Between Synchari and Aspri Moutti…

Between Synchari and Aspri Moutti…

 

Sevgul Uludag

 

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

 

Tel: 00 357 99 966518

 

The hot summer would gradually leave and autumn would come… He would lay there, complete with his uniform, his helmet, his boots… He would lay facing the sky, without actually seeing or feeling… He would lay in a hole, a makeshift military post of 1974, around Synchari, up the mountains, towards Aspri Moutti…

Autumn would come with its coolness and he would lay there, lonely on top of the mountain, no one passing by from this rough spot and seasons would continue to change… Swallows would leave for Africa, foxes would hunt and gradually clouds would gather turning the blue of the sky to darker shades… Rains would come, washing away all the dust, all the soil gathered on his clothes and he would lay there, without seeing, without feeling, just a body left where he had been killed… He wouldn't feel the spring with all its energy coming, flowers blossoming, the bees roaming the mountains in search of tiny purple flowers… He wouldn't see the birds migrating back to the island, he wouldn't hear there cries, the sound of the flap of their wings… He would just lay there, unaware of the change of the seasons and while seasons would change, the clock will continue to tick and seasons would turn into years and years into decades and he would still be there, in that hole, that makeshift military post, laying complete with his uniform, his helmet, his boots turning into a skeleton in a uniform…

Time would take away the flesh but would not touch the leather of his boots. Time would not be harsh on the buttons of his uniform – while his hair would fall and his flesh gone, the only thing that would remain of him would be his bones… And his uniform… And his boots… And his helmet…

One day about ten years ago, two kids would encounter him, laying there and would be amazed… They would try to take the helmet and their father who took them up the mountain would shout at them to stop, not to touch anything! He would go next to his kids and would look at the finding of his children. He would take them away but would never forget what he saw…

Still no one would come searching for the human body lying in his uniform… He would still lay there, unaware of the kids or the father who had seen him… Seasons would continue to change, summers turning into winters, springs giving way to heat, heat giving way to the cool nights of the Pentataktilos… Under the beautiful sky full of stars he would remain where he had been killed, years ago, during the war in 1974…

One of very dedicated readers who would read everything I wrote would remember that we had been looking for a boy from Kyperounta in this area after hearing from his friend telling him about how his children had discovered this human body, laying in a hole…

My reader would call me and ask me to go with them to show me this spot…

`The moment my friend started talking about his children's finding, I remembered the young boy from Kyperounta that you wrote about… Perhaps it is him, perhaps not… But it fits the descriptions of where he had been seen last time…` he tells me on the phone.

So I ask the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee to go to this place up the mountains together with my reader and his witness. We go on the 2^nd of August 2013, Friday and reach the area where the witness had seen the remains.

Together with Xenophon Kallis and Murat Soysal, the assistants of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot members of the Missing Persons' Committee, the witness starts a very tough climb up the mountains. It is very hot and they would walk about three kilometres to climb up in order to attempt to locate the exact position of that military post.

While they would start the very tough climb up the mountains, we would wait in the car with my reader who took us here – my reader is from the southern part of the island and he is a refugee living in one of the villages close to Synchari – in the past he helped me a lot voluntarily, finding witnesses and showing possible burial sites and as a result of his efforts, many `missing` Greek Cypriots' remains have been found both in Synchari and at Aspri Moutti… He is humble, works quietly, does not boast about anything – he feels the pain of relatives of `missing persons` since both from his village in the south and from his wife's family there are `missing persons`… I had helped to find the burial site of his wife's uncle and had also attended the funeral when he was buried. His wife's uncle was taken away from his house in Aredhiou by a Greek Cypriot policeman and went `missing`, never returning to his home back in 1963. With the help of one of my Greek Cypriot readers, we would find the remains of three Turkish Cypriot `missing persons` from 1963, buried in a well in Tseri… The policeman who took three Turkish Cypriots from their homes in Aredhiou would also go `missing` in 1974 in another area… The son of the policeman would call me to ask for help to find his `missing` father and when I would tell him about the `missing` Turkish Cypriots from Aredhiou, he would be shocked… Like a game of `dominoes` people would be connected, sharing almost the same fate…

While we wait my reader who took us to Synchari would tell me how as a small refugee child he would roam these valleys and mountains around Synchari, how it was full of so many bullets and so many shells… In the whole area, littered by the remains of the war, he would go with his father to collect mushrooms or agrelli, or just to play… The sights, the smells, the remains of the war would scar his heart forever… The stories would scar his heart, the waiting of the relatives of `missing persons` would scar his heart… He would see and smell and touch and walk among the litter of the war as a small child of 10 years old, learning what sort of a place the elders had created for him…

He would tell me of the fassa and the crow that he had found somewhere outside his village – he would take these little birds home to cure them since they would not be able to fly and would keep them as pets… But one day the crow would kill the fassa and he would feel sad…

He would tell me of snakes, the goufi, roaming these mountains, how he would see them while climbing and that this was the period they are most active… He would be worried about Murat Soysal, Xenophon Kallis and our witness and would call out after them to watch out for the snakes…

