Eight little coffins…

Eight little coffins…   Sevgul Uludag   caramel_cy@yahoo.com   Tel: 00 357 99 966518 00 90 542 853 8436   `Respected dead, I've never known you when you were lost. My mother was only 5 years old. Not even in one picture I saw you. Now they tell me in these little coffins thee is whatever is left out of you, bones, 39 years old. Tears for leaving our homes, the rapes, the injustice, the murdering, the refugees, the occupation… Years full of tears for a return which never comes… Today in front of us we have eight little coffins, that's you, that's what DNA says – one is `missing` only, auntie Nitsa… She was found nowhere but it doesn't matter, their souls are present, ready for the eternal trip. They will fly there where there is no war or soldiers or military… There the word occupation is unknown… There, where there is no barbed wire… What can I say to you whom I never met? To say `Adieu` now that you're leaving definitely, there are no words, there are no tears, only a simple `Adieu` and a humble flower in your memory… I wasn't lucky to know you, not even the village of Pappou Costas. But inside me I know I have something from you since you are my ancestors. I wish I could turn the time backwards and talk to you but it cannot be done, everything is finished. Everything except the long, distant memory… A remembrance which will keep the same name with our half country, with our proud Pentataktilo which is sending us a message with its stone palm… With the cyclamen of the mountains, with the air which will seek among the rocks and send a message to all of us… Patience until the day of return… So let the soil to be put on you be light…` The young Malvina Zgardeli says these words in the church in Latsia, the Agios Eleftherios Church where 8 little coffins are laid out side by side on the 21st of April 2013 Sunday… Her speech touches my heart since it's written in such a humanitarian way… Malvina is the great granddaughter of Charalambous Zervos and Maritsa Zervou, whose remains are in these coffins… The remains of their son Andreas Zervou is also in one of the coffins. Maritsa was born in 1913, Charalambous Zervos in 1909 – they were husband and wife and their son Andreas was born in 1940. Maritsa's old mother, Elenitsa Chakkari born in 1890 – her remains are also here in one of those small coffins. In other coffins is Loulla Kontos born in 1918, her daughter Sotiroulla born in 1948 and her son Panayiotis born in 1958. Sotiroulla had been six months' pregnant when she was killed… The remains of the husband of Loulla, Andreas Kontos, a shepherd born in 1913 have been found in another mass grave in Chatoz. Except for Andreas Kontos, they were all killed and buried together in a mass grave in Neachorio Kythrea that one of my Turkish Cypriot readers showed to me and to the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee. If it wasn't for the humanity of my reader, this mass grave perhaps will never be found since the Committee had done digging in this place around 2006 and had only found one human bone, not the mass grave. My reader had called me one day and told me that her uncle had in fact seen this mass grave when he was a kid and he remembered quite well and was very upset when he found out that the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee excavation team had dug here and could not find the mass grave. `Call Sevgul` he told his cousin, `and ask her to come and see… It is there, the mass grave, I know because I saw it with my own eyes as a child…` So I would go to visit this reader on the 16th of September 2010 and she would show me and the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee the place of the mass grave, as well as another place. Okan Oktay, the Coordinator of Excavations of the Committee would confirm that in fact they dug here and could not find the mass grave… So digging would begin after we show the two possible burial sites to them and soon the remains of 7 Greek Cypriots in one mass grave and two in another burial place in the same area would be found. During the exhumation process, I would visit the mass graves and sit and watch the archaeologists digging… The family of my reader would offer lemonade and coffee and cakes to the working archaeologists and would really take care of them… The remains of the seven Greek Cypriots of Kontos and Zervos families are now in these little coffins and in the eighth coffin are the remains of Andreas Kontos that were found in Chatoz, buried together with some Greek Cypriot `missing` soldiers… The remains of the other two `missing` Greek Cypriots found in the same area at the same time have not yet been returned to their families but we have an idea of who they might be – we will just wait for the confirmation of their identities through the DNA tests. I go to the funeral together with my friend Maria Georgiadou from Kythrea whose mother, father, sister and brother are `missing`. With us is also Xenia from Neachorio Kythrea – Xenia was married to Maria's brother who's `missing` since 1974 from the area… Xenia is a bit bitter since she has been waiting all these years for any information about her husband, a working class woman who started working at a very early age and who had to raise her daughter alone since her husband went `missing`… She has had a harsh life, losing her husband, her house, everything that belonged to her and having to stand on her feet for the sake of raising her beautiful daughter… After the speeches people start laying flowers on the coffins…I too have brought flowers and go to lay them on the coffins, looking at the photographs displayed on the small coffins… When they announce my name, saying that I had contributed to the finding of the remains of their loved ones, there is big clapping in the church and soon, I am surrounded by relatives of `missing` persons, who are still waiting for any news about their loved ones… I take their names and phone numbers, to communicate in the coming weeks, to go and visit them, to sit with them, to listen to their