Sunday, August 11, 2013

Somewhere between Agia and Melousha…

Somewhere between Agia and Melousha…
 
Sevgul Uludag
 
 
Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436
 
Readers call, readers write, readers show… Readers illuminate our path towards healing the wounds of our island… Readers both Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot speak up to tell us things we don't know…
One of them from the area of Agia Kepir-Melousha-Tremetousia tells me the story of two possible mass graves from 1974. He was not a primary witness but this is so important since all information coming from my readers we can investigate, these are very valuable clues of what happened in the areas they were talking about… He heard of these from his villagers and from his close relatives…
`It was between the 20th of July 1974 and 14th of August 1974 – in this time period, some Greek Cypriot soldiers from Athienou had been digging ditches and came all the way to the area between Agia Kepir and Melousha. Agia Kepir and Melousha were purely Turkish Cypriot villages, they were not mixed. In the night time, the villagers would hear the sound of a tractor or a digger and they wondered what was going on…
Next day they sent two Turkish Cypriots from Agia Kepir (now called Dilekkaya) to check. They went with a car to check and they saw that the Greek Cypriots coming from Athienou had built a military post – when Greek Cypriot soldiers opened fire on them they would shoot back and then fearing for their lives they drove the car inside the fields, leaving the car and running to Agia…
Nothing happened and then after the 14th of August 1974 when the Turkish army advanced and got the area under control, some Turkish Cypriots were ordered to collect the dead bodies from around this area and they buried them in the military post that the Greek Cypriots had built between Melousha and Agia…
Later on, those villagers from Melousha who knew about this burial site would go there to search for golden rings or watches because they had not buried them properly and some hands and arms were sticking out…
I don't know exactly where this military post was – I showed the area to some archaeologists and investigators. If you want we can go there sometime next week before the Bayram and I can show you the area… And then you can investigate and try to find out exactly where this military post had been…`
`Why do I know the name Melousha so well from my childhood?` I ask him. `I have never been there yet it is well known… What was it famous for?`
`Well,` he says, `it was a village very famous for its grapes and figs… In the old days, people from Melousha would stack their donkey carts with grapes and figs and go all the way even to Kioneli (Gonyeli in Turkish) to sell their produce… They also used to make vinegar and Melousha was very famous for its vinegar… There are some very prominent businessmen who came out of Melousha… Melousha was also `famous` for its hit team at the end of 1950s. Together with a leader from Tremetousia, they used to be active in the area between 1958 until 1964. One of them was involved in the attack on the small church in Avdellero, you wrote this story in the past, I read it in the newspaper. Those years were years of what you may call revenge. If the Greek Cypriots killed or kidnapped some Turkish Cypriots, such teams would do the same… But from 1964 until the 70s, nothing significant happened in the area. The only thing that happened was some Greek Cypriots had killed a Turkish Cypriot, Yusuf Alchici Yusufoghlu from Archoz and with orders, some Turkish Cypriots attacked three Greek Cypriots from this area, killing one and wounding two.
One of those `famous` snipers from Melousha lives in London for many years and cannot come back because he is very ill. He is not allowed to travel by plane… He was involved in killing some Turkish Cypriots back in the 50s… One of those was a policeman in Nicosia who had fallen in love with a girl and the girl's family did not approve of this relationship. I don't know too many details but what I know is that he was related to this family through his brother and he accepted to kill the Turkish Cypriot policeman in return for some payment. Later on he killed the son of a woman who had come to settle from Agia to Melousha. The boy's name was Mustafa. He also killed a rich Turkish Cypriot from this area called Mehmet… His friend from Tremetousia always encouraged him and led him and spoilt him…`
This `sniper` now cannot even travel back to Cyprus to come and die in his own country. Whoever had been involved in the killing of innocent people somehow pay back in the end in strange ways – nature finds a way to punish them…
Another close friend whose father is from Melousha tells me that they renamed Melousha `Kirikkale`, after the famous place in Turkey for making guns since in Melousha there was this Turkish Cypriot who used to make guns out of pipes… She says, `From the stories my father tells me, I understand that Melousha was a place where they produced these guns from pipes during late 50s and early 60s. But you need to find someone from the area to give you more details…`
But my reader has more to say…
`I have a close relative who lives in Australia now` he explains to me… `After the 14th of August 1974, he took his family to come from Larnaka to the northern part of the island. It wasn't only him but other Turkish Cypriots and it was a sort of a convoy travelling. When they came to Lyssi, they were stopped by some Turkish soldiers and had to wait some time… After some time, they were allowed to pass… As they were passing, they asked a civilian Turkish Cypriot from probably either Vatyli or Sinda, why they had been stopped and had to wait so long… The civilian Turkish Cypriot told them that the soldiers were burying some Greek Cypriots and that was the reason why they had been stopped. This area is just outside the military camp in Lyssi, next to the military canteen. It is not a `military area` the possible burial site because it is not within the military camp. I showed this place last week. When you come I can show it to you too. My relative who knew of this place now lives in Australia as I said. You can investigate and if he comes to visit, we can ask him too…`
I thank this reader with all my heart having given us very valuable information… We will investigate further all these clues and see if we can find the possible burial sites he is talking about… Already I called one Greek Cypriot friend from Lyssi who has many friends from Athienou and soon I am sure he will be able to find someone who can show us the exact location of the military post that the Greek Cypriot soldiers had built between Melousha and Agia… If you know anything about what my reader has told me, please call me with or without your name on my CYTA mobile at 99 966518. I do not want to know your name if you don't want to say it but if you know of any possible burial sites, or the information we are seeking for, please speak in the name of humanity so that we can heal the wounds of this country…
On the 2nd of August 2013 Friday, together with the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee I go to see this reader and he leads us together with another reader from the area, to the two possible burial sites he is talking about. With my readers we will continue our investigations to help find more details about these two possible burial sites…
With the help of ordinary citizens we will continue to search for unknown, unmarked graves and all the details of what happened in the past… Only the truth will set us free because if we don't know what actually happened, we will never find the right direction to go together towards a better future on our island. Many thanks to my readers both Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot who help in this difficult but illuminating path towards truth…
 
Photo: Possible burial site between Agia and Melousha...
 
(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 11th of August 2013 Sunday...

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