We would sit in the car while wasps would come and go, checking out what we are doing there… Completely isolated, up on the mountains we would sit and talk and wait for them to come back…

The place where we are is high and the dirt track is littered with stones and big holes – he would tell me about how two Turkish Cypriots' tractor fell off here while they jumped at the last moment, saving their lives. `There was no way they could take out the tractor from where it fell – it's still there` he says…

I ask him about the foxes and he tells me that because people have been poisoning them for years, there are less foxes and less vultures here. `The vultures eat the poisoned meat and they also die…` he says… We feel sad for the inhuman way humans intervene in natural life up on these mountains…

We talk about the boy from Kyperounta, the carpenter, the 19 year old kid sent to Aspri Moutti to serve… He tells me of an encounter he had with someone from Potamia – they would send boys of left wing families to Aspri Moutti like a `punishment` - I had written about that, having interviewed Michael Efthymiou who had served here and who was the last person to see the boy from Kyperounta… My reader having encountered a Greek Cypriot from Potamia who had also served up at Aspri Moutti, would ask him that and the guy from Potamia would confirm that yes, this was a sort of a place of punishment…

Our witness, together with Kallis and Murat Soysal come back breathless – they could not locate the spot but `When it is a bit cooler,` our witness suggests, `like in September we can come and search again – it is there…`

We will try again to arrange to come back with a bigger search team when it is a bit cooler and our witness will help to find the exact location of the hole and the human remains where he saw him…

I thank my reader and our witness for doing this humanitarian gesture, hoping to bring some sort of `closure` to one more family of a `missing person` and I thank the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee for coming with us so that we could show them the area…

We leave this isolated spot, driving on the very bad dirt track to go back…

Sometime later, the assistant to the Turkish Cypriot member of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee, Murat Soysal, goes to the same spot with a team to investigate and speaks to the witness again. The witness tells him that maybe they had gone to the wrong area; maybe this military post was around Aspro Moutti. He says that since many years have passed, he might have confused the area. The remains of some "missing persons" had been found at Aspro Moutti. My reader, who has taken this witness to us, says that "Perhaps more surveys are needed behind the spot where exhumations took place at Aspro Moutti… I will continue to investigate…"

There had been couple of surveys in this area with the voluntary participation of the archaeologists of the Missing Persons' Committee… We hope that in the autumn months, more surveys can be done in this area and hopefully the military post and the remains of one "missing" person that our witness saw can be found…

 

15-28.8.2013

 

Photo: View from the area we went to around Synchari...

 

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 22^nd of September 2013 Sunday.

Memories of a multicultural life in Nicosia…

Memories of a multicultural life in Nicosia…

 

Sevgul Uludag

 

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

 

Tel: 00 357 99 966518

00 90 542 853 8436

 

Renovating and opening the Ermou Street – currently on the Green Line in Nicosia – could vitalize a dead part of our capital, bringing visitors, both local and tourists to this part of the town. Ermou Street had been very colourful once, shop owners being Turkish Cypriots, Greek Cypriots, Armenian Cypriots and they worked together in harmony, serving the customers coming from a multicultural society called Cypriots. Long before I had been born, my mother had two houses very close to Ermou Street but I never had the chance to see how life was there since by the time I was born in October 1958, our family had moved to Chaghlayan area in Nicosia, close to Famagusta Gate having bought land and built a house in 1956 there. I would grow up in Chaghlayan, never having a chance to mix with Greek Cypriots since our neighbourhood was a Turkish Cypriot one. On the other hand both my sister and my brother knew that multicultural, bi-communal life having grown up in Ermou and spending their holidays in the Greek Cypriot village Alona, learning to speak Greek, playing with Greek Cypriot children and even in later years, my sister was working with Greek Cypriots in the Republic of Cyprus government offices.

My sister Ilkay was born on 14 January 1944 in Famagusta, she moved to Nicosia with her family. She met Greek Cypriot kids at the beginning of 1950s when she went with her family for holidays to the Alona village.

She remembers playing with Greek Cypriot kids, going to the fountain to have breakfast every morning with them and in the afternoons to the coffee shops where they ate walnut preserve at Alona. She learnt to speak Greek by playing with the kids and later developed it. In 1960-63 she worked at the Treasury Department of the Republic of Cyprus as a civil servant, together with Greek Cypriots – Lena, Hristalla, Androulla – they were very good friends and visited each other's homes. She talks of Leondios Markides who was their boss… She also used to go to the Nicosia Municipality to wait for our father who worked there as town clerk. After work they would go to the cinemas – one of the owners of a cinema was Mr. Loukoudis whom they knew and they spent good times at the cinema. They also used to visit the Poor People's Home of the municipality and play there as a kid. When she entered the exams for the Ministry of Treasury, there were 7 Greek Cypriots and 3 Turkish Cypriots. They asked her questions in English and she answered in Greek, the board was surprised because she was only 17. They asked her where she learnt her Greek and she told them how she learnt the language by playing with Greek Cypriot kids in Alona. They liked her a lot and she got the job as a civil servant. The Greek Cypriots used to call her `Turkish Aliki Vuyuklaki`!... The Cyprus Government had lottery and she would be pulling the numbers – they would call her each time there was lottery to make the draw… These were the things my sister Ilkay would tell me when I had interviewed her for the Cyprus Bi-communal History Project of IKME and BILBAN Research Institutes more than 10 years ago… (*)

