Sevgul Uludag
caramel_cy@yahoo.com
Tel: 99 966518
One of my readers calls me and shares some information about possible burial sites…
I ask him to write to me in detail what he knows and here is the e-mail he has sent to me:
"I am 57 years old. I am actually from inside the walled city of Nicosia but for the last 8-9 years I live in Geunyeli… I am very interested in history… I investigate and try to go deep… Since I am well informed about issues, all the news come to me… Now I would like to tell you three things…
1. You know the closed Varosha… Varosha was closed down and would never open again. You know why? Because there are many Greek Cypriots buried there… A lot was said and a lot was written about this. But no one knows exactly where… It was said that under the football field there were people buried. Maybe… But I want to share with you something that I saw with my own eyes. Those who know Varosha would know what I would describe… There is a place next to the beach where our Cypriot soldiers are watching out over the UNFICYP soldiers. It is going towards the Golden Sands Hotel, on the road going towards "Ordu Evi" ("Military House"), after you pass the soldiers of Turkey… Right across where our Turkish Cypriot soldiers' military post is where the UNFICYP soldiers are staying at an apartment. To the right of the apartment where the UNFICYP soldiers are stationed, there is a half-finished apartment and a house. The cellar of this half construction and house is full of human bones. As you dig, more human bones come out… And especially that half constructed apartment has two storeys of basement and no one has ever dared to the bottom storey of the basement. But I had gone down in both buildings and have seen those bones with my own eyes. Those bones did not look like animal bones… There were ribs and also chin bones… These must be investigated and disclosed… When I saw those bones, I spoke with some people there… And they had told me that "the wells inside Varosha were full of pieces of bones…" If that is true, the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee should enter Varosha and make a thorough investigation there…
2. The other thing is you know the St. Hilarion Castle and Pentadaktylos. These are on top of the mountain, isolated places with scarce human activity. There are allegations that some Greek Cypriots were kept as prisoners there and then executed… Those who alleged these things were known by many who heard it. What I heard that those who had been executed had been thrown inside the wells of the area. A map of these wells can be acquired and the CMP can also do investigations in these wells… If this is true then a lot of remains can be recovered. In both places, there are military units that had been there for a long time. Thorough investigations must be done at the edges of the hills around St. Hilarion and Pentadaktylos and each well must be checked. There is even a rumour that under the Pentadaktylos, there is a mass grave. That place too, will never be opened for development… So no one will find out… The soldiers who had served there are still alive, they too should come out and speak up…
3. The last thing I want to tell you is about the lawyer of Makarios, the famous guy Pavlides, his house… Now it is used as a museum. This mansion is in Myrtou… From what I have heard, all around this mansion, there are various burial sites and that a lot of people had been buried there… And you know why this mansion is a military place? I believe so that the "missing" buried there would not be disclosed… No one can take a step there… I have heard that a lot of Greek Cypriots were buried there… Under the trees, in the passages, in the tunnels, in the wells… It needs a thorough investigation… When I am saying these things, my aim is not to hurt anyone, to scratch any wounds or to blame anyone… These are things I have been hearing and I had to share with you so they can be thoroughly investigated…
We must come out and speak of what we know of the past so that we will not live through the same pain in the future…
If what I have written is true and if investigations come to concrete results, then we must give back the remains to the relatives of "missing persons" who are waiting for this… It is a shame not to do that because the relatives of "missing" are waiting for all those years…"
I thank this reader for having the sensitivity to tell us what he saw and also what he heard… I have published what he has told me in Turkish on my pages in the YENIDUZEN newspaper and now I am publishing them in Greek in the POLITIS newspaper so that everyone is informed and if they know anything else about the things my reader is mentioning, they can share with me and with the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee, if they choose to do so… I urge the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee to do thorough investigations about the information given by this reader, if they have not done already… Recently a Turkish Cypriot official from the CMP has asked me to send him my article from 6 years ago since the Greek Cypriot officials of CMP had asked for some investigation about it and I did find and send him what I had written in March 2011… Six years ago, again about Varosha and again about a place near Golden Sands, one of my readers had told me something and I had shared this with the CMP, as well as in YENIDUZEN on my pages called "Cyprus: The Untold Stories…"
On 25.3.2011 I had written this story in POLITIS as well under the title "Stories from Varosha and Tochni..."
I share part of this story so that people can come out and share more information if they know anything more… So six years ago, in POLITIS I had written the following:
"I go to Famagusta to meet a Turkish Cypriot witness who had been a soldier during the war in 1974... We sit in his shop speaking about what he knows about Varosha...
`There was a burial site of about 13 persons` he says... `These were mostly women and children. It was next to the Golden Sands Hotel... A Turkish Cypriot, as far as I remember, had killed them all...`
I would publish this in the newspaper YENIDUZEN, where I have a daily page on `missing persons` and `untold stories` so another reader would call to contribute with more information about this case:
`What you wrote the other day about the group of 13 persons killed near the Golden Sands Hotel is true` he says. `Those who had been killed there were mostly women and children, there was only one man amongst them I think. As you go from Famagusta towards Dherinia, I think you have to turn left from the third street. They are buried in the yard of the first house you will see... I believe those who had been killed here were around seven or nine women and the rest were children and a man... But the one who had killed them was not alone... There had been rumours that this place had been an orphanage but I am not sure if it is true...`…"
I thank all my readers who continue to share stories… You can call me with or without your name at my CYTA number 99 966518 if you have something to share…
Only by sharing what we know of the past, can we travel towards a better future…
14.7.2017
Photo: Golden Sands Hotel, Varosha…
NOTE ABOUT CORRECTION/CLARIFICATION
In connection to my article that was based on Ulus Irkad's article called "How did they divide us and how did they divide our country?" published on these pages on the 30th of July 2017, a relative of M. mentioned in the article contacted me saying that his relative had nothing to do with the killing of a Turkish Cypriot and that his relative `was another victim of the psychological war unleashed by TMT.` He said:
"He was not afraid of them or their rising power over the masses. On March 7, 1964, he was brutally murdered and his dead body was paraded in the streets of Mouttalos and Ktima. He was made an example, much like all the other innocent Turkish Cypriots you mention in your article that seemed to defy the TMT power. They did the worst they could for him and then tried to put the blame on him. I appreciate it that you specifically explained that this part of the article was only "claims" by others ("Υπήρχαν επίσης ισχυρισμοί"); this shows a quality of character by my standards. But yet, since this is not true, I believe it could have not be mentioned. These FALSE allegations only keep the people apart and do not allow for a sincere reunification of people and country…. It hurts to see the propaganda of the people that brutally slaughtered him, keep circulating decades after he has been put to rest…`
I have spoken with Ulus Irkad and also with some others from Paphos area. One of my readers also has said that M. had nothing to do with killing or shooting at a Turkish Cypriot but that the blame of shooting was put on M. of a Turkish Cypriot who had been shot accidentally by a friend of this Turkish Cypriot and that there were a lot of provocations those days as the article gives details about. That this incident of the wounded Turkish Cypriot by his friend was used for claiming that M. had shot a Turkish Cypriot in order to create a provocation and kill M.
I hereby correct this article and apologize to the relative of M. and thank him for giving us the chance to clarify and correct the facts.
(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 20th of August, 2017 – Sunday.
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