stories and to try to find out any information about what might have happened to them and their possible burial sites… My reader who had shown me and the Committee the mass grave could not come since she lost her grandmother this week and she too is busy at home with visitors who come to offer their condolences. But she has sent her greetings to the Zervos and Kontos families, hoping that perhaps in the future she can meet them face to face… From one night before, I had become very anxious about this funeral – I could not imagine how I would feel to see eight small coffins lined up together, even though I was not family and even though I had never met the `missing persons` found in the mass grave… I was anxious and tense and could not sleep, getting up every half hour and then finally giving up completely the idea of any sleep… I had met some of the relatives when they came with us to show more possible burial sites and we had gone to the mass grave and laid flowers with them… Today in the church as I stand with Maria and Xenia looking at these coffins and listening to the speeches that Maria translates for me to understand, I become more and more upset as I realize that Maria Rotou, the daughter of Sotiroulla whose remains are in one of the coffins, is also there… It is the first time that I am seeing Maria Rotou and my heart is beating wildly in its cage – I want to get out but I remain rooted where I am… My hands freeze and I start feeling sick… I had written the story of little Maria, who had remained alive from the massacre – she was barely one or two years old and she did not realize that her mother had been killed and continued to suck her breast… Greek Cypriot women who had been taken to Neachorio Kythrea to collect food for the prisoners of war camp Voni had found her sucking her mother's breast and had taken her to the camp. She had remained alive from the massacre in the house in Neachorio Kythrea, just a small baby holding on to her mother Sotiroulla… She is here, standing with her father and I go and shake her hand – I cannot imagine what sort of a nightmare she has gone through, how deep she must have suffered and the only thing I can offer her is my condolences and the tears of my heart… The face of Maria Rotou will stay with me for many days to come – at night I will shiver and have a high fever and lay down for 48 hours simply thinking of those eight little coffins and the life of Maria Rotou who had to come face to face with war at such an early age… At least in mourning she is not alone – hundreds of people gathered here to help her and the other relatives of `missing` to bury their loved ones and to share their grief… I will recover very slowly, all the time thinking how big an injustice is war and how it's against anything that's human… The only way to continue is to continue to work to ensure a country that will not know what war is and children like Maria Rotou will not go through hell while still alive… The only way to overcome is to hold on to each other as humans, trying to understand how each and every one of us have suffered in this country and to try to make sure that our future will not have such agony… The eight little coffins should teach us that and more if only we are willing to learn…   2.5.2013   Photo:  Maria Rotou with photo of her mother Sotiroulla…   (*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 26th of May 2013 Sunday.

In a fenced field in Engomi…

In a fenced field in Engomi…   Sevgul Uludag   caramel_cy@yahoo.com   Tel: 00 357 99 966518 00 90 542 853 8436   One of my Greek Cypriot readers calls me: `There are excavations at Engomi` he says… `Yes, I know…` `But they are digging the wrong place` he says… `The field they are digging is the area but where they should excavate should be further down` he says. `Okay, I guess you can show me this place?` I ask him. `Yes of course but provided I will remain anonymous` he says. `Sure, of course… Unless you want, I shall never tell anyone who you are… This is relevant for all witnesses who speak to me… Otherwise, I would never be able to work in this country!` I say to him. We agree to meet on Thursday... This Greek Cypriot reader had also called me during the excavations at Parisinos-Strovolos area – the excavation team of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee was looking for remains of some Turkish Cypriot `missing` persons at that time. And this reader had called to say that, `They should dig across the road, the well they are looking for is not where they are digging now, it's just across the road…` We had met with him and he had shown me the locality of this well… After some time, as the excavations moved up to this area where he had pointed out, in fact remains of five `missing persons` from 1963-64 were found in the well he had shown to me… That's why I value the information that this Greek Cypriot reader has… He does not call me unless it's necessary – he only calls me when he thinks it's really important to say something. I go to meet him on the 18th of April 2013 Thursday… We park our cars a bit away from the excavation area. `Let us not get too close` he says. `Okay` I say… Since it's around lunch time, the archaeologists who are carrying out the excavations for the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee, together with the bulldozer operators have taken a break, sitting down on the floor, eating what they had brought with them. They see me and recognize me from afar and start waving their hands… `See?` my Greek Cypriot reader says, `There you go! They recognized you!` `Doesn't matter… They don't know who you are` I say… `Look` he says, `see the fenced area behind where they are digging now? My information is that the burial site is within that fenced area, at the very edge towards the right` he says. `How many persons did they bury here?` I ask him. `As far as I know, there might be four `missing` Turkish Cypriots buried here` he says. `Is there a well there?