Experiences of interviewing secondary victims of frozen conflicts: Cyprus case

Authors : Hasibe VEHBİ ŞAHOĞLU

Pages : 250-265

View : 18 | Download : 10

Publication Date : 2019-04-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This article shares the experiences of interviewing the relatives of the missing persons whom are the secondary  victims in the context of the decades long frozen conflict of Cyprus. Issues of identity of the interviewees and the  researcher and ethics in interviewing the people living in divided societies will be examined. The Turkish and Greek  Cypriots, continue to live with the agony of missing persons. They are anxious to find out the fate of their loved ones,  waiting for Committee of Missing Persons to finalize all the cases of the missing persons. The irresolvable situation tends  to block families’ cognition, coping and stress management, and freeze the grief processes. Process of interviewing  secondary victims still grieving is accompanied with the context specific challenges. In this research beside the  challenges of interviewing secondary victims of divided Cyprus, the feelings and thoughts of the interviewees, findings  and results of the interviews are shared. 
Keywords : Interviews, missing persons, identity, Cyprus