Another woman who remembers Nicosia before 1958 is Shefika Durduran. I had interviewed her as well, trying to record the memories of this very remarkable woman who has always had Turkish Cypriot, Greek Cypriot, Armenian Cypriot, Maronite Cypriot, Latin Cypriot friends throughout her life… She had seen the first division of the island when she had to leave her house in Nicosia… I came across a photograph recently of those days when the British put up barbed wire, probably around Ermou Street – this was the first division and it would continue in 1963, the street where I live in would be divided and the whole area of Chaghlayan and in 1974 the whole island would be partitioned, continuing the wound that was bleeding from 1958 and making the wound more deep and more bloody… Because in order to create a `border` like that, many people had to be killed, population pushed away or population encouraged to move, population frightened for their lives who moved on their own or were forced to move… This way, the separation would be `complete` but the seeds of separation had long been planted back in the mid-50s, the implementation took some years, becoming complete in 1974.

Sefika Durduran talked of her memories of Nicosia where she was the first woman lawyer of the Turkish Cypriot community to me – she spoke of memories of working together with Greek Cypriot colleagues, how Nicosia was divided first in 1958 – the way she had to leave her house and could not return again till now…

She was born in 1943 in Nicosia, in Dr. Papapetrou's clinic who was the only gynaecologist at the time in Cyprus. Dr. Papapetrou was my mother's gynaecologist as well, my brother was born in his clinic in those times…Imagine how the communities trusted each other in those times – nowadays if there was a Turkish Cypriot gynaecologist working at the Nicosia General Hospital, would the Greek Cypriots trust him or her to go and give birth under his or her supervision? And vice versa: If a Greek Cypriot doctor worked in the northern part of the island, how many Turkish Cypriots would trust to go to him or her? The separation has been complete in the mentality of Cypriots and we need to rebuild trust, dismantling the horrible pictures of each other that they helped us to paint on each other's faces…

When Shefika Durduran attended the elementary and secondary schools, they were all mixed at the time – Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenian Cypriots… How many schools can we find like that now? The English School has some Turkish Cypriot students but there is always some sort of `discussion` about them – always those `suspicions` whose seeds have been planted starting from 1950s… How shall we deal with that?

Shefika had learnt Greek from a very early age of 5 because her father spoke very fluent Greek and she lived in the Greek Cypriot quarter of Nicosia, as well as going to mixed schools.

In 1958 she went to Istanbul to study and while living there due to monetary problems, she had to stop studying in the university for some time and work. At her workplace there was an Istanbul Greek and where she lived in Istanbul were also Istanbul Greeks, therefore she always had contact with Greeks and Greek Cypriots.

In 1967 she went to London to study and there were Greek Cypriots in her school. She talks of the time of Kofinou events and the rumours in London during that time. Her school was at Fleet Street, centre of media in London. In November 1967 all Cypriots were worried at school – there were rumours that Turkey would intervene with its military force. Their families were in Cyprus, and that's why all of them were worried.

They had good relations at school with Greek Cypriots. She is a refugee of 1958 and she feels the sadness… But in 1974, when Greek Cypriots had to go through the same ordeal, she feels she can understand and share their feelings because she had to leave her house in 1958.

She graduated as a lawyer (the first Turkish Cypriot woman lawyer in practice) and came back to Cyprus at the end of 1970. Because she spoke both English, Turkish and Greek, she could follow cases in Cyprus government courts. Previously, a few Turkish Cypriot woman lawyers who studied in Turkey tried but did not have these advantages. She was very well received in Cyprus courts… She had very good relations in her working life. Six days a week between 1970-74 she was in courts all over the island. She never encountered any discrimination. Later in the interview she talks of her practice in the southern part of the island even after 1974, when she went to defend Turkish Cypriot individuals in courts when her expertise was needed…

I had also interviewed her mother Mujgan, who is no longer alive now…

Mujgan Hasan Hilmi talked of her memories of 1958 to us – how Nicosia was divided, how they lived before and after this… She talked of the difficulties of survival as a woman who lost her property in the conflict and how she survived…

Mujgan Hasan Hilmi was born in Nicosia in 1920. Her husband who had a pharmacy had died in February 1958. The prominent personalities of the Turkish Cypriot community like Dr. Kucuk, did not want her to close the pharmacy of her husband. So she continued the pharmacy. They did not have a pharmacist but her husband's friends sent them a retired Greek Cypriot pharmacist to help, called Apostol. Dr. Kucuk also approved this. So he was employed by them.

In 1958, she had to leave her house in Nicosia – one of her Greek Cypriot neighbours told her that a Turkish Cypriot girl was killed in the Ayluca mahalla – troubles were brewing so she told her to take her daughter from the school and leave immediately because their lives would be in danger. They had to leave their house and become refugees in 1958.

