A life spent in struggle for peace: Rezvan Konti…

A life spent in struggle for peace: Rezvan Konti…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436

Born on the 10th of April 1926 in Syngrassi, Rezvan Konti had a tough life… He was one of five children in his family… His family was poorest of the poor – Rezvan Konti could not even complete elementary school due to poverty – when he was in the fourth grade, they took him away from Syngrassi to Arnadhi to stay with his grandfather – when his grandfather could not manage to feed three kids of his daughter he sent them back to Syngrassi and that's when little Rezvan was sent to tend the sheep and become a little shepherd. He was a shepherd until he was about 15-16 years old and then he enrolled to become a soldier in the British army where he served for five years – this took him first to Palestine, to Nazareth, and then to Egypt… From there they set out to go to Greece… When Germany attacked Greece, the ship turned back and left them in Beirut, Lebanon. `We were mixed, both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots serving as soldiers during
the Second World War in the British Army` he would tell me… `In those times there was no discrimination among Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots…`
From Beirut they went to Italy and started carrying dead and wounded soldiers. They started travelling towards Milan but could not make it there so they went back to Rimini, staying there for three or four months… And then they went back to Palestine to stay for three more years… After the Second World War was over, they wanted to get out of the military service but the British would not let them go and when they revolted in 1946, they were imprisoned, around 600-700 soldiers in Palestine. His comrade Poumpouris was similarly imprisoned in Egypt because they too serving in Egypt had revolted. Rezvan Konti continued to tell his story to me:
`Then we were taken to court and AKEL found us a lawyer from London who defended us and finally I managed to come back to Cyprus in 1946 but still they would not let us go… In 1947 I was a soldier near the Golden Sand hotel. I got married in January 1946 and I started skipping the military, they would arrest me and put me in prison… Still they would not let us leave the British military service! They wanted to send us to Japan but we did not want to go all the way to Japan! They managed to send some to Japan but some of those escaped from Japan to Australia! But finally for me the military days were over. I started looking for a job but there was no job… In 1949 I had a conflict with a Greek Cypriot and one of my cousins Hasan Konti who was an electrician started taking care of me. He was a member of AKEL. He found me a job and I started working. Some houses were being built in Famagusta and I was working there as a labourer. A Greek Cypriot called
Kyriacos Vazi had made me a member of AKEL… I looked for him but could not find any trace of him… I don't know if he is alive or not… This was 1951. First I had become a member of PEO and then a member of AKEL. From 1951 until 1960-65 we were going around all the villages and working vigorously inside AKEL, for AKEL… I had started taking up duties in PEO and AKEL.
When EOKA was founded and became active, AKEL sent us someone either from the Central Committee or the Famagusta Branch – I do not remember – called Drousioti – he was a baker – to tell us to leave AKEL.
`Why?` we asked him.
`Because we cannot protect you` he told us. I was against this. First Andreas Fanti, head of Famagusta Branch had called me to a meeting. `Why don't you want to leave AKEL?` he had asked me.
`Where shall we go?` I answered him. My cousin Mustafa Konti, who was later shot both by EOKA and TMT for being a member of AKEL had a famous saying `I go there and Mouhammed chases me away, I come here and Christos chases me away, where shall I go?!!!` We were all in the same difficult situation. Our problem was we were cut off from the Turkish Cypriot community until the newspaper `Inkilapchi` (`Revolutionary`) started being published. Ahmet Sadi, one of the Turkish Cypriot leaders in PEO was saying that `The newspaper will be our protection…`
So the newspaper was published and I was selling this newspaper inside Famagusta…
I had gone to Agia Kepir and people did not know me there. We were together with a friend. One of the villagers saw me and gave me a list and said, `Vre koumparo, perhaps you can help us…`
`If I can, of course I will help you` I told him.
He gave me the hit list of TMT, the list of those who were to be killed! I looked at the list… At number 17 was my own name! Ahmet Sadi was on the 7th row. I remember many of those names… These were names to be killed and they were asking for help to find them to kill them! My cousin Mustafa Konti was at number 33! Hulus who is in London was in the first row… Kavazoghlou was also on that list… When I took the list, I said to the villager from Agia Kepir, `Look… I can find these people for you but I should copy the list in order not to forget!` I took the list and copied it. In the morning I went to AKEL Famagusta Branch… One of our villagers, Alexandros was sitting on the stairs… `Why did you come?` he said. He took me upstairs to the executive committee – there was much fuss about why I had come… I told them and showed them the list and told them that there was orders to kill those on the list, `Please save these friends` I said.
`Go` they told me, `we know that already…`
They called a driver and told him to take me to Chomlekchi… The driver took me there… Those were the days around 1958…
I never severed ties with AKEL… I go and meet them but I feel disappointed because AKEL did not put all its weight for the solution of the Cyprus problem… We only want peace, nothing else… If this goes on too long chauvinism will become stronger and we won't be able to demolish chauvinism… There is friendship, we can prove that… Even some Turkish Cypriots saying `I did not expect this from AKEL` is the result of this friendship. If we continue to be in conflict, we will lose… When we lose, only the imperialists will be benefiting from this…`
These were the words of Rezvan Konti, one of the strongest believers in peace, someone of non-stop struggle, someone who believed in friendship among our communities… Someone who struggled against chauvinism, nationalism and racism despite the very heavy price he paid throughout his life for being in the `opposition`. These were the words of Rezvan Konti whom I interviewed in 2005… He passed away a few days ago… May he rest in peace and may we all learn from his life because he never gave up hope that one day we will be a reunified country without discrimination and in peace…

