Sunday, October 27, 2013

From Exomedochi to Angastina to Mora…

From Exomedochi to Angastina to Mora…
 
Sevgul Uludag
 
 
Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436
 
It was one of my Turkish Cypriot readers who had shown me this area and later on, on the 6th of July 2010, that is three years ago, I had gone with the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee to show them the area and tell them the story.
The uncle of my reader – who was no longer alive – had seen a burial site in this area, just outside Angastina (Turkish Cypriots call it Aslankeuy nowadays) – a military village since 1974. My reader's uncle, who was passing from this area had told him that he had seen 12-14 Greek Cypriot `missing` who had been killed and had remained there for a long time…
On the 30th of June 2010, I had written in YENIDUZEN newspaper the story that my reader had told me – we had just visited the area with him, alone him and me - since he wanted to remain anonymous. The following week I would go to the same area with the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee to show them the possible burial sites that this reader had shown to me.
With my reader who wanted to remain anonymous, first we had gone to Exomedochi (now called Duzova) and there, he had shown me a possible burial site – right after the war in 1974, a group of Turkish Cypriot soldiers were given the task to collect all those killed during the war in Exomedochi to bury them… The Turkish Cypriot soldiers – at least some of them – were from Kuru Manastir village (now called Chukurova) and they had collected and buried the `missing` Greek Cypriots killed in this village. It was a place my reader told me, in the yard of a new mosque being built there, just next to the road… My reader was in panic because a mosque was being built there so he wanted to show me the possible burial site, before it would perhaps be destroyed during the construction of the new mosque for the village. According to my reader, the `missing persons` were buried next to a house – this had been an empty plot but now a mosque was being built in this plot, not close to the possible burial site but still my reader was worried since it might be in the same plot he had said. He wanted further investigation on this and I would show this place, the following week to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee.
Then with my reader we had left Exomedochi and drove to Angastina… From Angastina there used to be a dirt track going to Marathovouno (now called Ulukishla) and close to this dirt track there were some carob trees… The dirt track now is inside the military zone but where the carob trees were was not a military area…
Somewhere in this area, my reader had told me, were buried 12 or 14 `missing` Greek Cypriots. They were piled up here but were not buried for a long time, therefore people from the area had seen them. My reader's uncle – who is no longer alive – had told him that one of the `missing` Greek Cypriots had his leg or his arm in a cast. His uncle had told him that these might have been the `missing` Greek Cypriots from Angastina… `Greek Cypriots from Angastina had very good relationships with Turkish Cypriots and the one in the cast was definitely from Angastina… My uncle remembered seeing him before…`
And these carob trees were called `The carob trees of Ulukishla (Marathovouno)` by Turkish Cypriots from the area…
Some weeks ago, excavations begin under the carob trees but without result. Then one of the Turkish Cypriot investigators, Hikmet Selchuklu, finds a witness who had seen this group of 12-14 `missing` Greek Cypriots in the area that my reader showed us. The witness comes forward to point out where exactly he had seen them. He has exactly the same story that my reader had told me: That this was a group of 12-14 `missing` Greek Cypriots, they had remained where they had been killed for a long time and later buried…
50 meters from where my reader has shown us, the archaeologists start finding the remains of some `missing` persons… When I sit down to write this article they had found scattered remains of three `missing` persons and we hope that they will find all 12 or 14 `missing` from Angastina…
Definitely they are buried in this area and I am grateful to my reader who has shown this place to us for the first time three years ago and grateful to the witness who came forward to point out the exact location of the burial site…
My reader on that same day in June 2010 had also shown me another possible burial site close to Mora… While driving from Famagusta to Nicosia, we would make a turn towards left on a dirt track at the junction of Kuru Manastir-Petra tou Digeni and Kalivakya… This road actually goes to Mora and joins with another dirt track coming from Angastina.
Here, there is a little church and the villagers call it `Kilisecik` (`The little church`). The little church has been destroyed. My reader tells me that one of his close relatives had seen two or three `missing persons` killed in this little church. One of them had the uniform of an officer.
When I make some investigations in the area my readers tell me that the little church were demolished – maybe the `missing persons` whom my reader's relative had seen can be under the rubble? Or were they buried here?
As I publish the story of our visit to this demolished `Little Church`, one of my readers calls me to tell me that, some years ago, as they were trying to put water pipes next to the little church, they had found some human remains… He says:
`I have read your article in today's YENIDUZEN newspaper (30.6.2013) about `The Little Church` and you wrote that 2-3 dead bodies were seen there. This is definitely true since when we were trying to lay pipes for water in that area, I was using the bulldozer I had come across some human remains. This was where `The Little Church` was. This looked like a burial site on the surface. So I had stopped digging and we had shifted the laying of the water pipes a little bit further.
If the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee would excavate the rubble around `The Little Church`, probably they might find the remains of these three persons… Their remains are somewhere there…`
Again, this information had come three years ago and on the same day, that is the 6th of July 2010, I had shown this area to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee… We had gone to `The Little Church` to discover that it had become the home to goufi snakes – we could see their nests and the skins they had shed…
Now that the teams are digging the area, I hope that they would go in this area as well to check what is around `The Little Church` and to see if they can find the remains of the three other `missing` persons that my reader's relative had seen inside `The Little Church` and another reader had found the bones while digging for water pipes…
I thank all my readers for sharing very valuable information they have with us – with their help, we will continue to investigate to find remains of more `missing persons`, in order to bring some answers and some closure to the relatives of `missing persons` who have been suffering too long in this conflict called `The Cyprus Problem`…
I also would like to thank the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee for starting excavations in these areas…
 
12.10.2013
 
Photo: Exhumations continue in Angastina...
 
(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 27th of October 2013, Sunday.

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