Monday, July 29, 2013

A woman buried with her bed…

A woman buried with her bed…
 
Sevgul Uludag
 
 
Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436
 
Together with my dear friend Maria Georgiadou, relative of four `missing persons` from Kythrea we go to Agrokipia, a small village outside Nicosia. It's a pretty village close to Alona, the village my mother loved most in Cyprus… Alona was the only place she talked about throughout her life, perhaps this was the happiest time of her long life – whenever she would meet someone from abroad or a Greek Cypriot, she would talk about Alona. In the 1940s and early 50s, long before I was born, they would rent a house in Alona and my mother would stay with her two young children, my sister and my brother for at least three months, resting, cooking, growing her children, enjoying neighbourhood of Greek Cypriots of Alona – my father would go back and forth to Nicosia where he worked and my sister and brother would learn Greek from Greek Cypriot kids while they played with them… Until EOKA became active, they would continue these holidays in Alona – there were other Turkish Cypriot families as well doing this but as EOKA began, all of this would stop – gradually all other families would stop going to Alona and after a few times alone, our family would also stop going there.
Throughout her life, my mother would want to go back to Alona… When the checkpoints opened in 2003, the first thing I would do was to arrange to visit Alona on my mother's birthday as a gift to her… She would find the house they used to rent, even the girl who worked for her, helping her to wash clothes and do the household chores – this young Greek Cypriot girl of the 40s from Alona had become a `gocagari` by the time we managed to visit Alona but she would remember my father, my mother and the two children they had and how she had worked for them in those times… It was pure luck that we had come across her in the village, carrying a big bag of nuts on her back and we had stopped her and my mother would speak to her in Greek and soon she would find out that that was the girl who had worked in the house they rented! My mother had been happy that day but also very disappointed – sure, Alona had not changed so much, it was still like a green carpet – you could not see soil, just green, just trees and all sorts of trees – but there were no people living there, just a few very old men sitting in the coffee shop… They would tell us to come back in August the following year – we had visited Alona in September – and that they had a festival and families who had houses here would be back for summer holidays… My mother wanted to buy some nuts but there was nothing on sale in the supermarket of the village that had been produced in Alona! She had begged the girl, now a `gocagari` to give her some nuts and she would pay but the `gocagari` refused, saying these nuts were for her angoni…That was a bit mean I had thought since for so many years my mother had dreamt of this village, not being able to go because of the partition line sealed intact and once we were there, she could not even get a handful of nuts from this girl who had become a `gocagari` now…  We had left, a little bit sad at heart and I could never manage to bring her back to this village she loved so much – my mother died in August 2005. The last place we managed to go was with my dear friend Androula Georgiadou who took us to Cape Greco in April 2005… There were so many places to take my mother to but we never had time – actually I never had time since I am working with very few days a year for a holiday… As Hayyam says in one of his poems, `What has been written cannot be unwritten` - time has gone by, my mother is not on this earth with us any longer except in our memories and in spirit – I can no longer take her to Alona or Cape Greco or Paphos or Karpaz… I can no longer lie down on the couch and tell her about my day, late night talks with her, she making coffee for me, reading my cup, putting her hand on my forehead and like a magician taking away the headache if I had one… No longer praying for me every day to be safe and sound, collecting the laundry I had hung in the garden and folding them, putting jasmine between the sheets to smell nice when we put it on our bed… Every afternoon she would collect jasmine, counting them and then putting them on a string carefully then giving it to my husband to hang around his neck at night – when we slept, the jasmine would hang from our bedroom window to lull us to sleep with its sweet scent roaming the room with the small breeze from the window… She would cook roast beef, make bottles of lemonade from our tangerines to drink on hot summer days, she would make `macun` (`glika`) from bitter oranges, dates, walnuts, plums, apples, always something in the fridge to offer friends and relatives who came to visit… She would embroider elaborate flowers and keep a whole chest full of gifts for her friends, for children who might visit – embroideries, scarves, tea cups with music, coffee cups, candles, frames for photographs, trays, plates, music boxes, dolls, crayons, toys of all sorts – she had so much love to offer the whole world that there were never enough gifts that she could give…