17.9.2014

Photo: Rezvan Konti

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 28th of September, 2014 Sunday.

The long, hot summer…

The long, hot summer…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436

It's a long, hot summer… We try to survive in the centre of Cyprus, in Nicosia, in our garden watching our little cat's curiosity – he is interested in everything and he wants to be part of everything happening around him… If I am in the kitchen, he is there, trying to figure out how to climb to the sink to see what it is that I am doing… If I am in my room working on the computer, he climbs to the table and wants to go on the keyboard and see what's going on… If we are in the garden, he too is there, around the little pond with the turtles – he wants so much to play with the turtles but turtles are very shy and he keeps on trying to touch them with his paw, getting himself wet and then licking it off and sitting for hours by the pond, watching them eat or swim… He is a very pale yellow, almost pink and his hair is so soft… He hides under beds or chairs and at times he has a lot of energy and jumps all over the place, climbing
trees, catching bugs and bringing them in for us to see… His innocence touches our hearts…
It's a long, hot summer and we try to survive the heaviness of this land through the innocence of the animals, through the excitement of waiting for our son to come to us for a short holiday from Germany – we can only see him two or three times a year and when he comes, life becomes a festival so we wait for him to finish his studies and come back so he can cheer us up and give us hope and empower us so that we can survive the heaviness of Cyprus…
It's a long, hot summer but I continue to work as always, going to Lefkoniko to see a cousin for the first time that I never knew existed. Based in London, he has come for a short holiday and he writes to me – he too not knowing that we are cousins – and wants to show a well in his yard that have been closed…
`My grandmother always had been suspicious about this well` he explains to me… `She was saying, there would be no reason why the Greek Cypriots would close such a big well with so much water in it and she always suspected that maybe they had buried someone in the well…`
Turkish Cypriots had left the village in 1958 and would only return in 1974… In 1958 Menikou from Koufes was executed in the centre of the village by some Greek Cypriots from EOKA – a Turkish Cypriot witness to this murder, Ismail who had come across them while torturing him and protesting at what they were doing would be killed about a month later. So Turkish Cypriots would be frightened and would leave… This was my father's village, Lefkoniko and Turkish Cypriots would go to nearby Ipsillat – the Greek Cypriot mukhtar of the village would try to encourage the Turkish Cypriots to return to the village but in 1964, another Turkish Cypriot who would go to take out a license for his car would be taken by the Greek Cypriot `gang` in the village and is still `missing` until now… Soon after, those who did not want Turkish Cypriots to return to this village would demolish most of the Turkish Cypriot houses to ensure that they stay where they are…
So I go to Lefkoniko together with the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee on our way to Koma tou Yialou to show a possible burial site. We stop at the centre and my cousin leads us to his house. It's behind the church this house… He shows us the well… While talking, we discover that we are cousins – his grandmother was the sister of my father… Because his mother went to England in 1956 and settled there, I probably never saw her…
