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One Step Towards Reconciliation In Cyprus: Perceptions of the ‘Other’ for the Families of Missing Persons

Year 2021, , 23 - 39, 10.12.2020
https://doi.org/10.20991/allazimuth.728351

Abstract

By the end of the inter-ethnic conflict in 1974, there were over 2000 people who were reported as missing in Cyprus. Since 2005, with the efforts of the Committee of Missing Persons (CMP), 870 remains of the missing persons have been discovered, exhumed and returned back to their families. Although there exist several studies focusing on disappearances during violent conflicts, there is a dearth of academic research that investigates the reconciliation at the grassroots level, particularly for the families of the missing persons. The aims of this paper are twofold. Utilizing twenty two in-depth interviews with the families of Greek and Turkish Cypriots who experienced ‘ambiguous losses’ in the 1963 and 1974 conflicts in Cyprus, the paper firstly aims at improving the understandings of how disappearances shape the perceptions of ‘the other’ group in a post-conflict society. Secondly, the paper also aims to investigate the potential role of CMP on trust building and reconciliation efforts in Cyprus. The paper reveals that there is a subtle step forward for reconciliation among the families of missing persons, which were clear in the narratives of the families who started showing empathy towards the other. While both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots showed very little hatred towards each other and noted that there were no problems at the individual level, they continued to blame the politicians and radical groups for their losses. The opening of borders and the contributions of the Committee of Missing Persons (CMP) in reducing the pain of relatives and helping to bond relations in line with trust building and reconciliation efforts were also acknowledged by both sides.

References

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  • Bille, Mikkel, Frida Hastrup, and Tim Flohr Soerensen. An Anthropology of Absence: Materializations of Transcendence and Loss. London: Springer 2010.
  • Bloom, Sandra L. “Loss, Trauma, and Resilience: Therapeutic Work with Ambiguous Loss.” Psychiatric Services 58, no. 3 (2007): 419–20.
  • Boss, Pauline G. “Ambiguous Loss Research, Theory, and Practice: Reflections after 9/11.” Journal of Marriage and Family 66, no. 3 (2004): 551–66.
  • ———. Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 1999.
  • Boss, Pauline G. “Ambiguous Loss: Working with Families of the Missing.” Family Process 41, no. 1 (2002): 14–7.
  • Bouris, Erica. Complex Political Victims. Bloomfield CT: Kumarian Press, 2007.
  • Brewer, John D. “Justice in the Context of Racial and Religious Conflict.” Logos 41 (2004): 80–103.
  • Cassia, Paul Sant. Bodies of Evidence: Burial, Memory and the Recovery of Missing Persons in Cyprus. Vol. 20 of New Directions of Anthropology. NY&Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2005.
  • Clark, Janine Natalya. “Missing Persons, Reconciliation and the View from Below: A Case Study of Bosnia-Hercegovina.” Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 10, no. 4 (2010): 425–42.
  • Committee on Missing Persons. “Figures and Statistics of Missing Persons.” Accessed January 12, 2018. www.cmpcyprus.org/sites/default/files/facts_and_figures_31-12-2017_0.pdf. De Alwis, Malathi. “‘Disappearance’and ‘Displacement’in Sri Lanka.” Journal of Refugee Studies 22, no. 3 (2009): 378–91.