Maria Theodosiou also was a mother of six children – she was living in Limnya village near Famagusta. She had been born in 1902 and had worked in the fields, had cooked, had made sweets and lemonade just like my mother – she had struggled to raise her six children – she had lost her husband in 1960 and in 1974, she was in bed, being able only to walk a little bit – she had been sort of bedridden when war came like a catastrophe for all the inhabitants of our island… The catastrophe was that her family had gone thinking that they would come back in a few hours or the next day – no one at the time of the war in 1974 suspected that there would be a partition line and that it would be sealed and those who had gone to the southern part of the island would never be able to return to their villages, to their homes… So Maria had stayed alone and died in her bed…
Years later, one of my readers would call me to take me to Limnya to a house where he said, there was a woman buried with her bed, to show me the possible burial site of a `missing` Greek Cypriot woman. We had gone and the new inhabitant of the house, a Turkish Cypriot displaced from the southern part of the island had shown me a piece of the bed he had found while planting something. When they had moved to this house, their neighbours would say to them `Aren't you afraid of sleeping in that house? There is a woman buried with her bed in your yard…` In the beginning they had not believed to what the neighbours were saying but one day as the inhabitant of the house was digging to plant something, he had found this piece of bed that he gave me. I took it to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and told them of the story and showed them the yard. As they would excavate the yard, the place we showed them, they would find the remains of an old woman buried with her bed – the bed was also there… What had happened was that since the body was in no form to lift up from the bed, the ones who had buried her had brought down one wall of the small house and taken with a bulldozer the bed and in it the `missing` Greek Cypriot old woman and had buried her in the yard with the bed.
It took me a while to find out who she might be but with the help of some Greek Cypriot relatives of another `missing` old woman from Limnya, I had found the son of the old lady buried with her bed. It was Costas Theodosiou and the old lady was Maria Theodosiou… She had not been on any list of `missing` or `known dead` so I helped to facilitate this process in order to register her as a `missing person` and for the relatives to give DNA.
Finally we are here in Agrokipia with Maria, not far from Alona… Being close to Alona in this village brings back all the memories of my mother… We are in the church Panagia Pantanassa – the daughters of Maria Theodosiou, Eleni and Georgia and her son Costas are here in the church… I go to greet them and we hug each other… Eleni and Georgia came from London for the funeral… There in the church is the small coffin where Maria Theodosiou's remains have been placed. On top of the coffin is a photograph of Maria Theodosiou – I lay flowers next to her coffin, colourful flowers to say goodbye to her… Speeches are made thanking me for my efforts in finding her remains and Costas invites me to go to his house after the funeral but since I work, I have to get back to Nicosia after the funeral. We will come another day to visit him, have coffee, visit the grave of Maria Theodosiou, perhaps I will bring some soil from the yard where she was buried to put on her grave and then we can go to Alona with my friend Maria Georgiadou in order to commemorate my mother there, in the village that was her favourite throughout her life… I have often thought why she had been so happy in Alona – perhaps the answer is that these were the times prior to the conflict in Cyprus, it was times when people lived together in harmony without fear or suspicion… Perhaps the answer lies with the fine neighbourhood relations she had in Alona, the way they exchanged recipes with Greek Cypriot women, the way my mother read their cups and the way they would make sweets and talk about their children and their lives… She always wanted to go back to Alona and I suspect she wanted to go to the past where such a drastic conflict did not exist – perhaps that's why she was always remembering this good time in her life… We could not bury Maria Theodosiou in Limnya but where she is buried; close to Alona is a very beautiful place… May she rest in peace here and may her family at last have closure…
 