He shows us the well which is closed and tells us the story… His auntie also comes and she too tells us what she remembers about the area. We take photos and coordinates – the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee will investigate about this area and see if there is really anything suspicious about this well and whether it can be a possible burial site.
It's a long, hot summer but the earth brings gifts like meeting a cousin whom I did not even know existed and finding out that one of his brothers was named after my father Niyazi. He has also written a book of memories about the 1974 war – he had been a child and had come to Cyprus for holidays and war happened and he got stuck in Cyprus… He gives us his book in English and Turkish… Written from the eyes of a child, he documents what he had seen and felt at that young age…
We thank him and say our goodbyes to move to Koma tou Yialou so I can show the olive trees where there might be a burial site of some `missing` Greek Cypriots from the village.
It's a long, hot summer but my readers continue to call and try to help so I meet them in the south and in the north of our island, we sit and talk, they give me coordinates, they give me books, they give me information about possible new burial sites…
We go to Kyrenia Boghazi together with the son of a `missing person` - he called me to explain that a bulldozer operator had found some remains when he was digging about one and a half years ago and got frightened and covered it up… Now he wants to show us this possible burial site. So I arrange to go with the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and we go to Boghazi-Aghirdagh area to see a half construction where there is a house almost finished and a swimming pool being constructed… When our witness was digging for the swimming pool, he found some leg bones and got frightened. The architect had made a mistake in calculating where the swimming pool would be constructed so he told them to stop and shift it a few meters closer to the house – so they had buried the bones they had found in the place they had dug…
`If you dig around the swimming pool` he explains to us, `you would definitely find the bones there… We were frightened and did not dig more to see…`
They had got permission to cut some trees in order to build the swimming pool…
There is no one around and the whole construction site looks deserted… All around there are fences and a dog barks as we take photos and coordinates. The smell is astonishing: That of the pine trees… There is retsina on the barks, bringing me the memories from Kredhia when as children we used to collect from almond trees this kind of retsina and put them in bottles to sit in the sun to melt to be used as glue…
Later at night I would call one of my readers from Aghirdagh to tell him what we saw… He tells me of another possible burial site in Boghazi and promises to show it when I manage to arrange to go there again…
`There used to be an Englishwoman living in that house, called Sheila if I remember correctly, back in the 70s` he says…
`But it's a new house…`
`Actually it's not – it's been changed and renovated… I think the new owner was a Turkish Cypriot from London but I think he died… I don't know who it belongs to now – let me enquire…` he says.
Soon after a team from the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee starts excavations here and they start finding human remains… We need to be patient to see whether they will find only one or more than one `missing` persons' remains have been buried here…
Next week we will go to Yerolakko and Episkopi for further investigations about other possible burial sites…
The long, hot summer will end but our work and our hopes will not…

