A Man of Dedication

Professor Vamık Volkan and I come from the same country, Cyprus, but our roads crossed for the first time in Charlottesville, Virginia, in January 1965, when I went there to attend the University of Virginia for my doctoral degree. Vamık was then Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine at the University. It has been almost 50 years that we have known each other.

During this time, I have had the opportunity not only to get to know Vamık but also his family. Vamık, who is a native of Cyprus, was born to Turkish Cypriot parents. He comes from a community of only 120,000. His family background is dedicated to education and learning. Vamık’s father was one of the first of his village who, with his own efforts, got educated to become a teacher. His mother—also a teacher—was one of the first female Turkish Cypriot teachers to be promoted to become a headmistress.

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Vamık’s two sisters also followed their parents’ footsteps and became teachers. Of his two uncles, one was an engineer and the other was a medical doctor. This modest family of educators, professionals, and scholars has made great contributions to the betterment of their community. The sons and daughters of this family are now serving in Cyprus and other countries (mainly, Turkey and the U.S.) as professionals, scholars, and artists. Although Vamık has been living in the America for the past 60 years, he has kept a strong bond with his family members and friends. When he comes to Cyprus for a visit, or on stopovers while traveling to and from all the different parts of the world in his never ending work, he is flooded with invitations from his family and friends.

Having personally experienced ethnic conflict and war in my own country, and later as a politician becoming influential in policy making, I was enlightened and could relate directly and personally to Vamık Volkan’s theories and analysis on large-group identity and ethnic conflict and the underlying psychological reasons and behavior patterns of the people. I strongly believe that Vamık’s lifetime of work—which explores large-group identity, ethnic violence and the deep rooted reasons for the conflicts between ethnic groups—should be an indispensable source for policy makers, government officials, diplomats, intellectuals, and everyone involved in the pursuit of peace.

As a politician in a country in conflict, searching for peace for nearly 50 years, Vamık’s work has been a source of guidance in helping me understand why here in Cyprus we are still two groups in conflict with an unresolved problem. Witnessing the indisputable role of leaders in conflicts where large-group behavior can be manipulated so easily and the effort spent for achieving peace in the disputed areas of the world, it is not surprising that the work of Volkan lays the foundation for better understanding, finding, and using the proper tools for everyone involved in peacemaking.

My first awareness of group behavior was brought up by Vamık Volkan after his visit to the Island in 1968, when Turkish Cypriots were confined to enclaves after the eruption of violence on the Island in 1963. After his visit to Cyprus, we met at Pennsylvania State University, where I was teaching. Vamık told us about the birds the Turkish Cypriots were raising in cages; nearly all the

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Turkish Cypriots were raising parakeets in cages in practically every house, store, public place, and coffee shop. They were sold in markets, pet shops, and almost anywhere one went. We immediately recalled all the long letters that our parents and friends had sent us from Cyprus. The letters always had stories about the parakeets. In these letters, they talked about the number of parakeets they had, their colors, names, singing, and reproduction patterns. They wrote about how many eggs were laid by the different parakeets and about the newly hatched birds—how they were bred and how they were given as gifts to friends and relatives. Vamık explained to us then, as he did extensively in his Cyprus: War and Adaptation, A Psychoanalytic History of Two Ethnic Groups in Conflict (1979), that the parakeets raised by the Cypriot Turks during the first phase of their lives in enclaves represented to them parts of themselves. Their nurture in family groups represented the patterns of the traditional or modified extended family among human beings. Since the birds were confined in cages much as the Turks were confined within the “walls,” the needy aspect of these virtually imprisoned Turks was externalized on the birds (pp. 93-94).

Vamık told us then that when full freedom of movement was to be restored, the birds were going to disappear. When he revisited Cyprus in 1973, by then full freedom of movement had been restored and indeed the Turkish Cypriots were not raising birds in cages any longer.

This awareness of group behavior experienced in my own native country by my people was the determining factor in my political life when I returned to Cyprus in 1972 and became politically active in 1974. I read all of Vamık’s books and papers, listened to his many lectures, watched his discussions on TV, and had long personal discussions on the many ethnic problems around the world that he studied, analyzed and wrote about, including the Cyprus problem. These discussions gave me insight to Vamık’s dedication, his untiring efforts and patience in trying to help people resolve their differences and bring peace to the troubled areas of the world. In my search for peace as the Foreign Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, in UN sponsored negotiations with the Greek Cypriots in official and later on in an unofficial capacity in group discussions, my reference point has always been Vamık’s

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analysis and theories of large-group psychology and behavior, and I have tried to come up with formulations on possible solutions that would be sustainable as to ensure lasting peace.

Having lived in a country in conflict most of my life, I came to see how political leaders have the power to manipulate masses and how one single incident can ignite violence, destroying years of peace building efforts. It is my strong belief that the theories and written work of Vamık, his lifelong research and findings, and his methodology in peace building should be the foundation for everyone involved in diplomatic negotiations, conflict resolution, and the search for peace. He has dedicated himself to understanding—and helping others understand—the underlying causes and reasons for behavior patterns of large and small groups in all parts of the world where conflict dominates, so that the efforts for peace can be better fulfilled.

I am amazed at Vamık Volkan’s energy and dedication to his work. He is constantly in interaction with people of many different nationalities and organizations, from high profile political figures to intellectuals, professionals, and laymen. If he is not writing a new book, he is either lecturing or receiving an award in some part of the world. It is indeed difficult to keep track of Vamık’s whereabouts. From South America to Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, he is meeting, talking, and lecturing to people of all nationalities. His books are being read every day in increasing numbers.

Vamık Volkan is one of those rare persons with a heart big enough to embrace all. He formed the bridge that was desperately needed between behavioral science and political science to enable peace builders to engineer solutions in ethnic conflict that will be long lasting and free of violence. His lifelong work is a tribute to peace around the world.

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