She talked of how she was threatened to dismiss the retired Greek Cypriot pharmacist otherwise she would be killed!

She contacted Dr. Kucuk because she had the permission of the Turkish Cypriot leadership to employ this person.

Dr. Kucuk told her `Things are out of control. It is not within our control…`

She also went to see Rauf Denktash who was a lawyer then. Denktash made her wait for a long time…

She had to close the pharmacy and lose her livelihood due to this threat. She left the country to go to Istanbul for the studies of her daughter and son.

She talked of the hard times she had to go through in order to raise her children…

We need to think what we have lost, really… We have lost a multicultural life with all its richness and all its cooperation… We live separately and even though checkpoints are open to cross, still there is no encouragement from the leadership of the two main communities of the island to really cooperate or to build a culture of peace… We need to think back and also think of the future – what sort of Cyprus have we created for our children? Is this the heritage we will leave for them as we leave this earth? Or shall we try to do something about it?

 

(*) www.ikme.eu/cybihi/

 

10.8.2013

 

Photo: The first division of Cyprus, in Nicosia in 1958…

 

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 8^th of September 2013 Sunday.

Memories of a multicultural life in Nicosia…

Memories of a multicultural life in Nicosia…

 

Sevgul Uludag

 

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

 

Tel: 00 357 99 966518

00 90 542 853 8436

 

Renovating and opening the Ermou Street – currently on the Green Line in Nicosia – could vitalize a dead part of our capital, bringing visitors, both local and tourists to this part of the town. Ermou Street had been very colourful once, shop owners being Turkish Cypriots, Greek Cypriots, Armenian Cypriots and they worked together in harmony, serving the customers coming from a multicultural society called Cypriots. Long before I had been born, my mother had two houses very close to Ermou Street but I never had the chance to see how life was there since by the time I was born in October 1958, our family had moved to Chaghlayan area in Nicosia, close to Famagusta Gate having bought land and built a house in 1956 there. I would grow up in Chaghlayan, never having a chance to mix with Greek Cypriots since our neighbourhood was a Turkish Cypriot one. On the other hand both my sister and my brother knew that multicultural, bi-communal life having grown up in Ermou and spending their holidays in the Greek Cypriot village Alona, learning to speak Greek, playing with Greek Cypriot children and even in later years, my sister was working with Greek Cypriots in the Republic of Cyprus government offices.

My sister Ilkay was born on 14 January 1944 in Famagusta, she moved to Nicosia with her family. She met Greek Cypriot kids at the beginning of 1950s when she went with her family for holidays to the Alona village.

She remembers playing with Greek Cypriot kids, going to the fountain to have breakfast every morning with them and in the afternoons to the coffee shops where they ate walnut preserve at Alona. She learnt to speak Greek by playing with the kids and later developed it. In 1960-63 she worked at the Treasury Department of the Republic of Cyprus as a civil servant, together with Greek Cypriots – Lena, Hristalla, Androulla – they were very good friends and visited each other's homes. She talks of Leondios Markides who was their boss… She also used to go to the Nicosia Municipality to wait for our father who worked there as town clerk. After work they would go to the cinemas – one of the owners of a cinema was Mr. Loukoudis whom they knew and they spent good times at the cinema. They also used to visit the Poor People's Home of the municipality and play there as a kid. When she entered the exams for the Ministry of Treasury, there were 7 Greek Cypriots and 3 Turkish Cypriots. They asked her questions in English and she answered in Greek, the board was surprised because she was only 17. They asked her where she learnt her Greek and she told them how she learnt the language by playing with Greek Cypriot kids in Alona. They liked her a lot and she got the job as a civil servant. The Greek Cypriots used to call her `Turkish Aliki Vuyuklaki`!... The Cyprus Government had lottery and she would be pulling the numbers – they would call her each time there was lottery to make the draw… These were the things my sister Ilkay would tell me when I had interviewed her for the Cyprus Bi-communal History Project of IKME and BILBAN Research Institutes more than 10 years ago… (*)

Another woman who remembers Nicosia before 1958 is Shefika Durduran. I had interviewed her as well, trying to record the memories of this very remarkable woman who has always had Turkish Cypriot, Greek Cypriot, Armenian Cypriot, Maronite Cypriot, Latin Cypriot friends throughout her life… She had seen the first division of the island when she had to leave her house in Nicosia… I came across a photograph recently of those days when the British put up barbed wire, probably around Ermou Street – this was the first division and it would continue in 1963, the street where I live in would be divided and the whole area of Chaghlayan and in 1974 the whole island would be partitioned, continuing the wound that was bleeding from 1958 and making the wound more deep and more bloody… Because in order to create a `border` like that, many people had to be killed, population pushed away or population encouraged to move, population frightened for their lives who moved on their own or were forced to move… This way, the separation would be `complete` but the seeds of separation had long been planted back in the mid-50s, the implementation took some years, becoming complete in 1974.

