The Psychological Effects Of The Losses In Exile Experiences: A Qualitative Research

One of the most challenging experiences in life is the exile of a person from the land where she/he was born and lived for political or punitive reasons and the prohibition of her/his return back to the homeland. Beyond the heavy burden of all vital difficulties and limitations caused by the exile event, the constant feeling of homelessness, inaccessibility of the motherland, and the vitality of memories, the losses during exile have a shocking effect on the individuals. The therapeutic effect of time can not explain the recovery from the psychological effects of losing the closest relative (mother, father, brother, grandfather, grandmother, etc.) in a locked and wrecked wagon. A total of 59 Ahiska Turks, who had lost their relatives and witnessed these losses, were interviewed. The age of the participants ranged from 75-94. The feelings and thoughts of the participants about the pre-exile life, exile life, after exile life, today's life and future life were recorded by a video. The face-to-face interviews took an average of one to two hours. Qualitative analysis of video recordings was performed with MAXQDA 12, and a total of 182 memo records were recorded. It was observed that there were losses in the four groups: Relatives who died in the war while in exile, relatives who died in wagons on the journey of exile, relatives who did not return from the military and lost and relatives who died immediately after the exile. It has been observed that the memories and negative psychological effects related to these losses have been reflected in the discourses despite long years .