29.8.2014

Photo: View from the burial site at Aghirdagh-Boghazi.

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 21st of September 2014, Sunday.

`Peace and reunification are too precious to leave it to the negotiators!`

`Peace and reunification are too precious to leave it to the negotiators!`

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436

Today I want to share with you an article by a veteran of the bi-communal peace movement in Cyprus, Christos Efthymiou where he reflects on the bi-communal relations in Cyprus and says ` Peace and reunification are too precious to leave it to the negotiators!` He wrote this article for `The Open Democracy` website where he looks back and towards the future… Christos Efthymiou who leads the `Together we can` association, a bi-communal association of relatives of `missing` Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots says:
`Reflecting on the relations between the two main communities in Cyprus invariably brings to mind one of the most remarkable Turkish Cypriot figures in history, that of Ali Dervish Kavazoglu. Not because there weren't other equally significant figures but most likely because of the impression that Kavazoglu had on a ten year old boy way back in 1964-65.
The house I was born in was just a few metres from the village centre. The village was called Dhali, 15 km south-west of Nicosia, and is the burial place of Kavazoglu. The meetings that this remarkable Turkish Cypriot was leading at the village centre were impressive to say the least. He managed to gather almost the whole village there with his audience made up of Turkish and Greek Cypriots, left and right wingers, men and women, practically everybody. He was talking about the need to reject the calls for Turkish Cypriots to move into enclaves and that Greek and Turkish Cypriots should stay united. He was talking about how partition or enosis would be catastrophic for Cyprus.
And what was even more impressive for the 10 year old kid was that he actually appeared on TV, calling again for all Cypriots to stay united and defend peaceful coexistence. Since that day of course the clock for his assassination started ticking and it was not long after that he was ambushed and killed. On the day of his burial, thousands attended both from Dhali and the surrounding villages as well as Nicosia and elsewhere. The Turkish Cypriot women were crying as if they had lost a member of their family. It was also as if they were crying for what would come next.
Following the events of 1964-1967, a lot of Turkish Cypriots moved into enclaves. At times of eased tension, contacts between the two communities were at a reasonable level. In villages like Dhali, where relations were not bad, very few Turkish Cypriots had actually moved. More people left after 1974 but quite a few never actually left the village. Nevertheless, Dhali and neighbouring Potamia were an exception. After the war in 1974, and following the Geneva accord, an exchange of population actually took place with just a few hundred Greek Cypriots staying behind, mostly in the Karpasia peninsula, and a few Turkish Cypriots scattered around in the south.
From then onwards contact between the two communities became extremely difficult. Telephones were disconnected, crossing to the other side was practically impossible and the only possibility to meet was at the British Bases in Dhekelia and the village of Pyla on the buffer zone… At times of hopeful developments for a solution to the Cyprus problem, possibilities for improving contacts were increasing. Remarkable progress was made when the pro solution forces among the Turkish Cypriots gained ground, particularly in the early nineties when CTP headed by Ozker Ozgur participated in government. At the time contacts between professional organizations were developing particularly with the Turkish Cypriot Technical Chamber and the Greek Cypriot Civil Engineers, Architects and other professions. Projects, like the Nicosia Master Plan gradually materialized and had a significant impact.
Capacity building efforts of various groups started to be organized first through meetings abroad and subsequently in places like Pyla, but of significant importance was that bi-communal groups started to develop with the British bases. Pergamos and Pyla both became meeting places towards the turn of the century. A wonderful project was the organization of meetings at Pergamos of co-villagers for the first time after 1974. At around the turn of the century, the historic mass mobilizations of the Turkish Cypriots began to peak with the formation of the Platform "This country is ours". The various Greek Cypriot groups who were engaged in bi-communal activity started making attempts to join forces with the Turkish Cypriot Platform in order to enhance the reconciliation process. The first attempt was made by the Civil Initiative for Solution and Reunification, and a couple of years later, at the beginning of 2003, the "Solution Now" Platform was set
up.
Efforts were being made to organize parallel events across the divide: exchanging messages, letting balloons float across the dividing line and much more. But real change came with the opening of check points in April 2003. The whole process changed dimensions. Masses of people went across, old friendships were revitalized, the dark side of the moon was revealed for many people for the first time.
The centre of bi-communal activity was immediately shifted to the Nicosia buffer zone at Ledra Palace. The "Solution Now" Platform became bi-communal and efforts started immediately to coordinate activities with the Turkish Cypriot Platform. Very soon the Ledra Palace buffer zone was, for the first time ever, the area of bi-communal mass gatherings for peace and reunification. Of great symbolic significance was the vigil organized on the buffer zone in July 2003 in memory of the victims from all communities – an event well attended from both sides held in a moving atmosphere.
