INTERVIEW TOPIC CHOICE- MARIA KARPASITOU

For my oral history interview I am planning on interviewing an individual from the Cypriot community in London. I have contacted the ‘Parikiaki’ which is the leading Greek Cypriot newspaper in London. The newspaper itself was established in 1974 which was also the time a lot of Cypriots had arrived to the UK due to the Turkish invasion that took place in Cyprus in the year. A small number of Cypriots had already been living in the UK beforehand, however from the 1950′s onwards was when a community was beginning to be formed, the contrast is great between the community in the 50′s and today. I am very much interested in hearing (if possible) first hand accounts of moving to the UK, what life was like then; being away from home where an invasion was taking place, being in a foreign country where everything was unknown, even the language; and how it has changed to modern day, how the community grew and what factors were used to keep a collective spirit- such as the newspaper, the churches, Greek schools etc. Therefore, I will be focusing on the social and cultural side of the community hopefully through a person’s first hand account.
I am awaiting a reply from the ‘Parikiaki’, hopefully either allowing me to interview someone that works (and has worked for a long period of time) on the newspaper that would be able to highlight the growth of the community or even getting me in touch with someone that would be willing to participate. If this is unsuccessful, for whatever reason, I do know Cypriots in London so I am prepared to ask them if needed, as a life story interview would also be of interest to me and could easily be placed in the larger context of events taking place in the UK and the Cypriot community at the time (though I am aware that it would be preferable if they understood and spoke English).