“Commoning in the age of urgency: Reclaiming civic ecology amid climate and democratic collapse”: In an age marked by ecological collapse and democratic fatigue, commoning emerges not as an ideal but as a necessity - a civic practice of survival, repair, and shared care. This speech explores how reimagining commons through the lens of urgency can strengthen civil society’s ecological and moral capacity. Drawing on examples from environmental and peacebuilding initiatives in divided Cyprus, it argues that to restore our planet, we must also restore our civic ecosystems - transforming crisis into a space of collective renewal.
Mete Hatay is a journalist and Senior Research Consultant in the Peace Research Institute Oslo Cyprus Centre. His research focuses primarily on Cyprus, where he has written widely on minorities and religion, the politics of demography, displacement, and cultural heritage. He has been the regular reporter on Islam in Cyprus for the Muslims in Europe Yearbook.
He is the author, co-author or editor of numerous books, including Sovereignty Suspended: Building the So-Called State (co-writer), Kinship and Diasporas in Turkish Foreign Policy: Examples from Europe, the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean (co-editor), The Longest Century of Cyprus, The Never-ending Summer of Cyprus (1878-2015). His current research concerns post-conflict return and remixing, and the history and international politics of models for negotiated settlements.
Besides his regular appearances and commentaries in local media sources, Hatay has also published academic articles in venues such as Ethnic and Racial Studies, American Ethnologist, Middle Eastern Studies, Journal of Modern Greek Studies, and Cyprus Review.
Apart from popular and academic writing, Hatay is also a composer who has produced two albums, as well as music for numerous documentary films.