Since that July of 2003, every year during the summer when the governing rhetoric on both sides keeps building the wall of separation, the bi-communal movement comes together to talk about the violence of the past, remember and honour the victims on both sides of the divide and pave the way to reconciliation.
The process of seeking the truth about this violent past is probably the most powerful tool for building reconciliation. The opening of the check points in April, 2003 started an unprecedented process: the relatives of the missing persons from both sides of the divide started crossing the dividing line in search of information for the fate of their relatives. The work of journalists working on the issue and spaces created by bi-communal activities provided the opportunities for relatives of the missing from both sides to meet and exchange experiences and information. Very soon these people identified with the pain of each other and remarkable friendships formed.
Sometime in 2006, Turkish and Greek Cypriot relatives of the missing and other victims of war came together to form the "Bi-communal Initiative of Relatives of Missing Persons, Victims of Massacres and other Victims of 1963-1974 events" later called "Together we Can!". It was a ground breaking development. The victims of the massacres and atrocious crimes from both sides were coming together to challenge society to stop using their pain to enhance nationalism but face the realities of the violent past and work so that no families in the future will again have to go through the same trauma.
In a revealing piece of research by Aris Sitas, it was concluded that people's attitude towards reconciliation and compromise to reach settlement is linked to how they have been affected by the conflict. Those that have been worst affected through the loss of life are the most positively oriented towards reconciliation and compromise. This is exactly what the Initiative of the Relatives of the missing shows. From meeting to meeting, in gatherings of the missing from both communities in villages, towns, schools and elsewhere this is being proved time and time again. The relatives of the victims through sharing of their experiences, through identifying with each other's pain, easily blend together forming strong bonds, thus constituting a catalyst for reconciliation.
In July 2009, at the yearly commemoration event at the Ledra street check point, the Bi-communal Initiative of Relatives of the Missing along with the rest of the bi-communal movement honoured Greek and Turkish Cypriots that helped save the lives of people of the other community, sending very powerful messages across dividing lines. Among them, Christofis Poseidias who protected the women and children of Dhali in July and August of 1974. And through him people in Dhali that helped protect the Turkish Cypriot men held in custody that were about to be executed by a certain Greek officer. The powerful bonds of the past in this village managed to save lives.
On the following year the bi-communal movement in an event at the Peace Park of Kontea - itself a result of a bi-communal project - honoured Greek and Turkish Cypriots that provided information for burial sites of the missing persons of the other side. By now a large number of missing persons have had their remains found through information from common people.
In 1964 Michalakis Solomontos from Dhali, father of four children, went missing. It was a shocking incident at the time, in an atmosphere of rising nationalism. Last June the remains of Michalakis were identified and handed over to the family for burial. At the funeral the eldest son in his memorial speech warmly thanked investigative journalist Sevgul Uludag and other Turkish Cypriots that helped to trace the burial site. They received a warm and lengthy applause. People are indeed ahead of their leaderships.
Despite the difficulties on the negotiating table, despite the disappointment of the masses of Greek and Turkish Cypriots, still the bi-communal movement is growing with a large base of small or larger groups with the Home of Cooperation on the Ledra Palace buffer zone being a valuable contribution. Since late 2009 most organizations on both sides of the divide working for a reunification of the island have joint forces under the Bi-communal Peace Initiative "United Cyprus".
The Initiative brings together more than 50 or so organizations, Trade Unions, bi-communal groups, professional organizations, writers and artists, cultural groups and others. Despite the large number of organizations and despite the diverse character of all the groups it is remarkable that people have learned to look at the forest rather than the tree. We have all joined forces for a major cause, that of the solution of the Cyprus problem, for the reunification of the island, for reconciliation and peace. Our differences come second to that.
This July the bi-communal movement has announced its intention to work with artists from both sides to develop a common monument honouring the victims of 50 years of intercommunal conflict and war. The announcement has been very well received by society.
On 1 September, the day of action for peace, Greek and Turkish Cypriots will join hands in a human chain connecting the Eleftheria square via Ledra street crossing the dividing line to Kyrenia Gate in the North. Peace and reunification are too precious to leave it to the negotiators!`

