Stories from Agios Vasilios, Shilloura and Sysklipos… Sevgul Uludag Tel: 00 357 99 966518 00 90 542 853 8436 Little Maria had no idea about what was happening around Sysklipos back in 1963: She was barely 11 years old at that time, living a happy life, not aware of the process that was taking Cyprus to shambles… Back in 1963 in December there started a process that already had seeds of conflict which had started to grow from the 1950s… Little Maria was happy living in Sysklipos, looking at life with starry eyes in this beautiful mountain village with abundance of fruit, nuts and food… Her father, a farmer of cows, sheep and goats, her mother, a very active woman who was everywhere were taking care of the family, a family with eight boys and a girl – Maria was the only daughter and she had eight brothers… Her grandfather was the priest of the village, Papageorgiou, who was known for being a peaceful man and resolving conflicts and preserving harmony… But there were others in other villages that were ready to disrupt these peaceful days in the area that Maria did not know of… It all began in Agios Vasilios, a village not far from And yet in December 1963, some Greek Cypriots of this village, together with a team from Kokkinotrimitia would stage an attack on the Turkish Cypriots… Turkish Cypriots of Agios Vasilios would all leave the village. All, except around 10 or 11 people, an old woman with a ten year old granddaughter called Ayshe, some youngsters, some old people – men and women… Little Ayshe was the same age as Maria, going to school and not knowing that a tragic end waited for her… The attack would come and although most of the Turkish Cypriots from the village would manage to escape, little Ayshe and her grandmother, as well as some others could not: They would all be massacred and then buried in a mass grave in Agios Vasilios. Agios Vasilios was the key to the events in the area in December 1963 – Turkish Cypriots of Agios Vasilios as they left the village, would go to Shilloura, another mixed village. When the Turkish Cypriots of Shilloura would hear the news of the attack of the Greek Cypriots on Agios Vasilios, they too would join the refugees and would leave together to go to Phota, a Turkish Cypriot village of the area. Soon few Turkish Cypriots living in Agios Ermolaos would also leave and go to Phota, out of fear of coming under attack. Turkish Cypriots from Denia would also leave and go to Phota – one of their sons, Mustafa Ali, working at the airport would be killed by a Greek Cypriot co-worker and he would go `missing`… Turkish Cypriots of Lapithos would also gather in Phota – all the Turkish Cypriot refugees from this whole area would start living in mandras, in half-finished or half-demolished houses, later on tents would be acquired and they would set on a course of misery for the next decade to follow… They would lose their animals, their land, their houses, their photographs, their furniture, their clothes and blankets and quilts, everything they needed to carry on with their daily lives… They would have to settle in Phota and Pileri and Krini and would try to survive on this land of misery… Children would be born and put in makeshift vegetable baskets that would serve as beds, refugee children would have to depend on the villagers for their daily need for milk and food… They would lose all opportunities that `normal` children would have… There will begin a life of misery and poverty, a life of uncertainty not only in this area but in the whole of the island, fear becoming the king with a crown… Fear would rule the lives of ordinary people, fear of being killed, fear of being kidnapped, fear of disappearing, fear of not being able to provide food and a shelter for your children… Fear of not having basic needs to carry on the daily life under the Cypriot sun and the blue sky… All of the things that the Greek Cypriots would live through in 1974, the Turkish Cypriots would pass through those back in 1963: The massacres, the kidnappings, the rapes, the disappearances and most of all the fear that would feed the monster of lack of confidence towards the other community. This would be the work of a handful of Greek Cypriots and some Turkish Cypriots and yet the whole island would start suffering in the years to come and it would affect our future on this island. 1963 would also bring misery to Greek Cypriots who would also come under attack in different places: They would also disappear, becoming `missing`, they would also be killed, they would also become refugees and lose everything – maybe not on a big scale as in 1974 but what does scale matter? What matters is the human misery on this island, that both have experienced it and not only both but the Armenian Cypriots would also be affected from this all, losing their homes and work… Maronite Cypriots would also be affected but who cares in the end, when it comes to shaping the partition of the island? In Agios Vasilios, those who had staged the attack, some Greek Cypriots of Agios Vasilios and Kokkinotrimitia would first loot the houses and mandras of the Turkish Cypriots. They would steal what they could – even today the gandjelli of some houses in Kokkinotrimitia are from those times – the looted ironwork surrounds the house of some Greek Cypriots… They would steal the animals and bring them back to