Τάβλι - Tavla Takedown

Τάβλι-Tavla Takedown is a bicommunal backgammon competition designed to bring people together through a shared Cypriot tradition: the game of τάβλι-tavla. Taking place at the Home of Cooperation, the event aims to create a welcoming, informal, and enjoyable space where Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, and people from all communities can meet, interact, and build relationships through play.

Backgammon is more than a board game in Cyprus. It is a familiar part of everyday life, socialising, cafés, homes, and family gatherings across the island. By bringing people together around a game that many Cypriots already know and enjoy, the event creates a natural starting point for communication and connection. The competition offers participants the opportunity to enjoy friendly rivalry, test their skills, and meet new people, while the wider event provides a relaxed environment for conversation and shared experiences.

While the backgammon competition is taking place, a selection of board games will also be available for everyone to join. This ensures that participation is not limited to tournament players. Whether someone comes to compete, support a friend, play another board game, meet new people, or simply enjoy the atmosphere, everyone is invited to take part in the community experience.

The event is organised by Peace with Smiles and the Reconciliation Committee of Volt Cyprus, two organisations whose work reflects the wider values of the event.

Peace with Smiles is a movement focused on peace, unity, kindness, community mobilisation, and supporting people in need. Through events and collective action, it seeks to bring people together and create positive social change, using joy, music, love, and human connection as tools for building a more welcoming and caring society. (peacewithsmiles.com)

Volt Cyprus places peace and reunification at the centre of its principles, supporting a future based on mutual understanding, empathy, recognition of past mistakes, political equality, and peaceful coexistence. Its Reconciliation Committee works within this broader vision of building bridges and supporting a common future for Cyprus. (Volt Cyprus)

Together, these values make Τάβλι-Tavla Takedown more than a sporting or recreational event. It is an opportunity to create the kind of everyday contact that helps build trust. Bicommunal events allow Greek and Turkish Cypriots to meet not only as representatives of different communities, but as individuals with shared interests, humour, friendships, challenges, and hopes for the future.

Participation can help challenge assumptions and stereotypes by replacing distance with direct human interaction. It can also provide a positive environment for people to discover common ground, learn from one another, and develop relationships that continue beyond the event itself. For many participants, simply sharing a table, playing a game, having a conversation, and enjoying a laugh can be a meaningful step towards greater understanding.

The mission of Τάβλι-Tavla Takedown is therefore simple but powerful: to bring people together through play, celebrate a shared Cypriot cultural experience, and create a space where peace, love, unity, friendship, and community can grow naturally.

Because peace does not only begin in conference rooms or negotiation halls. Sometimes, it begins with two people sitting across from each other, rolling the dice, sharing a smile, and realising how much they already have in common.