9.7.2013
 
Photo: The mall coffin of `missing` Maria Theodosiou...
 
(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 28th of July 2013 Sunday.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Notes from the funeral of Giangos and Antonis Geropapas from Lyssi…

Notes from the funeral of Giangos and Antonis Geropapas from Lyssi…
 
Sevgul Uludag
 
 
Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436
 
Together with Margarita and her sister Elli we travel to Meneou to Agiou Panteleimonos Church to attend the funeral of two `missing` persons from Lyssi, Giangos and Antonis Geropapas… They were found buried together with Costas and Chambis Attas, Xenis Rousos and Panayi Spirou outside Sinda, the six killed together and lying together in a mass grave. With the help of one of my Turkish Cypriot readers, Huseyin Latif, we had shown this burial site to the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and when they had exhumed they had found the six `missing persons` from Lyssi…
There has been funerals of the Attas brothers, as well as Xenis Rousos and Panayi Spirou and today, on the 11th of July 2013 Thursday we go to the last funeral from this group – that of the Geropapas…
Margarita is the first cousin of Kikitsa, the wife of the `missing` Giangos Geropapas… Margarita's mother Maria and the mother of Kikitsa, Georgou were sisters… I met Margarita from Lyssi when the checkpoints opened – she is a policewoman serving at the Agios Domedios checkpoint… Margarita has a wonderful smile like the sun shining and she is different from some other Turkish Cypriots or Greek Cypriots working at the checkpoints – her smile comes from the heart, not like some others who would sulk and never offer a smile… There are only a few Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots serving at checkpoints who smile like Margarita and I feel lucky to know them… Once at the Ledra Palace checkpoint, I said to the young Turkish Cypriot girl at the booth, sulking while doing her job, `Vre! Why don't you smile! It is something free! You don't pay for it and it makes people good if you smile!` and she was shocked!
With Margarita immediately we had started speaking about Lyssi from where I have good friends… And when we found out when the funeral of Giangos and Antonis Geropapas would be she had offered to go together and today we go to the funeral together with her car…
So many people have come to the funeral and it is very difficult to find a parking place around the church… I carry my flowers to put next to the two small coffins containing the remains of Giangos and Antonis Geropapas.
Through our dear friend Kyriacos Andreou from Lyssi I had met George Geropapas, the brother of the two `missing` persons and had interviewed him in the office of Kyriacos in Larnaka. Later on we would go together with Kyriacos, George Geropapas, Huseyin Latif and myself to investigate about possible burial sites, look at the excavations going on in the area and hoping to find the burial sites of some `missing` from Lyssi… Kyriacos Andreou is one of the heros of Cyprus since he has always been helping to find the burial sites of both Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot `missing persons` - he is very humble and very low profile and likes to keep it that way. He does not `boast` about how he puts so much effort voluntarily for closing the wounds of our motherland Cyprus. He is waiting for me outside the church and we go in to see that the church is packed. I go to meet the brothers and sisters of Giangos and Antonis, George I already know and Andreas and Shallis, Efgenu, Maria and Panayiota…
The wife of Giangos, Kikitsa with whom we had met in Sinda during exhumations hugs me and I meet her son Takis and her daughter Kiriaki… Takis has such striking eyes and it is as though Giangos is looking at me through his eyes – I have only seen Giangos from his photographs and I have a strange feeling that Takis must look like his father, at least his eyes… They are very intense perhaps because of the funeral – Takis was only four years old when his father Giangos became a `missing person` and his sister Kiriaki only two and a half years old… Kikitsa like all wives of `missing persons` had huge hardships since she was both a refugee, had lost her husband and had two small kids to raise alone… She would have to be both mother and father to her kids… Margarita tells me that Kikitsa was one of the most beautiful girls of Lyssi and you can still see that because her beauty comes from within – it is a light that shines no matter what the circumstances are – it is the light of humanity and we will see that in the speech of her son Takis at the funeral…
