Sevgul Uludag
caramel_cy@yahoo.com
Tel: 99 966518
A Turkish Cypriot reader would call me and tell me two stories where a Turkish Cypriot had been involved back in 1974 – tragic stories of two "missing" Greek Cypriots and he would say that the Turkish Cypriot involved with the killing and the "disappearance" of these two "missing" Greek Cypriots would die very young after a short while in a traffic accident, leaving behind small kids and his tearful wife…
I would publish his story about the two "missing" Greek Cypriots on my pages in the YENIDUZEN newspaper in order to see if we can get a response from my other readers… And yes, we would get a response and would find out more details about one of the "missing" persons…
But first things first… Let me write what my reader had told me about the two "missing" Greek Cypriots that I would publish in YENIDUZEN on the 14th of April 2017… He said:
"What I would tell you has never been written anywhere before… Those who were witnesses and know these two stories, only they know…
I was a witness to a tragic incident that would freeze one's blood…
In 1974, we had been around the market place – bandabuliya – of the Turkish Cypriots, in the centre of the walled city of Nicosia… In those days the Turkish Cypriot soldiers had opened holes from inside the shops going all the way to the Ledra Street and those areas… It was such a coincidence that the moment they had entered a shop, the shop owner or someone who worked at that shop had opened the door of his shop and would go in! They would take him as a prisoner of war and kidnap him from there and would take him back to the Turkish Cypriot side to where we were, from the way they had gone there…
I remember that there arose a discussion about "What shall we do with this Greek Cypriot prisoner of war?"
One of those present there – and he had been a well-known person – would "volunteer" to take him to Geunyeli and to kill him. And he would do that… And after he took this Greek Cypriot prisoner, that Greek Cypriot would go "missing"… Perhaps you can find out from the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee which Greek Cypriot had had a shop around the Ledra Street that is "missing"… If he actually took him to Geunyeli like he claimed he would, perhaps some of your readers from Geunyeli would help and we could find out where he had been buried…
The well-known person – he had been quite young at the time, maybe in his early twenties – who took this Greek Cypriot and made him "disappear" was involved in another incident…
A Greek Cypriot, above middle age, had gone to bring some basic needs like fresh underwear and other clothing and some cigarettes to his son who had been serving around the Pedaios River in Nicosia where the British High Commission and the Golf Club are… Somehow he would be caught by some Turkish Cypriots…
There is a house on the former Shakespeare Avenue and this house is a branch of an establishment now.
The elderly man was taken to this house for questioning and while the questioning about where he had come from and what he had been doing there, the person I told you about, the one who "volunteered" to kill the Greek Cypriot kidnapped from his shop, the same person I mean would take out his pistol and would shoot this elderly man… The elderly Greek Cypriot would die – the questioning had not finished and all those present there would be shocked…
I have no idea about where this elderly man had been buried. I believe that in those times, a Greek Cypriot killed in that area would have been buried at the Tekke Bahchesi (Tekke's Gardens) in Nicosia… Maybe if you publish what I am saying in POLITIS where you have a weekly column, one of your Greek Cypriot readers would tell you about this elderly man, who he was and so on…
The person who "volunteered" to kill these two civilian Greek Cypriots, after a few years would die in a traffic accident… His children too would become orphans and his wife too would become a widow…
Our elderly people always used to say, "What goes around comes around" but I had never believed such things… But this horrible example made me really think… I wonder how many tears the wives and children of those two innocent Greek Cypriots shed, I wonder how much pain they felt and they may still be looking for their "missing" persons…
If I knew where they had been buried, I would tell you without any hesitance… Maybe if you publish this story that I am telling you, someone with enough humanity would come out and say where they are buried…"
I would publish his story and would call on my readers to call me and give me information anonymously… And soon afterwards, I would get a response from a Greek Cypriot reader of mine, about one of the "missing" persons that I had written about… He would give me a name so I could find out more… And I would do an investigation to find out more…
He would call me and tell me the following story:
"The person you are talking about, the "missing" person who had been kidnapped from his shop was Kyriacos Agrotis who had had a shop in the Ermou Street… I am also sending you a photograph of him…
Kyriacos Agrotis Christophi as you can gather from his name was from the village Agros… He was born in 1918 and was married to Mrs. Giorgoulla. They had two kids… He was a clothes merchant and had a shop at the Ermou and Kykkos Street.
In 1974, part of the Paphos Street and part of Ermou had been taken over by some Turkish soldiers but part of Ermou was not under occupation…
I believe it might have been the 25th of July 1974 when Kyriacos Agrotis went together with a relative of his to check on his shop. I think he had gone with his bicycle and as soon as he opened his shop they heard him scream and then they would never get any news of him from then on…
Actually we find out now from what you are writing that some Turkish Cypriot soldiers kidnapped him from his shop and he would go "missing"…"
I thank both my Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot readers who have informed me about these two "missing" persons and shared what they knew…
I would do more investigation about the "missing" Kyriacos Agrotis and would find out that his remains had been found in a mass grave behind the Nicosia prison in the northern part of our island, a mass grave where 16 "missing" persons had been buried… Through DNA testing, the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee would identify him and would return his remains to his family to be buried… His funeral took place on the 14th of December 2016, I find out… May he rest in peace…
I share the pain of the family of Kyriacos Agrotis…
And I want to call on my readers to tell me about the second "missing" person that my reader is talking about, the elderly gentleman who had gone to take basic needs to his son who had been serving somewhere around the Pedaios River where the British High Commission and the Golf Club are in Nicosia – that dividing line not far from Agios Dometios…
Please call me with or without your name on my CYTA phone – 99 966518 and tell me if you know something about this Greek Cypriot "missing", whether you know who he is, whether his remains had been found… I would appreciate your help…
In this wild jungle called the earth, only if we retain our humanity we can help each other and we can reach a point where we understand each other's pain…
Thank you again to all my readers who try to help me… They are one of the reasons why I continue to write and continue to investigate and continue to struggle for better days on this land…
7.5.2017
Photo: Kyriacos Agrotis…
(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 11th of June 2017, Sunday.
(**) Links to my articles on same subject published in Turkish in YENİDÜZEN newspaper on my pages called "Cyprus: The Untold Stories" on the 11th of April 2017 and on the 5th of May 2017:
http://www.yeniduzen.com/iki-kibrislirum-sivil-insani-infaz-etmeye-gonullu-olan-sahis-genc-yasta-trafikte-olm-10524yy.htm
http://www.yeniduzen.com/sozunu-ettiginiz-kayip-sahis-ermudaki-dukkanindan-kacirilan-kiriakos-agrotis-idi-10624yy.htm
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