The investigation of Turkish Cypriot adults' experiences of leaving home

The purpose of this study is to investigate Turkish Cypriot adults' experiences of leaving their parental homes. The intergenerational transmission of experiences of war and dislocation in Cyprus between 1963-1974 by parents who were exposed to such conditions to their children is investigated by employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method. Within this context, semi-structured interviews were made with both adults whose parents went through war and were displaced and their parents. In order to specify the relationship between experiences of war and displacement and experience of leaving home, interviews were also made with adults residing in Istanbul whose parents did not get into such a predicament and who are not from Cyprus. In this respect, this study reveals the ways in which adults residing in Cyprus and adults residing in Istanbul leave their parental homes. In the beginning of the semi-structured interviews, Demographic Information Forms were used to learn the participants' demographic backgrounds. For the semi-structured interviews, semi-structured interview forms were created specifically to match the purpose of the objectives of the investigation by the investigator. The group residing in Istanbul consists of fourteen adults aged 26-42. While one of the two groups residing in Cyprus consists of fourteen adults aged 24-46, the second one consists of their mothers or fathers, aged 51-78, who underwent the experiences of war and dislocation. The findings of this study reveal that the experience of leaving parental home and becoming an adult of the Turkish Cypriots and Turkish adults are similar in many ways. On the other hand, there are cultural differences between the two cultures regarding familial relations, parent-child relations that change as they age and the value of the child. In the light of these findings, a discussion about the effect of the experience of war and dislocation shared by their parents on Turkish Cypriot adults' leaving their parental homes, the construction of their social identity and their family relations is raised. Keywords: Cyprus, war, displacement, social identity, adulthood, leaving parental home, intergenerational transmission.