Most Cypriots link displacement and the issue of associated rights with the perceived wrongs done to them by the other community: the loss of homes and livelihoods, ancestral lands, original habitats and cultural artefacts, and the social life that surrounded them. These highly emotive normative and personal sentiments are not likely to fade away quickly, even when an agreed solution of the Cyprus problem is achieved. Rather, they are bound to linger on, adding to the potential minefield of problems to be faced during the implementation of such a solution.

Yet, as things stand there is a serious lack of grassroots level dialogue through which to address the sentiments and concerns of individuals and local communities that have somehow been affected by displacement. Such dialogue is absolutely essential if the divergent perspectives prevailing within the two Cypriot communities are ever to be bridged through a new common vision for the future.

The dialogue part of the project is an attempt to address this need by forming structures and providing venues and facilitation for intra-communal as well as inter-communal discussion on displacement and property issues.

Dialogue activities of the project include the following:

• Intra-communal dialogue forum: two sets of focus group meetings, one set with Greek Cypriot and the other with Turkish Cypriots participants from different areas across Cyprus, to discuss the processes by which property was lost, their own resettlement, and their visions for resolution of displacement-related property issues in the island.
• Inter-communal dialogue forum: a series of workshops to discuss the same set of topics as above but with participation from both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
• Public conference: as a culmination of the intra- and inter-communal dialogue forums that will also include relevant experts, NGO representatives and stakeholders.
• International conference: looking at conflict-related property issues from a comparative perspective.