Sefika Durduran talked of her memories of Nicosia where she was the first woman lawyer of the Turkish Cypriot community to me – she spoke of memories of working together with Greek Cypriot colleagues, how Nicosia was divided first in 1958 – the way she had to leave her house and could not return again till now…

She was born in 1943 in Nicosia, in Dr. Papapetrou's clinic who was the only gynaecologist at the time in Cyprus. Dr. Papapetrou was my mother's gynaecologist as well, my brother was born in his clinic in those times…Imagine how the communities trusted each other in those times – nowadays if there was a Turkish Cypriot gynaecologist working at the Nicosia General Hospital, would the Greek Cypriots trust him or her to go and give birth under his or her supervision? And vice versa: If a Greek Cypriot doctor worked in the northern part of the island, how many Turkish Cypriots would trust to go to him or her? The separation has been complete in the mentality of Cypriots and we need to rebuild trust, dismantling the horrible pictures of each other that they helped us to paint on each other's faces…

When Shefika Durduran attended the elementary and secondary schools, they were all mixed at the time – Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Armenian Cypriots… How many schools can we find like that now? The English School has some Turkish Cypriot students but there is always some sort of `discussion` about them – always those `suspicions` whose seeds have been planted starting from 1950s… How shall we deal with that?

Shefika had learnt Greek from a very early age of 5 because her father spoke very fluent Greek and she lived in the Greek Cypriot quarter of Nicosia, as well as going to mixed schools.

In 1958 she went to Istanbul to study and while living there due to monetary problems, she had to stop studying in the university for some time and work. At her workplace there was an Istanbul Greek and where she lived in Istanbul were also Istanbul Greeks, therefore she always had contact with Greeks and Greek Cypriots.

In 1967 she went to London to study and there were Greek Cypriots in her school. She talks of the time of Kofinou events and the rumours in London during that time. Her school was at Fleet Street, centre of media in London. In November 1967 all Cypriots were worried at school – there were rumours that Turkey would intervene with its military force. Their families were in Cyprus, and that's why all of them were worried.

They had good relations at school with Greek Cypriots. She is a refugee of 1958 and she feels the sadness… But in 1974, when Greek Cypriots had to go through the same ordeal, she feels she can understand and share their feelings because she had to leave her house in 1958.

She graduated as a lawyer (the first Turkish Cypriot woman lawyer in practice) and came back to Cyprus at the end of 1970. Because she spoke both English, Turkish and Greek, she could follow cases in Cyprus government courts. Previously, a few Turkish Cypriot woman lawyers who studied in Turkey tried but did not have these advantages. She was very well received in Cyprus courts… She had very good relations in her working life. Six days a week between 1970-74 she was in courts all over the island. She never encountered any discrimination. Later in the interview she talks of her practice in the southern part of the island even after 1974, when she went to defend Turkish Cypriot individuals in courts when her expertise was needed…

I had also interviewed her mother Mujgan, who is no longer alive now…

Mujgan Hasan Hilmi talked of her memories of 1958 to us – how Nicosia was divided, how they lived before and after this… She talked of the difficulties of survival as a woman who lost her property in the conflict and how she survived…

Mujgan Hasan Hilmi was born in Nicosia in 1920. Her husband who had a pharmacy had died in February 1958. The prominent personalities of the Turkish Cypriot community like Dr. Kucuk, did not want her to close the pharmacy of her husband. So she continued the pharmacy. They did not have a pharmacist but her husband's friends sent them a retired Greek Cypriot pharmacist to help, called Apostol. Dr. Kucuk also approved this. So he was employed by them.

In 1958, she had to leave her house in Nicosia – one of her Greek Cypriot neighbours told her that a Turkish Cypriot girl was killed in the Ayluca mahalla – troubles were brewing so she told her to take her daughter from the school and leave immediately because their lives would be in danger. They had to leave their house and become refugees in 1958.

She talked of how she was threatened to dismiss the retired Greek Cypriot pharmacist otherwise she would be killed!

She contacted Dr. Kucuk because she had the permission of the Turkish Cypriot leadership to employ this person.

Dr. Kucuk told her `Things are out of control. It is not within our control…`

She also went to see Rauf Denktash who was a lawyer then. Denktash made her wait for a long time…

She had to close the pharmacy and lose her livelihood due to this threat. She left the country to go to Istanbul for the studies of her daughter and son.

She talked of the hard times she had to go through in order to raise her children…

We need to think what we have lost, really… We have lost a multicultural life with all its richness and all its cooperation… We live separately and even though checkpoints are open to cross, still there is no encouragement from the leadership of the two main communities of the island to really cooperate or to build a culture of peace… We need to think back and also think of the future – what sort of Cyprus have we created for our children? Is this the heritage we will leave for them as we leave this earth? Or shall we try to do something about it?

 

(*) www.ikme.eu/cybihi/

 

10.8.2013

 

Photo: The first division of Cyprus, in Nicosia in 1958…

 

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 8^th of September 2013 Sunday.