We stand to listen to the hymns of the priests and then speeches… But the most memorable speech is that of Takis Geropapas… I want to frame this speech and hang it on the walls… I want everyone to read it… I want to show how humanitarian this family of Geropapas is to the whole world…
Having lost his father at the age of four, the family having lost all their property in Lyssi, Takis and the Geropapas family could have chosen the road of hatred instead of wisdom… Takis could have spilled out words that would help hatred grow more and more… But no, he speaks with wisdom and touches our hearts with his words…
I want to share the speech of Takis Geropapas that he made at the funeral of his father Giangos and his uncle Antonis Geropapas because it is historical in its peaceful messages. Takis Geropapas said:
`Dear father Yiaggos and uncle Antonis,
We are here today at St. Panteleimona's Church to offer our respect and bid our last farewell even though 39 years have passed since the day you passed away.
This day was delayed for so long because the hardships of our country have not ended yet, even though 39 years have passed. But we want you to know that your martyrdom, your sacrifice, give us strength to continue fighting for the end of our country's suffering.
It is our duty to honour your heroic sacrifice with persistence and patience against the facts of the Turkish invasion. The murders, the raping, the destruction of the land and the people.
And you, our beloved ones, we know that you were murdered by a group of Turkish-Cypriot cowards. For those people, can only be called cowards since you were unarmed.
Based on this fact we would like to send a message. Time has taught us that pain and suffering know no borders, no religion, no political convictions. There is no ideology that can ease the suffering caused by the loss of a person's beloved ones. Before death, every person's pain is the same. Only unconditional love can relieve this pain. Hatred has no place next to pain. Because hatred can only bring more pain and sow more hatred perpetuating everyone's suffering.
We are now convinced that peace, on our island, can only exist through the peaceful co-existence of Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots. A co-existence which cannot be monitored by foreign powers or foreign armies.
It is our obligation to build this peace on the foundation of your heroic sacrifice so that we will never again be forced to witness the nightmare of war, conflict and hatred.
We are here today because of certain persons who spoke honestly and cooperated without prejudice or suspiciousness but with compassion and love.
And where there is love, peace and prosperity prevail. Where there is hatred, propaganda and fanaticism; conflict, war and death prevail.
On behalf of our family we would like to thank the State, the Church, all of you who are present here today and all those you stood on our side during our ordeal.
We would also like to thank Mr. Xenophontas Kalli and the members of his team, Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots, the journalist Mrs. Sevgul Uludag, Mr. Hussein Latif and our friend Kyriakos Andreou who all together built a bridge of communication and cooperation which had as a result the discovery of the remains of many missing Greek-Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. Among those missing persons discovered, are eight of our fellow – villagers from Lysi.
Finally, we would like to thank from the bottom of our heart our grandparents, aunts and uncles for their unconditional love and continuous support. We especially want to thank our mother Aggeliki, who has been a mother and a father to us all these years.
Dear father and uncle Antonis,
With these words we bid you farewell till we meet again.
You will never be forgotten…`
 
