Trauma, Identity and Search for a Solution in Cyprus

Abstract: Massive traumas at the hands of 'enemies' affect both individuals and societies for decades. For the Cypriot Turks, their massive trauma started in 1963-1964 when they were forced to live in subhuman conditions in enclaves geographically limited to three percent of the island for eleven years. What happened during the summer of 1974 obviously traumatized the Cypriot Greeks too on a massive scale. Psychoanalysts who have studied the trans-generational transmission of massive social trauma inform us that if the impact of such trauma is denied or repressed, it will still manifest itself in various ways in new generations. The 'therapeutic' way of dealing with previous generations’ massive social traumas is not to deny or repress what happened to the ancestors, but to be aware of the history. There could be no solution on the island without understanding and addressing traumas of both communities.

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