Türkiye-Greece-Cyprus, and the west: a Lacanian family portrait

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the protracted Cyprus conflict by employing an Ontological Security Studies (OSS) framework enriched with the Lacanian psychoanalytic approach. In this context, the tripartite structure Lacan established between mother, father, and child is adapted to understand the years-long dispute over Cyprus. We argue that the two main reasons for this problem are 1) the unhealthily broken bond between the mothers (Türkiye and Greece) and the child (Cyprus), and 2) the child’s inability to fully identify with the Name-of-the-Father (the West). Recognising the father’s law, the child is freed from the mother’s overwhelming presence and thus begins the process of subject formation. We assert that global politics shares similarities with what Lacan calls ‘symbolic’ and that Cyprus’ existence as an actor in this ‘symbolic’ depends on its full separation from its mother(s), namely Türkiye and Greece, and by recognising the father’s law. This study raises the question of what happens if this separation is not achieved. In other words, could Cyprus exist as a fully-fledged actor in global politics/symbolic in the shadow of two motherlands, Türkiye and Greece, which have not abandoned their ‘baby homeland’?