` I ask him. `No` he says, `there is no well, they dug and buried them… One of the close relatives of one of the killers had told me this and shown me this` he says… He tells me which armed team of Greek Cypriots from 1963 had committed this crime. `Thanks so much for this valuable information` I say to him. `Now I will go to the archaeologists and tell them what you told me…` `If they find the remains here, please call me and tell me` he says. `Of course…` I thank my reader and we say goodbye to each other… I find out that in this area some Greek Cypriots might also have been killed and buried by the same armed Greek Cypriot team… This could be an area where both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots have been murdered and buried… Actually this is a very strange area: When you cross from the Agios Dometios (Kermia) checkpoint and you reach the traffic lights, you see the Coca Cola factory in front of you… This area is behind the Coca Cola factory…. Years ago, a Greek Cypriot woman reader, an old lady had contacted me from London to say that she was following my articles and she too, had some information about the possible burial site of some Turkish Cypriots `missing` since 1963-64… According to this old lady, some `missing` Turkish Cypriots had been buried behind the Coca Cola factory, near a river bed… In those years, I had informed the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee but no matter what, the old lady would not say anything more to me. It was no use insisting on this. Now as I stand here, I remember the information she had given me… Just across where the excavations are taking place, there used to be the MAHI newspaper headquarters of Sampson… Now, this place has become a café-restaurant. I start feeling nausea and have goosebumps… If this had been an execution and burial ground, then no one would hear the cries of those innocent Turkish Cypriots or Greek Cypriots killed here because in the 60s this whole area must have been very isolated and empty… I take my car closer to the excavation site and go to speak to the archaeologists on lunch break. I relate what my Greek Cypriot reader had just told me and show them where he had pointed out, that the burial site might be in the fenced area, showing them the location that he has shown me… The archaeologists Mete, Mustafa, Christiana, Stelios, Giannis and Margarita together with bulldozer operators Stavros and Giorgos are excavating this big area in the name of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee. There had been a lot of debris in this field and first, they had to remove the debris… As I show them the fenced area and tell them what my Greek Cypriot reader has just told me, one of the archaeologists says `We will excavate the fenced area after we finish this field…` Then they finish their lunch break and go back to work… I say goodbye to them… As soon as I come back I call Xenophon Kallis and Murat Soysal, the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee to tell them about the information that my Greek Cypriot reader gave me and that I had shown the area to the archaeologists digging there. I want to thank this Greek Cypriot reader for the valuable information he has shared with us… Through such humanitarian acts, perhaps more families will find a little bit of peace at last…   20.4.2013   Photo: Digging in Engomi...   (*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 19th of May 2013 Sunday.

The story of a mass grave from Kornokipos…

The story of a mass grave from Kornokipos…   Sevgul Uludag   caramel_cy@yahoo.com   Tel: 00 357 99 966518 00 90 542 853 8436   These days, there is great sadness amongst some Greek Cypriot relatives of `missing persons` - the remains of their loved ones have been found and they are in the process of burying them… It would be extremely hard to describe how they might feel since all the remains that came out of the mass grave in Kornokipos (Gornech) are a bunch of kneecaps, teeth, small bones – not whole skeletons… Imagine a woman whose husband has been `missing` for the past 39 years and she's informed that his remains have been found and all she would get would be a kneecap or a small bone to put in a coffin and bury… This is so inhuman… Why is this happening? It is because the mass grave in Kornokipos had been emptied and all that could be recovered has been some kneecaps, some small bones and some teeth at the bottom of the grave… I have written a lot about what had happened in Kornokipos back in 2008 and 2009 and recently some of my Turkish Cypriot readers have also told me what they knew… While sharing the deep pain of 29 families of `missing` who are getting back the little remains and having burial ceremonies, I try to contribute with the information of my Turkish Cypriot readers about this mass grave that has been emptied… Perhaps this will not bring any consolation to anyone, it will not lessen the indescribable pain but I believe that the families have a right to know about what happened to their loved ones. That's why I call my readers once again to tell me what they know about this mass grave. One of my Turkish Cypriot readers from Kornokipos, tells me the story of the mass grave in their village… He says: `They were 31 persons, 30 of them Greek Cypriots and one of them Greek. Apparently they were soldiers retreating from the Pachiammos-Kyrenia area and had ended up on a hill near Kornokipos (Gornech). I think it was two or three days after the 14th of August 1974. Some of those Greek Cypriots had been from the Paphos area so they had no clue that where they were standing was a Turkish Cypriot village – they could not differentiate whether it was a Greek Cypriot or a Turkish Cypriot village. One of our villagers had seen them but did not do anything. He had come back to the village and informed the soldiers about what he had seen. The Turkish Cypriot soldiers would go and arrest them. This was an area on the hill called `Tatlisu` (`Sweet water`) – not a village name but the name of the vicinity since there was water here where mountain goats came to drink… They were taken to the headquarters in the village and there started an argument amongst some of the villagers… Three Turkish Cypriots from our village had been killed during the attack of the Greek Cypriots on Chatoz village, Ahmet Ince, Ali Kani and Celal Sari and this had created a shock and deep sadness, as well as anger among some of the villagers. As the argument went on, some of the villagers would say, `Let us give them to the UN` and others would say, `No! Let's kill them, like they killed our villagers!