  • Du Plessis, Willemien. “The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” In Healing the Wounds: Essays on the Reconstruction of Societies after War, edited by Marie–Claire Foblets and Trutz von Trotha, 169–200. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2004.
  • Ericson, Maria. “Reconciliation and the Search for a Shared Moral Landscape–an Exploration Based Upon a Study of Northern Ireland and South Africa.” PhD diss., Lund University, 2001.
  • Faustmann, Hubert, and Erol Kaymak. “Cyprus.” European Journal of Political Research 47, no. 7-8 (2008): 939–46.
  • Halpern, Jodi, and Harvey M Weinstein. “Rehumanizing the Other: Empathy and Reconciliation.” Hum. Rts. Q. 26 (2004): 561.
  • Kaufman, Stuart J. Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001.
  • Keough, Mary Ellen, Sara Kahn, and Andrej Andrejevic. “Disclosing the Truth: Informed Participation in the Antemortem Database Project for Survivors of Srebrenica.” Health and Human Rights (2000): 68–87.
  • Kotsapas, Neoptolemos. Girne düştü [Girne has fallen]. Lefkosa–Cyprus: Galeri Kültür ve Alaşiya Yayınları, 2015.
  • Kovras, Losif, and Neophytos Loizides. “Delaying Truth Recovery for Missing Persons.” Nations and Nationalism 17, no. 3 (2011): 520–39.
  • Ladisch, Virginie. “The Challenge of Peacebuilding.” The Cyprus Review 19, no. 1 (2007): 91–108.
  • Lederach, John Paul. Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies. Washington, DC: USIP,1997.
  • Leonardsson, Hanna, and Gustav Rudd. “The ‘Local Turn’in Peacebuilding: A Literature Review of Effective and Emancipatory Local Peacebuilding.” Third World Quarterly 36, no. 5 (2015): 825–39.
  • Mac Ginty, Roger. “Indigenous Peace–Making Versus the Liberal Peace.” Cooperation and Conflict 43, no. 2 (2008): 139–63.
  • Mac Ginty, Roger, and Oliver P Richmond. “The Local Turn in Peace Building: A Critical Agenda for Peace.” Third World Quarterly 34, no. 5 (2013): 763–83.
  • McEvoy, Joanne. “Elite Interviewing in a Divided Society: Lessons from Northern Ireland.” Politics 26, no. 3 (2006): 184–91.
  • Moran, Michael. “Cyprus and the 1960 Accords: Nationalism and Internationalism.” Journal of International Affairs 6, no. 2 (2001).
  • Paffenholz, Thania. “International Peacebuilding Goes Local: Analysing Lederach's Conflict Transformation Theory and Its Ambivalent Encounter with 20 Years of Practice.” Peacebuilding 2, no. 1 (2014): 11–27.
  • Papadakis, Yiannis. “Nation, Narrative and Commemoration: Political Ritual in Divided Cyprus.” History and Anthropology 14, no. 3 (2003): 253–70.
  • Piccolino, Giulia. “Local Peacebuilding in a Victor’s Peace. Why Local Peace Fails without National Reconciliation.” International Peacekeeping 26, no. 3 (2019): 354–79.
  • Robins, Simon. “Constructing Meaning from Disappearance: Local Memorialisation of the Missing in Nepal.” International Journal of Conflict and Violence (IJCV) 8, no. 1 (2014): 104–18.
  • Strauss, Anselm, and Juliet Corbin. Basics of Qualitative Research. Sage Publications, 1990.
  • TRNC Foreign Ministry Information Department. “Kıbrıs’ın sosyal, ekonomik ve siyasi tarihi.” 2018. Accessed October 22, 2018. https://pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr/kibrisin-sosyal-ekonomik-ve-siyasi-tarihi/.
  • Yıldırım, Ali, and Hasan Şimşek. “Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri.” Ankara: Seçkin Yayıncılık, 2005.
Year 2021, , 23 - 39, 10.12.2020
https://doi.org/10.20991/allazimuth.728351