The bicommunal oral history of Cyprus (2)

The bicommunal oral history of Cyprus (2)

 

Sevgul Uludag

 

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

 

Tel: 00 357 99 966518

00 90 542 853 8436

 

Andreas Violaris from the once mixed village Ayios Vasilios (Ayvasil) remembers that `They dug holes around the house and placed there dynamite and blew it up… The people who were hiding inside came out in panic… They held them and killed them all in cold blood and buried them in a mass grave… One of the victims hand was sticking out of the grave. After the invasion and the occupation of our village, they renamed it to 'Turkel' which means `The hand of the Turk`.`

Andreas Violaris was 80 years old when he was interviewed for the bi-communal oral history project of IKME and BILBAN, the two research institutes of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. He had been now living in Dali. In the summary of his interview, Andreas Violaris is quoted as saying:

`The relations to the Turkish Cypriots of my village were excellent. When later trouble began, Greek Cypriots from other areas used to come to do what they did.

The Turkish Cypriots in my village were very poor. They used to earn their wages at large farms and by doing heavy work… Until the 1963-64 events there had been no problems between us. If a stranger had come to one of our coffee houses, he would have not been able to tell the Turk from the Greek…

A friend of mine, Ibrahim, helped me to come into business. He advised me to buy myself a car and afterwards he sent me business. I used to play the violin. I was invited to play at their weddings. In older times, from what I have heard, there had been mixed marriages but not in my time. The relations to my Turkish Cypriot fellow villagers started to be affected from 1956-57 on by EOKA's struggle. Our Greek Cypriot fanatics did whatever they could to separate us. They used to come from Nicosia and threatened them and intimidated them. Some of our Greek Cypriot fanatics made sure to confirm their earlier threats…

Many years after the invasion, I met my friend Ibrahim at the British Bases in Dhikelia. His first question was:

`What could an eight years old girl have done to them so that they decided to kill her? What was her crime?`

He was referring to his daughter who was killed together with her grandmother by some Greek Cypriots outside the village…`

Sophoclis Panayiotou Hadjiloizou who was interviewed in Nicosia said:

`I was born in the Kyrenia Hospital and when I was very young we moved to Nicosia because of my father's work. We settled in the Turkish mahala (neighbourhood).

I grew up together with the Turkish Cypriots. We used to play all day long. When we grew up a little, we used to picnic in... Pallouriotissa. We brought with us our lunch and sat down and enjoyed ourselves. Our company's Turkish Cypriots had no problem with eating pork...

My grandfather, Sophocles Knodarites was an important land owner in Knodara. He had only Turkish Cypriots working for him. When he later had to leave the village (around 1900), he gave most of his land as a gift to the Turkish Cypriots with whom he had good relations. He came up for the school fees for many of them. He had a coach bring them there.

Our relations to each other were very friendly, brotherly I would say... Problems arose after 1958...

When I got married in Deftera, I met there some Turkish Cypriots with which I had excellent relations, if I am not to say that those people were better than ours...

My Turkish Cypriot friends helped me build my house like I helped them build theirs....

When my wife had our first baby, my Turkish Cypriot best man sent his wife to stay with us for a month helping my wife....

When trouble broke out in 63-64, some people came from Nicosia to spread unrest among the Turkish Cypriot fellow-villagers and take them to the Turkish Cypriot sector. But they didn't want to leave at all. A fragile old man died while he was placed in to the car. They were pushing him violently, placed him in to the car but he was struggling to escape. He wanted to stay in his village... When they finally realized that they couldn't persuade him to leave... they killed him... Another one, called Tarzan, was killed because he was refusing to follow them...`

Eleni Poullou who was interviewed in Nicosia had stories to tell:

`Dervish Kavazoglou who was later killed by Turkish Cypriot extremists used to come to our home and my mother looked after him. He loved her so much that he used to call her aunt...

We had contact with many Turkish Cypriots before 1963, and we still have friendly relations and contact until today.

We settled in Nicosia in 1935 where we still live. Our landlords were always Turkish Cypriots with whom we still have good relations...

During the EOKA struggle, I helped together with a Turkish Cypriot midwife a Turkish Cypriot neighbour called Pembe, give birth to a child. Her husband rewarded us with a silver five shilling coin...

`Eleni hanim you are a mother, you are a sister to me...` Pembe was telling me again and again after the birth...

When I was doing my embroidery work, Pembe use to come over to learn...

In 1959 they forced them to leave for the Turkish Cypriot enclave in Nicosia. Pembe told me to go over and she gave me a pot with a flower that I still have until today...

Later we heard that her husband was killed by Turkish Cypriot extremists...

We used to be together with our Turkish Cypriot friends at weddings, christenings and on holy days... Nothing separated us. They used to sing their songs and we used to sing ours....

Our former landlord was a very rich Turkish Cypriot. He had a great fortune, houses and shops. Later when he was forced to settle in the Turkish Cypriot sector of Nicosia, the extremists ask for money from him to buy arms. He refused to give them any and they killed him...`

Andreas Klitides from Ayios Loucas area of Nicosia would remember life before all the troubles started:

`My mother used to run a tailor school in Ayios Loucas. The majority of her students were Turkish Cypriot women. She used to teach them in Greek and Turkish, which she spoke without a flaw...

