New online platform enhances understanding between both communities

The Cyprus Dialogue Forum (CDF) has announced penna!, a new online portal that aims to enhance knowledge and understanding between the two communities by reflecting the thoughts and concerns of key opinion writers across the island in English, Turkish and Greek.

The new service, developed by the Secretariat of the CDF, brings together columnists from leading media outlets in each community. Every week, four published opinion pieces are selected for verbatim translation into two other languages. By Friday the selected articles from across the island are publicly available at penna.cydialogue.org in Greek, Turkish and English. Penna! is a non-commercial and non-profit service and forms part of the overall work of the CDF which is supported through the financial assistance of the European Union.

The aim is for the translated articles to provide insight into the ‘other’ community, conveying the prevailing moods within a cross-section of society, behind-the-scenes knowledge on key developments, as well as comments, observations, critiques, and analysis.

By providing direct unfiltered access to respected commentators – the ‘penholders’ –living in each community, readers are given the chance to develop layers of understanding about the ‘other’ community, moving away from one-dimensional narratives and binary perspectives. At the same time, penna! introduces an array of voices to the ‘other’ community, reflecting the multitude of opinions that exist, going beyond official views and positions that tend to dominate.