Abstract

References

  • Asmussen, Jan. Cyprus at War, Diplomacy and Conflict During the 1974 Crisis. London: I.B. Tauris, 2008.
  • Bille, Mikkel, Frida Hastrup, and Tim Flohr Soerensen. An Anthropology of Absence: Materializations of Transcendence and Loss. London: Springer 2010.
  • Bloom, Sandra L. “Loss, Trauma, and Resilience: Therapeutic Work with Ambiguous Loss.” Psychiatric Services 58, no. 3 (2007): 419–20.
  • Boss, Pauline G. “Ambiguous Loss Research, Theory, and Practice: Reflections after 9/11.” Journal of Marriage and Family 66, no. 3 (2004): 551–66.
  • ———. Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 1999.
  • Boss, Pauline G. “Ambiguous Loss: Working with Families of the Missing.” Family Process 41, no. 1 (2002): 14–7.
  • Bouris, Erica. Complex Political Victims. Bloomfield CT: Kumarian Press, 2007.
  • Brewer, John D. “Justice in the Context of Racial and Religious Conflict.” Logos 41 (2004): 80–103.
  • Cassia, Paul Sant. Bodies of Evidence: Burial, Memory and the Recovery of Missing Persons in Cyprus. Vol. 20 of New Directions of Anthropology. NY&Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2005.
  • Clark, Janine Natalya. “Missing Persons, Reconciliation and the View from Below: A Case Study of Bosnia-Hercegovina.” Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 10, no. 4 (2010): 425–42.
  • Committee on Missing Persons. “Figures and Statistics of Missing Persons.” Accessed January 12, 2018. www.cmpcyprus.org/sites/default/files/facts_and_figures_31-12-2017_0.pdf. De Alwis, Malathi. “‘Disappearance’and ‘Displacement’in Sri Lanka.” Journal of Refugee Studies 22, no. 3 (2009): 378–91.
  • Du Plessis, Willemien. “The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” In Healing the Wounds: Essays on the Reconstruction of Societies after War, edited by Marie–Claire Foblets and Trutz von Trotha, 169–200. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2004.
  • Ericson, Maria. “Reconciliation and the Search for a Shared Moral Landscape–an Exploration Based Upon a Study of Northern Ireland and South Africa.” PhD diss., Lund University, 2001.
  • Faustmann, Hubert, and Erol Kaymak. “Cyprus.” European Journal of Political Research 47, no. 7-8 (2008): 939–46.
  • Halpern, Jodi, and Harvey M Weinstein. “Rehumanizing the Other: Empathy and Reconciliation.” Hum. Rts. Q. 26 (2004): 561.
  • Kaufman, Stuart J. Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001.
  • Keough, Mary Ellen, Sara Kahn, and Andrej Andrejevic. “Disclosing the Truth: Informed Participation in the Antemortem Database Project for Survivors of Srebrenica.” Health and Human Rights (2000): 68–87.
  • Kotsapas, Neoptolemos. Girne düştü [Girne has fallen]. Lefkosa–Cyprus: Galeri Kültür ve Alaşiya Yayınları, 2015.
  • Kovras, Losif, and Neophytos Loizides. “Delaying Truth Recovery for Missing Persons.” Nations and Nationalism 17, no. 3 (2011): 520–39.
  • Ladisch, Virginie. “The Challenge of Peacebuilding.” The Cyprus Review 19, no. 1 (2007): 91–108.
  • Lederach, John Paul. Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies. Washington, DC: USIP,1997.
  • Leonardsson, Hanna, and Gustav Rudd. “The ‘Local Turn’in Peacebuilding: A Literature Review of Effective and Emancipatory Local Peacebuilding.” Third World Quarterly 36, no. 5 (2015): 825–39.
  • Mac Ginty, Roger. “Indigenous Peace–Making Versus the Liberal Peace.” Cooperation and Conflict 43, no. 2 (2008): 139–63.
  • Mac Ginty, Roger, and Oliver P Richmond. “The Local Turn in Peace Building: A Critical Agenda for Peace.” Third World Quarterly 34, no. 5 (2013): 763–83.
  • McEvoy, Joanne. “Elite Interviewing in a Divided Society: Lessons from Northern Ireland.” Politics 26, no. 3 (2006): 184–91.
  • Moran, Michael. “Cyprus and the 1960 Accords: Nationalism and Internationalism.” Journal of International Affairs 6, no. 2 (2001).
  • Paffenholz, Thania. “International Peacebuilding Goes Local: Analysing Lederach's Conflict Transformation Theory and Its Ambivalent Encounter with 20 Years of Practice.” Peacebuilding 2, no. 1 (2014): 11–27.
  • Papadakis, Yiannis. “Nation, Narrative and Commemoration: Political Ritual in Divided Cyprus.” History and Anthropology 14, no. 3 (2003): 253–70.
  • Piccolino, Giulia. “Local Peacebuilding in a Victor’s Peace. Why Local Peace Fails without National Reconciliation.” International Peacekeeping 26, no. 3 (2019): 354–79.
  • Robins, Simon. “Constructing Meaning from Disappearance: Local Memorialisation of the Missing in Nepal.” International Journal of Conflict and Violence (IJCV) 8, no. 1 (2014): 104–18.
  • Strauss, Anselm, and Juliet Corbin. Basics of Qualitative Research. Sage Publications, 1990.
  • TRNC Foreign Ministry Information Department. “Kıbrıs’ın sosyal, ekonomik ve siyasi tarihi.” 2018. Accessed October 22, 2018. https://pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr/kibrisin-sosyal-ekonomik-ve-siyasi-tarihi/.
  • Yıldırım, Ali, and Hasan Şimşek. “Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri.” Ankara: Seçkin Yayıncılık, 2005.
There are 33 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Hasibe Sahoglu This is me 0000-0003-2098-1515

Publication Date December 10, 2020
Published in Issue Year 2021

Cite

Chicago Sahoglu, Hasibe. “One Step Towards Reconciliation In Cyprus: Perceptions of the ‘Other’ for the Families of Missing Persons”. All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace 10, no. 1 (December 2020): 23-39. https://doi.org/10.20991/allazimuth.728351.

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