12.7.2013
 
Photo: Giangos and Antonis Geropapas
 
(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 21st of July 2013.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

The beautiful Varosha, now a ghost…

The beautiful Varosha, now a ghost…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436

`There is something that has been bothering me for many years` he says… `I had been thinking of speaking with you and finally I have the opportunity…`
He is a young man whom I know, one of my readers, a Turkish Cypriot who did his `military service` in Varosha…
`I did my military service in the fenced, closed area of Varosha` he says… And he tells me his story:
`It was at the end of the 1990s when I did my military service there. When I had gone there for the first time, I had noticed that the football field of the Anorthosis Football Club in Varosha looked as though it had been ploughed a long time ago. Behind this field was a big school. There were some civilian personnel who served inside the fenced area of Varosha and I said to them, `Of all places, did the Greek Cypriots plough the football field? Were they going to plant something here and when the war broke out they could not?!`
Then they had explained to me that in fact some `missing persons` had been buried here, in the football field of Anorthosis in Varosha. In those times on the road towards the Military House they had put some lamarina to fence off the front of this field. According to these civilian personnel serving there for a long time, in 1974, during the war, there were some Greek Cypriot prisoners of war at the Karaolis Camp in Famagusta area (now called Gulseren Camp). When the massacres of more than 120 women and children of the three Turkish Cypriot villages Maratha-Sandallaris-Aloa came out into the open, there was a big rage all over Cyprus among the Turkish Cypriots. Groups of EOKA-B had raped and killed the women, as well as children in these three villages and then had buried them in mass graves. When this was discovered, according to these people serving in Varosha, there had been orders to kill these prisoners in Karaolis Camp. They had killed them and
buried them in the Karaolis Camp. Afterwards, when Varosha became a `fenced area`, these `missing` Greek Cypriots were taken out of the place where they had been buried in the Karaolis Camp and had been taken with trucks to the football field of Anorthosis in Varosha and buried there. That's why the ploughed field I was seeing looked like that…
For many years, I kept this information locked up inside me but now I decided to share this with you…
Serving in Varosha was a big shock and a big trauma for me – I would enter houses and see how life had frozen where war had intervened… I would see the shoe of a baby or plates on a table – people were cooking and they were going to eat but then all of a sudden they had had to leave… I had entered a house where I saw a room painted in pink – there was a small bed – apparently it was the girl child's room… I saw mattresses in shambles, decayed, the material crumbling, the `susta` sticking out… I saw houses where life had stopped and remained as it is for decades, no one to pick up the pieces to continue – a frozen city in time, which is Varosha…
I felt very bad both during when I was there and also afterwards, for many years Varosha would stay with me, in my dreams, in my thoughts, giving me discomfort as it is… Only now, I am telling you this… If I can at least help a little bit in the search for `missing persons`, I will have a little bit of rest in my heart… Because during my military service, each time I saw that football field, my hair would stand and I would feel very uncomfortable… I hope that you will make your investigations and also give information to the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee so that they too can make investigations… I know that at the moment this place, that is the football field might be inaccessible but perhaps in the future they might have a chance to go and investigate and see if there are really any `missing persons` buried there.
I know that there had been some removal of burials in Varosha – we heard this and we also know this from what you have written. I heard of other places in Varosha being `cleared` of remains but I never heard this about the football field. Perhaps they are still there, if that is really a burial site. Please do everything you can to investigate and see if you can have any results…`
I thank this reader for sharing this information with us…
Another reader comes to visit me who also served in Varosha. During his time there, he got a photo and he wants to give back this photo to the family if we can find them. The photo as you will see on this page is of a woman – it has been taken in Alexandria back in 1938… Probably she is not alive but perhaps someone from her family would recognize her and this way we can give back the photograph to the family that it belongs to… If you recognize her please call me on my CYTA mobile number at 99 966518 so that we can arrange to meet and give back the photograph…
Varosha is an open wound for Cyprus – standing as a ghost city where life stopped in 1974, ransacked, looted and left to decay; it is a shame at this time to leave it like that… Varosha could be an opening for all of us in Cyprus: It means so much for those from Varosha, those who were born and grew up there, those who had their houses, who had their land, who had their childhood and youth dreams… No one can erase their memories, no one can take those memories away and yet the city remains a ghost, like a reminder of war and its destruction… Varosha is a scar in the face of our island but it can also be turned into a healing tool, bringing happiness to those who would return to their houses and meanwhile bringing jobs and life to a whole new area if handled properly and bi-communally to benefit both communities…`The Famagusta Initiative`, a Turkish Cypriot association is constantly calling for the opening of Varosha – the leader of this group
Dr. Okan Daghli, in a recent interview with USA Today says:
`There are a lot of agreements where the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leaderships recognize that Varosha belongs to its legal owners. Also UN SC resolution (for example No 550) says that Varosha must be given back to its legal owners. ECHR produced decisions with the similar lines.
From my perspective, there is no other way than taking steps forward according to aforementioned decisions if we want to revive the Ghost City. It should be noted that, taking a step forward for the resolution of the problem on Varosha have a huge potential to play a catalyst role for the reunification of Cyprus.
Economic problems and concerns about the future of the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot economy are growing each and every day. Still taking decisive steps for the reopening of Varosha carries important economic returns for both societies such as boost in (re)construction of the abandoned city, opening of the ports, intensifying tourism activity… Activation of the Famagusta Port by giving it a legal status again will serve for the future of the Varosha in particular and Cyprus in general… Finally, we demand that the Old City (Walled City) must be listed on World Heritage List and this demand should also be backed by the Greek Cypriots which will recognize the common heritage of Cypriots. There is potential for economic growth if we approach the issue strategically, but in order to use this trump card we should remove prejudices that we have. Current status quo in the island is not serving the best interests of the Cypriots, and this is the time to
consider a radical change if we want to live in peace and prosperity…`
Varosha could be a fresh start in a 50 year old conflict towards reconciliation and healing of the wounds of this island: I remember its distinct smell of flowers, its sea, its beautiful beach since my uncle was one of the inhabitants at the Euripides Street and I would spend my summer holidays there… I remember how modern it was, how glittery and how natural – wherever I went, the smell of the sea, the flowers and at night the stars would accompany me, barely a 15 year old girl, stunned by the beauty of Varosha… Perhaps with some real, concrete effort it can become as beautiful as it was, instead of how it is now, a ghost city where `missing persons` are said to be buried in its football field…