We used to organise events and feasts in our house that was very large with a huge garden. When our Turkish Cypriot friends were celebrating a feast or Bayram, our house was full of sweets like ekmek kateif, gullach and more. We too offered to them flaounes (traditional cheese cake) and other kind of meals on our holydays...

Because of the friendly relation we had to the Turkish Cypriots, we considered the Bayram celebrations as an occasion for revelry for ourselves as well... We used to go to their celebrations and they used to come to ours...

An 80 years old neighbour, I had and who used to speak Greek without a flaw, had the habit to weave jasmines together, put them on a tray to offer them to the others, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots... He used to tell me: `Take, Andrico, take some jasmine so that your house can smell beautifully, my son...! `

I knew Osman Orek well and had friendly relations to him, whose father was the hodja (Turkish Cypriot cleric) in the part of the town. Osman was the first minister of defence of the Republic of Cyprus.

Another well known, funny and good at heart guy in our neighbourhood was someone we called «Saat Kach ishte» («What time is it?»). He used to walk around all the year round wearing a coat. He always had with him two watches and asked whoever he met: «Saat Kach ishte?» !

There were plenty of such people in our neighbourhood...

The inhabitants of Ayios Loucas used to have mulberry trees in their gardens where they kept silkworms. Then they gathered in the garden of a Turkish Cypriot called Mevlit, where the silk mercer came to produce the silk. There was a large water tank in that garden (havuz), where the children on Pentecost (also called «Cataclysm day») used to play games with the water...

Pembe hanim sat down outside our house door and protected us from the vandalizing fanatics who caused a lot of damage to the houses of the Greek Cypriots during the first events of 1956. »

These are just a few of the summaries of interviews… You may read more at: www.ikme.eu/cybihi/

 

4.8.2013

 

Photo: Old Cyprus…

 

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 1^st of September 2013, Sunday.

The bicommunal oral history of Cypriots…

The bicommunal oral history of Cypriots…

 

Sevgul Uludag

 

Caramel_cy@yahoo.com

 

00 357 99 966518

00 90 542 853 8436

 

More than ten years ago, before the checkpoints would open up between the two `sides` of Cyprus, we were meeting in Pyla and discussing about the bi-communal oral history of our island. Research institutes from the two `sides` of our island, IKME and BILBAN were cooperating despite the partition line, to try to collect stories particularly from mixed villages where Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots lived together. What were their memories of a mixed life, that no longer existed? What did they remember, good and bad? Were there mixed marriages in those times? What did people remember from each other's traditions and customs? How did they celebrate their weddings? What about the working life? Those who worked together, what did they remember? What was social life among Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots like? Did they mix? Did they help each other?

With Alecos Tringides as the director of IKME and Rasih Keskiner as the director of BILBAN, the two research institutes, one from each community, we set up on a path to collect memories from very diverse backgrounds… I would be interviewing some Turkish Cypriots since at that time, `crossing` was extremely difficult, even for a journalist – the checkpoints did not open up yet to allow free passage… Some Greek Cypriots would be interviewing some Greek Cypriots… And in the end, we would get all the interviews together, 174 of them, on a database with English summaries on a website and the actual video interviews would be available with subtitles to the researchers from the island and abroad…

It was a pioneering and first of its kind adventure – the amount of information collected was so valuable, it is still valid today, telling us of another kind of life, a life that was mixed, a life without trouble until mid-50s…

I would go to villages to find people to speak to, who had lived in mixed villages. My son, barely 13-14 years old at that time would be helping me with the camera. We would go to Gypsou to find an old lady originally from Kalo Horio (Vuda) who would tell us stories from her village… She would cut a chicken from her garden, clean it and cook it before we would go to visit her, just like in the old times… We would sit in her beautiful garden, full of flowers, enjoying the dolmades she had done for us, listening to her, Aysel Erchakica, chatting about her grandchildren… One of her grandchildren had a lamb as a pet and the lamb would follow the angoni everywhere – he would call the lamb `Chattirez` and we would watch the lamb clattering away in the kitchen, crossing the living room and coming to sit with us during lunch! It was a `Kinali Kuzu` as we would call in Turkish, `kina` meaning `henna` because it had color of henna on its ears and on parts of its body… Aysel Hanim was a real organizer – throughout her life she had struggled for peace, equality, democracy – she would write letters to our newspaper Yeniduzen, talking about the problems of farmers… She was a real hard worker and had so much energy and always a smiling face… Her husband had been bedridden and she was taking care of him like a professional nurse, never complaining, always with a smile… She would lose him later on but she had a big family around her, at least keeping her busy in order not to fall to depression for becoming alone in the house. She would watch all tv programmes and had great ideas about how to fix things – if I had had power, I would send her to the parliament – she would be someone to speak the truth, nothing but the truth and also set out practical ways of sorting things out. She was a real Cypriot woman from grassroots…

I would visit an old man in the area of Kyrenia, living in a tiny room complete with his bed, his chest, his TV, his small refrigerator, a ventilator for the summer, a soba for the winter. He would tell me about how he had become displaced five times and he had had nine kids, he was always leaving something behind, something precious never to be able to retrieve it but memories would still be fresh in his mind and in his heart…

This unusual and touching story is about an old man, 85 years old, who has become a refugee five times during the Cyprus conflict. He talks of his exodus within his own country, how he tried to survive with 9 kids and his longing for peace in Cyprus.

