In a fenced field in Engomi… Sevgul Uludag 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. |
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