Kokkinotrimitia to start their own farms – all of this would be repeated by some Turkish Cypriots in 1974 – same massacres, same lootings, same rapes, same stealing of animals and furniture, the greed that comes with war and they would all call this `heroism` in both communities and praise those who had done it! Sure, nothing had started out of the blue, we had the 50s with the British dividing and ruling, using the two main communities against each other and starting to breed insecurity and `nationalisms` against each other but Cypriots – both Turkish and Greek – would fall to the trap – they would be used against each other, not actually grasping what the real game was… In Shilloura too, the houses that the Turkish Cypriots had abandoned would be looted, afterwards some of them would be burned or demolished. Maria Nikiforou Papageorgiou was only 11 years old then and she would see some houses burning and learn that the Turkish Cypriots of Shilloura had left the village. But she wouldn't really understand as a child, what was going on and what was to follow… Maria would grow up in Sysklipos, the granddaughter of the priest of the village – Georgios Papageorgiou had come with his wife Theognosia from Agios Ermolaos to settle in Sysklipos as the priest of the village. He would build a big, beautiful house close to the church and would have nine children, six boys and three girls. Maria's father Hadjicosta Papageorgiou had been a farmer with cows and sheep and she would be the only daughter of the family with eight brothers! `We always had harmony and we were a very happy family` she would tell me… `My mother was a very active woman, she would be everywhere! She too was very close to her own family…` Despite what had happened in 1963, Maria would remember that their relations with Turkish Cypriots in the area were good: `We would travel on the same bus with the Turkish Cypriot workers and there were some Turkish Cypriot workers working in our village. My grandfather was a peace builder – he would always try to resolve conflicts… I remember after the conflict in 1963, one of our villagers, Frixos Irakleous, a quiet shepherd was beaten up by a Turkish Cypriot. Frixos had gone to graze his animals close to Phota – this was a place where shepherds from both communities were grazing their animals. Even this did not turn into dramatic events…` Sysklipos would not be involved in the conflict until 1974 when some Turkish Cypriots from Krini accompanied by some Turkish soldiers would go to a house in the village and would kill a group of 14 Greek Cypriots on the 3rd of August 1974. And Maria's father would `disappear` on the 26th of July 1974 – Maria has five `missing` relatives – her father, her uncle Josif Papageorgiou, her aunty Christallou, her other aunt Anastasia and uncle Christodoulos Kamenos… We would visit the village with Maria on the 11th of December 2012 so that she could show us a possible burial site, together with the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee. She would show us the place of a well where some `missing` from the village might be buried… Before that, I would go with the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee on the 30th of November 2012 to look for a possible burial site between the road from Sysklipos to Agios Ermolaos, a field where there might be a mass grave. According to the information I had gathered, a Turkish Cypriot had tried to rent this field but was refused. When he enquired from the leaders of the village, one of them would tell him that `There is a mass grave in that field so that's why they don't allow you to rent it…` This field was on the way from the house where the massacre of 14 Greek Cypriots took place so it would seem `logical` that they might have been buried in that field. 21 Greek Cypriots who had remained in Sysklipos are `missing` and I believe that the remains of only three of them have been found… We still need to find out more details about possible burial sites, investigate more and try to find the remains of Maria's father, as well as all those others `missing` from the village… One day I cook chicken with sweet oranges and clementines, a recipe I developed myself and invite Maria to my house. My old friend Nouritza translates since Maria cannot speak English… We talk and then we eat and have our coffee together, trying to understand what had happened in Sysklipos… Maria is in so much pain that it affects her whole life, just as it is with so many hundreds of relatives of `missing` persons… Maria wants to know what happened to her father and where he is buried… `I am not someone for vengeance` she says… The huge gap in her life would only be filled if only she knows what happened and if she receives the remains of her father… For this both I and my readers will try to help so that she can have at least some peace of mind in this life… If anyone has any details about Sysklipos, please call me on my mobile, with or without your name: 99 966518. If we each help a little bit, people like Maria will no longer live in torture but at least would have closure of a very painful chapter of their lives… So please help us if you know anything… 12.1.2013 Photo: Maria in Sysklipos… (*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 10th of February, 2013 Sunday. |
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