29.6.2013

Photo: The photo taken in 1938 in Alexandria, found by a reader in a house in Varosha...

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 14th of July 2013 Sunday

Sunday, July 7, 2013

The two `missing` brothers from Tochni…

The two `missing` brothers from Tochni…

 

Sevgul Uludag

 

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

 

Tel: 00 357 99 966518

00 90 542 853 8436

 

Ramadan Aydin Ahmet was barely two months old and his brother Ahmet two years old when their father was taken away from their house in Tochni in August 1974. Some Greek Cypriots of the village had come and collected all Turkish Cypriot youngsters and men, whoever they could lay hands on… To these were added some Turkish Cypriots they took from their homes in Zyggi and Mari… The total number became 84. On the 15th of August 1974, they would put these 84 Turkish Cypriots on two buses to take to Limassol but the buses would never reach Limassol. They would be taken to the Palodia military camp and would become `missing` since then. One of those in the first bus, Suat Kafadar, would be wounded but would remain alive and manage to escape to Muttayiaga to tell the story of the mass execution at the Palodia military camp. After this testimony, UN and British soldiers would visit the camp but the Paloldia military authorities of the camp would not allow them to do a search, instead they would tell them that `They were busy now with military exercises, to go now and come back the following morning…`

That evening they would open the mass grave in Palodia military camp and take out the bodies of those they had executed there in cold blood. They would take them to Gerasa, to a quarry and bury them there. This was the group on the first bus. Those on the second bus would be buried at a quarry in Pareklisia…

Actually in Gerasa the `missing` Turkish Cypriots' place of burial would change again during the years… When some expansion of the quarry would be underway, they would be taken out of where they had been buried and thrown down the hill, a bulldozer passing over them and covering the remains…

Years later, after the investigations of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee, excavations would begin in Gerasa… There would be exhumations between 29th of May 2007 until 10th of October 2008 at a depth of 30 meters and these difficult exhumations would be done manually in seven different areas over a period of one and a half years… The remains of 45 `missing` from the first bus would be found, some scattered, some very much damaged… Meanwhile when exhumations began in a quarry in Pareklisia, after digging for 14 meters, at the bottom of the pit some scattered remains would be found – apparently this mass grave had been emptied at an unknown time and the bones have been taken elsewhere, somewhere no one knows… The very few remains would be analysed and it would be confirmed that they are in fact human remains, the remains of those on the second bus from Tochni… But where the actual remains of a busload of Turkish Cypriot `missing` have been taken to, still remains a `mystery` until now…

The first remains from the first bus from Tochni have been identified through DNA analysis by the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and on the 22nd of June, 2013 Saturday, they were returned to their relatives for burial. Aydin Ahmet and Bekir Ahmet were brothers, both from Tochni. Aydin Ahmet was only 25 years old, married to Aliye from Dromolaxia village and settled in Tochni. They had two sons: Ahmet and Ramadan. Ramadan had only been two months old and Ahmet only two years old when their father was forcefully `disappeared`… Bekir Ahmet was only 23 years old, had only got married on the 14th of July 1974 and had barely been married for one month with Hayriye from Finike village – they too had settled in Tochni. Hayriye's sister Seval would come to the wedding on the 14th of July together with her husband Niyazi Musa but would never be able to leave Tochni since first the coup and then the war would begin. Her husband Niyazi too would be taken and put on a bus and still `missing` from that time…

