Rebecca Bryant and Mete Hatay’s Sovereignty Suspended: Building the So-Called State examines the case of the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Emerging after Turkey’s military intervention in Cyprus in 1974, the TRNC pretends to be a state but is not recognized by other states internationally. This book focuses on the active role played by Turkish Cypriots in the emergence of the TRNC, the methods used for recognition and their failures, and the impact of living in an unrecognized state on the daily lives of its citizens.

The book consists of three parts, with three chapters in each part. The introduction discusses the intertwined and complementary concepts of the de facto state and the aporetic state, convenient for understanding the case of Northern Cyprus. Derrida’s notion of aporia—the space of nonpassage—describes the ability to cross even when one knows one should not. The aporia indicates the point at which the crossing is impossible, despite the absence of a boundary (pp. 3–4). Similarly, the concept of the aporetic state, which emerged by reinterpreting the concept of aporia, stresses the impossibility of attaining that status of a real state, although there seems to be no border or barrier. Moreover, on the one hand, the TRNC was founded with the awareness that it would probably never attain the status of a real state; on the other hand, it has existed as a state-like structure since 1974 (pp. 8–13). For this reason, and using these explanatory concepts throughout the book, Bryant and Hatay have analyzed the contradictory situation in which the TRNC has existed for more than 40 years, during which time it has not been able to achieve the status of a real state.

The first part focuses on the aporia perceptibility, that is, how the practices used by Turkish Cypriots to be more visible in the north of the island after the war made them even more invisible to the world (p. 31). Chapter 1 demonstrates that the looting, distribution of properties, and the production of lands left behind by the Greeks were an essential part of the sense of belonging to the territory. However, these actions only created a feeling of factitious territory as the Turkish Cypriots realized that the property rights granted to them by the de facto state had no legal validity elsewhere (p. 53). ‘Turkification’ and redesigning of the landscape were other crucial components of aporetic perceptibility. For instance, in Chapter 2, the authors suggest that while Turkish Cypriots disseminated official symbols of Turkishness, such as the Turkish flag and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk statues, in public and private spaces, this was accompanied by a Dehellenization process as the cultural and symbolic remains of the Greeks were removed (pp. 63–67). In a similar vein, Chapter 3 touches upon the de facto state’s demographic engineering techniques, such as bringing people from different parts of Turkey to the island to create the perception that it is the legitimate owner of the region. Nevertheless, all these efforts are aporetic in that it is even more visible at the international level that the Turkish Cypriots are not the legal owners of this territory. In short, Turkish Cypriots are trapped in an endless cycle where they become more invisible as a result of every action they take to become visible.

The second part is devoted to the aporia of recognizability, that is, how the TRNC turned the territory into a factitious state, despite the methods and efforts it used to acquire international recognition. In line with this aim, the state-building process, which aims to achieve a state through the constitution, parliament, and economic policies, has begun. Presumably this process will not be completed. For instance, Turkish Cypriot bureaucrats and civil servants function as real/recognized state employees (Chapter 4), while the de facto state engages in economic activities such as the redistribution of property left by the Greeks formerly living in the north to the Turks and implements policies to build a national economy and increase the productivity of people living in the region (Chapter 5). In addition, some policies were produced to establish a federal state in which the Turkish Cypriots have equal rights with Greek Cypriots (Chapter 6). However, Turkish Cypriots and other countries are aware that these efforts and politics are factitious and illegal (p. 106). The authors argue that from the very beginning there has been a nuance between the process of building a state in the TRNC that is intended to look like a state but is less likely to be a real state, and the process of the TRNC becoming a real state (p. 132). In the TRNC, all efforts to be recognized are nothing but desperate practices, as it knows that these efforts will likely fail.

While the previous parts stress the construction of the so-called state and the factitious practices of Northern Cyprus and its subjects, the last part unearths the aporetic subject experiences of Turkish Cypriots and how they struggle with the state and try to manipulate it (p. 188). Being a de facto citizen has some benefits for Turkish Cypriots. For instance, as Chapter 7 reveals, Turkish Cypriots try to obtain their citizenship rights by using their victimhood in the pre-war era (pp. 197–198), and, since it is known that everyone resorts to nepotism, anyone can benefit from the practice (pp. 209–210). Hence, Turkish Cypriots can gain some benefit by manipulating their state using the rhetoric of victimization and nepotism. On the other side of the coin, in Chapter 8, the authors suggest that this rhetoric conflicts with their desire to be treated as actual citizens because Turkey, the only country that recognizes the TRNC’s independence, sees them as victims in need of protection, rather than as independent citizens (pp. 219–220). Furthermore, Chapter 9 argues that Turkish Cypriots have lost hope that the status quo will change as they know that a real solution is impossible; hence the future is uncertain for them (pp. 248–252). Turkish Cypriots, who are aware that they are citizens of a country that they know will likely not be recognized, are de facto citizens caught between a present that can only be profited from through illegal means like nepotism and an uncertain future they cannot imagine.

The conclusion covers the Annan Plan, the 2004 United Nations’ project to unite the island, and the political atmosphere that contributed to the transformation outlined in this plan, which would have united the island whose inhabitants would have been able to dream of a more prosperous and more stable future (p. 265). Due to the emergence of the possibility of Northern Cyprus joining the European Union, even some ultranationalist Turkish Cypriots began to support the Annan Plan. Thus, a small political group of peace activists and federation supporters, who had previously not found much support, suddenly became a decisive political movement aimed at changing the island’s future (p. 266). However, despite all efforts and hopes to change the status quo, the plan failed. As a result, Turkish Cypriots, like Sisyphus, who believed that it was possible to bring the rock to the point of no return with one last effort, continue to hopelessly reuse their methods to preserve the possibility of breaking out of aporia and the de facto state (p. 271).

One of the crucial contributions of Bryant and Hatay’s book to Cyprus Studies literature is that it shows how Turkish Cypriots play a role in the construction and maintenance of the de facto state. Previous works based on nationalist historiography portray Turkish Cypriots as victims of war and Greek nationalism. However, throughout the book, the authors stress that Turkish Cypriots have active agency and that they both help to build the de facto state’s institutions, striving for the perception and recognition of the state at the international level, and profit by manipulating their state in favor of their own personal interests. Therefore, it can be said that the book is an essential step in critically questioning the approach that claims that Turkish Cypriots are passive victims. Another key contribution of the book is its fertile methodology and robust conceptual framework. On the one hand, it is underpinned by research that brings together the feelings, thoughts, and local idioms of the subjects obtained from in-depth interviews and participant observation with primary sources such as photographs and newspapers. On the other hand, the book agglomerates these empirical data with explanatory concepts such as aporia, the de facto state, and the aporetic state. Thus, in terms of Cyprus Studies literature, it is an exclusive study, as opposed to those that rely solely on archival work or ethnographic findings.

Overall, Sovereignty Suspended: Building the So-Called State is a book that comprehensively and critically evaluates both the process of constructing the de facto state in Northern Cyprus and its de facto citizens’ relationship with their state and their daily life experiences. Therefore, it is an incredibly insightful and commendable book not only for those who are curious about the history of Cyprus but also for anyone who wants to make use of historical and ethnographic data, whether related to Cyprus or not.