Born in Prastio, Paphos he was 85 years old at the time of the interview. They had very good relations in his village. Only after the conflict began that the relations began to soar.

He first emigrated in 1958 and returned in 1960.

In 1958 he was 39 years old. He had some land and worked in agriculture. In 1958 during the conflict between the British and the Greek Cypriots, the villagers were afraid and the village emigrated to different towns and villages. They returned in 1960 to Prastyo – the Cyprus government built a new village in the same village there. In 1963 they emigrated again. In a close village, a Greek Cypriot was shot at and couple of hundred of soldiers surrounded their village in 1963 so they left the village to go to Malia. They stayed there for a month and when conflict began there, he went to Avdimou… He stayed there for 10 years. After 1974 he emigrated again, this time to the northern part of Cyprus.

He had 9 kids and 20 grandchildren…

Noone wanted to treat him badly because they all knew him – only couple of times Greek Cypriots would not allow them to go to Nicosia.

There was trade amongst Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. Greek Cypriot merchants also helped him at the time when they lived together.

He wanted peace now – there's a lot of discrimination in the north and he's not happy with the situation he had told me…

I knew his grandson Ahmet who was very active in the bi-communal movement of youth in those difficult years – he had raised beautiful children and beautiful angoni who were throughout the years contributing to the peace movement on the island. I would sit there mesmerized at what this old man was telling me, looking at the tiny room he was carrying out his life in and feeling so sad…

I would go to interview an old man from Kondomenos (Kordemen in Turkish) who would tell me of the first `provocation` set up by the British colonialists at the end of 1950s. He would tell me how a group of Greek Cypriots being arrested and taken to Nicosia and then being set free in Gonyeli, meanwhile someone `unknown` burning the fields and informing the Turkish Cypriots of Gonyeli that `Greek Cypriots had come to attack them, to burn their fields and to kill them…` Falling into this trap of provocation by the British, some Turkish Cypriots of Gonyeli would take their knives and batons and run to kill some innocent Greek Cypriots in those fields… Later on some other Greek Cypriots would `retaliate`, killing a very young teacher from Gonyeli, Huseyin Yalchin who had had his first teaching job at Ayia Marina village. Huseyin Yalchin is still `missing` today after so many years…

I would go to Kyrenia to interview a couple, a mixed marriage of a Turkish Cypriot and a Greek Cypriot. They had remained in Kyrenia and I would be amazed with them, not being aware at that time that there had been many mixed marriages until the 50s but because they would change name and religion, you would not be able to trace them easily… Much later, I would find advertisements and announcements in small print in the Turkish Cypriot newspapers of 1950s, declarations by the Mufti (the highest religious leader of those times) that Mrs. Eleni had changed from Orthodox religion to Islam and changed her name to Emine – many advertisements like that I would find… I would find out stories from Famagusta where there were mixed marriages and Famagusta would have a better culture of accomodating these couples, rather than attacking them like it would happen in Nicosia. Nicosia, Eleni would go `missing` and we are still looking for her burial site. She would get married with a Turkish Cypriot, the owner of the famous `Con Coffee` (`John Coffee`) and in 1963 one night after the `troubles` began, some Turkish Cypriot soldiers would come to their house, knock on the door, take her away and make her `missing`. Her husband would be heartbroken – he would search for months and in the end would leave for London and stay there many years, eventually coming back… Eleni had had a sister, Despinou, who had married a Turkish Cypriot in Famagusta, Kemal but nothing would happen to them since Famagusta, being a more accomodating town with a port, would only show respect to this marriage…

A wealth of stories, good and bad and I would travel around the northern part of the island, continuing the interviews. In a village around the Morphou area, I would interview an old man from Potamia who would tell me how he had been a witness to the killing of some priests but later on he would ask his son to call me to delete that part from the interview… Probably, this might have been the priests from the Kofinou area but at night as he would go to bed, he would think about it, feel uncomfortable and call his son in the morning to call me and not include that in the interview… Untold stories would surface, things perhaps we had heard of but never heard it from the mouth of an actual witness.

We have a group on Facebook called `The Cyprus Dream` created by Adonis Constantinides from Kyrenia and he would find a link to these interviews and share it – thanks to him, I would remember all this vast work we had done in those difficult times… I only knew the Turkish Cypriot interviews but never had had any chance to look closely at the Greek Cypriot interviews. I would read and share with my Turkish Cypriot readers the stories of the Greek Cypriots done for the bi-communal oral history project of IKME and BILBAN. I will also share with you some summaries of these interviews next week…

 

3.8.2013

 

Photo: Old Cyprus…

 

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 25^th of August, 2013.