For the two `missing` brothers from Tochni, a burial ceremony would take part in Limnya (Mormenekshe as it is called now) on the 22nd of June 2013 and the son of Aydin Ahmet, Ramadan Kayiplar, who had been only two months old when his father went `missing` would speak…

He would wish for peace in Cyprus and peace in the world and would say `No child should ever remain without a father…` and the grandson of Aydin Ahmet, Hasan Kayiplar would say `Today I am here to send my grandfather and my great uncle whom I never saw to heaven…`

The family had taken the surname `Kayiplar` meaning `Missing Persons` as their surname… Aliye, the wife of Aydin would be devastated during the ceremony…

I cannot imagine how hard it might have been for the two sons of Aydin Ahmet, Ramadan and Ahmet Kayiplar, to go to the viewing of their father's and uncle's remains… They had been such small babies, two months old and two years old to be able to remember anything… Their sorrow, the harsh life they would have to go through without a father and having become refugees must have hurt them a lot and meeting your father in the form of simply just remains must have been another trauma to encounter... Still during the ceremony, giving the message of `peace` and wishing that no children should remain without a father is a clear message to all of Cyprus. It can be the story of Ramadan or Petros, the child can be a Turkish Cypriot or a Greek Cypriot whose father was forcefully taken away and made to `disappear`, executed and buried in a mass grave – what Ramadan is saying is that no child should endure such pain and suffering anymore in Cyprus and he is asking for peace on this island so no such terrible things ever happen again…

This shows the amount of suffering he has gone through: Since he has suffered so much, he does not want anyone else's children to go through the same turmoil… This shows the purity of his heart: During the funeral he could have said many other things to pump hatred and feelings of vengeance on this soil. He chose not to do but speak of peace…

These are the people we should listen to and learn: Those who suffered most are the ones who want peace on this island most… They have suffered quietly on their own, living through their own hell…

The voices of those who have suffered most should be heard the loudest on this land – perhaps only then we can have an understanding of staying clearly out of trouble, doing things that would bring the people together rather than trying to keep apart the two main communities of this island.

 

23/6/2013

 

Photo: One of the two `missing` brothers, Aydin Ahmet on his wedding day with Aliye Hanim...

 

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 7th of July 2013 Sunday.

The two `missing` brothers from Tochni…

The two `missing` brothers from Tochni…

 

Sevgul Uludag

 

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

 

Tel: 00 357 99 966518

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Ramadan Aydin Ahmet was barely two months old and his brother Ahmet two years old when their father was taken away from their house in Tochni in August 1974. Some Greek Cypriots of the village had come and collected all Turkish Cypriot youngsters and men, whoever they could lay hands on… To these were added some Turkish Cypriots they took from their homes in Zyggi and Mari… The total number became 84. On the 15th of August 1974, they would put these 84 Turkish Cypriots on two buses to take to Limassol but the buses would never reach Limassol. They would be taken to the Palodia military camp and would become `missing` since then. One of those in the first bus, Suat Kafadar, would be wounded but would remain alive and manage to escape to Muttayiaga to tell the story of the mass execution at the Palodia military camp. After this testimony, UN and British soldiers would visit the camp but the Paloldia military authorities of the camp would not allow them to do a search, instead they would tell them that `They were busy now with military exercises, to go now and come back the following morning…`

That evening they would open the mass grave in Palodia military camp and take out the bodies of those they had executed there in cold blood. They would take them to Gerasa, to a quarry and bury them there. This was the group on the first bus. Those on the second bus would be buried at a quarry in Pareklisia…

