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Since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, several hundred people have been reported missing. In spite of the exhumations of remains, a significant proportion of which have recently been identifed as those of the missing, the elaboration of the processes of mourning continues to be hindered. The author endeavours to show how their families act as grief-bearers on behalf of the community as a whole. Their grief seems linked to the twists and turns of Greek-Cypriot society, overwhelmed by the traumas and unresolved mourning processes of its ideals and its collective memory. It is thus that the construction of a memory tempered and shared by its members, and the notion that there is a possible future for the country are put at risk.