` So they would decide to go to the chief commander of the area in Chatoz. They went to see him. The chief commander told them, `If you do anything to them, we will be in trouble with the UN. You shouldn't do anything to them…` but some of the villagers would not listen to him and started shouting at him… The argument went on and on and finally, the chief commander told them, `Do as you like…` so they would do as they liked. I was not there myself but I was told by those who were present that this had happened. In the headquarters in Kornokipos, this group would be beaten up… They had been arrested around noon and by the evening, they would all be executed...I was only 13 years old at that time and I saw them being put on a trolley, at the back of a tractor and taken to a spot where there used to be a road used by donkeys… We used to call it `The donkey track…` Here, they were executed and buried… Years later when it became clear that the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee would excavate the mass grave in our village, one night a bulldozer and a truck came and the mass grave was emptied. They used the guise of having a `military exercise` to cover up the emptying of the mass grave… Some people said, there were also some policemen but I don't know who were there… What we know is that they emptied the grave and loaded the remains on the truck and the truck went away, we don't know where… Very close to our village there is a military camp – were the bones taken and buried there? Or were they buried elsewhere? We don't know… Then came the excavation team of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and dug the mass grave… They would only find some knee caps, small bones, some teeth but not the actual remains… The mass grave had been emptied already… There was another group of five Greek Cypriot soldiers who had been caught on a hill on Ay Ηariton (now called Ergenekon). I remember them well, it was around the 14th of August 1974 – I don't know the exact date… I remember these five soldiers crying, their clothes were soaked, they were wet… I don't know what happened to them…` Another reader of mine who had been in Chatoz in 1974, a young boy at that time had told me of a group of 5-6 or 7 Greek Cypriots executed and buried near Kornokipos. I call him again to tell me what he remembers. He says: `What I know is that 5 or 6 Greek Cypriots were executed in the place where there is a military camp now. This place was used for training prior to 1974 and they used to also hold military parades here until 1970… Those who went to watch these executions told me that they were buried under some depots… `We went and watched` they told me and I asked them `How can you go and watch such a thing?` And they said to me `They had told us come and watch so your pain will ease… So we went…` I could not comprehend this – some Turkish Cypriots had been killed during the attack of the Greek Cypriots on Chatoz so there was a lot of resentment, particularly in those days of 1974… Who could have been executed there? There was a group of five or six persons who had been arrested when Turkish soldiers had entered Chatoz. They had been hiding in some straw and the straw was set on fire and some got out and these five or six persons were caught. They were put in a storage and kept there… Apart from these five, there was a sixth person who had come from Kornokipos to Chatoz on the first day of the war on a motorcycle and he had been arrested – he too was kept in the same storage place as the other 5-6 Greek Cypriots. Greek Cypriots had attacked and taken over Kornokipos and half of Chatoz in 1974. This guy did not know that in the other half of Chatoz, there were still Turkish Cypriots so he had got on his motorcycle to go to Chatoz, thinking it was safe. And he was arrested. He was kept in a storage as a prisoner and I would give him cigarettes and my superiors would shout at me not to give him anything… He was about 30 years old, tall – around 1.75-1.80… One day as we left this storage and came back, this group was not there. We were told that they were executed. Was this the group executed and buried under the depots? I am not sure… The group of 5 or 6 or 7 Greek Cypriots were executed and a bulldozer came and buried them, laying them down as in the shape of a horseshoe…` As people will speak up more and more, we will learn the tragic, untold story of this island but for me the time of the war in 1974 and even the inter-communal conflicts beginning in 1963 look like a vicious circle – one action affecting the other reaction, one step affecting the next… The only thing that hurts my heart is how humanity was repressed and how `we can do anything, it's time of war` mentality was upraised in almost all areas where there was war on this land. Those who maintained their humanity were in fact not too many although there were some who saved each other and who helped each other, despite the fact that they could have remained `indifferent`. Could things have been prevented if our communities took other courses rather than the ones they took in the last half century? The only use of asking these questions now is perhaps trying to create a deeper understanding of the whys and hows of these terrible crimes in both sides and learning if and how they could have been prevented for the sake of our common future on this island…   27.4.2013   Photo: Painting of Turkish Cypriot artist Nilgun Guney for the "Color of Truth" art exhibition.   (*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 12th of May 2013, Sunday.