Actually in Gerasa the `missing` Turkish Cypriots' place of burial would change again during the years… When some expansion of the quarry would be underway, they would be taken out of where they had been buried and thrown down the hill, a bulldozer passing over them and covering the remains…

Years later, after the investigations of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee, excavations would begin in Gerasa… There would be exhumations between 29th of May 2007 until 10th of October 2008 at a depth of 30 meters and these difficult exhumations would be done manually in seven different areas over a period of one and a half years… The remains of 45 `missing` from the first bus would be found, some scattered, some very much damaged… Meanwhile when exhumations began in a quarry in Pareklisia, after digging for 14 meters, at the bottom of the pit some scattered remains would be found – apparently this mass grave had been emptied at an unknown time and the bones have been taken elsewhere, somewhere no one knows… The very few remains would be analysed and it would be confirmed that they are in fact human remains, the remains of those on the second bus from Tochni… But where the actual remains of a busload of Turkish Cypriot `missing` have been taken to, still remains a `mystery` until now…

The first remains from the first bus from Tochni have been identified through DNA analysis by the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and on the 22nd of June, 2013 Saturday, they were returned to their relatives for burial. Aydin Ahmet and Bekir Ahmet were brothers, both from Tochni. Aydin Ahmet was only 25 years old, married to Aliye from Dromolaxia village and settled in Tochni. They had two sons: Ahmet and Ramadan. Ramadan had only been two months old and Ahmet only two years old when their father was forcefully `disappeared`… Bekir Ahmet was only 23 years old, had only got married on the 14th of July 1974 and had barely been married for one month with Hayriye from Finike village – they too had settled in Tochni. Hayriye's sister Seval would come to the wedding on the 14th of July together with her husband Niyazi Musa but would never be able to leave Tochni since first the coup and then the war would begin. Her husband Niyazi too would be taken and put on a bus and still `missing` from that time…

For the two `missing` brothers from Tochni, a burial ceremony would take part in Limnya (Mormenekshe as it is called now) on the 22nd of June 2013 and the son of Aydin Ahmet, Ramadan Kayiplar, who had been only two months old when his father went `missing` would speak…

He would wish for peace in Cyprus and peace in the world and would say `No child should ever remain without a father…` and the grandson of Aydin Ahmet, Hasan Kayiplar would say `Today I am here to send my grandfather and my great uncle whom I never saw to heaven…`

The family had taken the surname `Kayiplar` meaning `Missing Persons` as their surname… Aliye, the wife of Aydin would be devastated during the ceremony…

I cannot imagine how hard it might have been for the two sons of Aydin Ahmet, Ramadan and Ahmet Kayiplar, to go to the viewing of their father's and uncle's remains… They had been such small babies, two months old and two years old to be able to remember anything… Their sorrow, the harsh life they would have to go through without a father and having become refugees must have hurt them a lot and meeting your father in the form of simply just remains must have been another trauma to encounter... Still during the ceremony, giving the message of `peace` and wishing that no children should remain without a father is a clear message to all of Cyprus. It can be the story of Ramadan or Petros, the child can be a Turkish Cypriot or a Greek Cypriot whose father was forcefully taken away and made to `disappear`, executed and buried in a mass grave – what Ramadan is saying is that no child should endure such pain and suffering anymore in Cyprus and he is asking for peace on this island so no such terrible things ever happen again…

This shows the amount of suffering he has gone through: Since he has suffered so much, he does not want anyone else's children to go through the same turmoil… This shows the purity of his heart: During the funeral he could have said many other things to pump hatred and feelings of vengeance on this soil. He chose not to do but speak of peace…

These are the people we should listen to and learn: Those who suffered most are the ones who want peace on this island most… They have suffered quietly on their own, living through their own hell…

The voices of those who have suffered most should be heard the loudest on this land – perhaps only then we can have an understanding of staying clearly out of trouble, doing things that would bring the people together rather than trying to keep apart the two main communities of this island.

 

23/6/2013

 

Photo: One of the two `missing` brothers, Aydin Ahmet on his wedding day with Aliye Hanim...

 

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 7th of July 2013 Sunday.