Comparing psychological responses of internally displaced and non-displaced Turkish Cypriots.

During the 1963-1964 ethnic conflict and 1974 war in Cyprus, many Turkish Cypriots were displaced by Greek Cypriot forces. The psychological condition of Turkish Cypriots after these conflicts has not been studied to the present day. At the time of the Annan Plan Referendum on April 24th 2004, when people on both sides were to decide whether to reunite or not, and when old traumatic events where being discussed in vivid detail, the psychological responses of the internally displaced and non-displaced Turkish Cypriots were investigated. The sample of the study derived from a sample of a larger household survey study conducted on 408 adult people taken randomly from three different districts. People who settled down in Cyprus after 1974 or who had never experienced a war in Cyprus were not included in the study. 129 Turkish Cypriots who experienced either 1963-64 conflict or the 1974 war were included in the present study. 86 of these had been displaced. The first part of the questionnaire that was administered to the subjects included demographic characteristics, war-related traumatic experiences, the level of seriousness, and traumatic incidents resulting from other circumstances. In the second part of the questionnaire, the Traumatic Stress Symptom Checklist (TSSC) and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) were used to investigate the symptoms of the post-traumatic process. The outcomes indicates that the internally displaced persons (IDPs) where subjected to traumatic incidents at a higher degree due to killing, displacement, captivity, or killing of family members and relatives. The rate of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) of IDPs is 20%, and is significantly higher than for non-displaced persons. The comparison of BSI subscales show that IDPs had a higher level of depression scores than the non-displaced persons. The somatization subscale scores are higher in non-displaced persons. The study reveals a higher frequency of war-related traumatic events in IDPs than in non-displaced people, greater suffering from posttraumatic stress and more negative beliefs about future reunion.