Turkey. By adopting the innovative ritual practice of ‘keeping watch', the Dawn Watch provides participants with a new way of participating in an old nationalist narrative.