14.8.2014

Photo: Christos Efthymiou with Leyla Kıralp...

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 14th of September 2014, Sunday.

Olive trees in Koma tou Yialou…

Olive trees in Koma tou Yialou…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436

We sit in the shade of two old almond trees in midday – we can see the sea further down the road and a small breeze comes to greet us…
In this village in Karpaz called `Koma tou Yialou` we sit with a reader who has opened his house for us…
His wife makes coffee and offers us figs – black and white – that ripened under the sun, sweet, tasty, cold from the fridge, so refreshing in this heat that we feel grateful to the earth for offering us such good fruits that grow on our soil…
My reader's wife shows me a little turkey, barely one month old…
`When I try to feed her, she tries to bite my ring` she says… `They love anything shiny…`
The little chick looks curiously at us and after a while my reader's wife takes her back to the hen house.
Two turkeys, one white and one black, makes a tour around our car – they run, round and round, round and round and my reader tells us that they will do this at least 20 times…
`They are chasing their reflection on the car` the wife of my reader explains…
`And then they will come to the front and when they see their faces on the front of the car, they will start touching it with their beaks!`
They do exactly as we've been told and we sit in silence watching the amazing race of the turkeys, both males… The female bird is on her eggs, the wife of my reader explains to me…
`She chooses when to lay on her eggs… You can't force them to lay on eggs…`
After a while the two big male turkeys, one black, one white, get bored and leave us to go and check on the female turkey…
The cycle of the village life takes its course…
My reader, some years ago was in London… He had gone to the opening of a Cypriot restaurant where there were Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots… He happened to sit with a Turkish Cypriot from the village Galatia at the same table… As they started speaking, talking about Galatia and Koma tou Yialou, the guy from Galatia started telling him the story some `missing` persons from Koma tou Yialou…
`On the road to the limani (little port) of Koma tou Yialou, there are some olive trees` he explained to my reader… `That's where they were killed and buried…`
They were a group of four Greek Cypriots, taken from the coffee shop in retaliation to the EOKA-B killings of Tochni and Maratha-Sandallaris-Aloa according to the stories we have been hearing from those who had been present… A car had come, someone in military uniform had got out of the car with its radio on and in anger had shouted at the Greek Cypriots, speaking in very fluent Greek saying `Look what your people have done to ours! Listen to the news on Bayrak and hear what happened in Tochni! You will pay for this!`
The mother of one they tried to take had begged him not to take her son away:
`He is too young, he is only 16!` she had said but the angry Turkish Cypriot who had presented himself coming from Aloa and who had been around 45 years old at that time had said:
`I too had a wife and children… No one had mercy on them!` and had refused to leave the young boy alone… This person had come to the village that day, on the 20th of August 1974 - he had been together with some Turkish soldiers in two Turkish tanks that had come to the village that day…
It was the 20th of August 1974…
They had drank some water and cokes from the coffee shop, breaking the empty bottles… Anger was raging – perhaps it was the day when the mass murder of Turkish Cypriots taken from Tochni by some Greek Cypriots had become news on the radio…
He had taken four Greek Cypriots from Koma tou Yialou… The red Alpha Romeo car belonging to a Greek Cypriot but taken over by some Turkish Cypriots left, returning after 10 minutes without them… They have been `missing` since then and we had been looking for their possible burial sites in and around Koma tou Yialou…
One other reader had described a place to me, I had gone and checked and then shown it to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and when there was digging in that area, remains of two `missing` persons were found. But we were not sure if they had been from this group of four `missing` persons or some others…
Now a new possible burial site that I need to see: We go with my reader to look at the olive trees… There are very few old olive trees as he points them out to me…
`Look, here, here and here… Those further back are new trees…`
This is the road that goes to the fishermen's little harbour and to the empty hotel standing on the beach…
We drive down the road and check if there are other old olive trees… Close to the school we find a few other old trees…
The whole place is very close to the area we had shown and where remains of two `missing persons` had been found: It is the same `mahalle` so to say…
The Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee is on holidays until the 18th of August 2014 – so after that date, I will try to arrange to come with the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot officials of the Committee to show them this possible burial site so that they can investigate further and if they decide, they can try to dig under the old olive trees…
More than five years ago, I had gone to visit one of the relatives of `missing` from Koma tou Yialou in Larnaka and had met his sisters who had been so sad… They only wanted to know the truth about their brother… Their mother and father would never speak about him…
`We had loved him too much` his sister had told me, `maybe because we were going to lose him, we had loved him so much…`
`We have never forgotten our village` had told me…
They had heard rumours that they might have been buried in a riverbed between Koma tou Yialou and Galatia so we need to investigate that as well… As we leave the village, thanking my reader, I see a river at the exit of the village with some eucalyptus trees. Could this be the riverbed they had heard about? We need to investigate that as well…
As soon as the holidays of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee is over, I arrange to go with the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot officials to show them the olive trees that are a possible burial site… The road has been expanded after 1974 so perhaps they would need to check on the side of the road as well if there would be digging here… We go with Xenophon Kallis, Murat Soysal and Okan Oktay and I show them the olive trees in order to investigate further…
One of the relatives of the `missing` from Koma tou Yialou had told me that at the time their relatives went `missing`, there had been a Turkish Cypriot policeman from Larnaka in charge of the village so perhaps if he is still alive, the Committee could start new investigations by finding him if they have not done that already in the past…
People don't `disappear` into thin air – there must have been people who had seen what had happened – if there is a will to find out, there is always a way as my readers have proven over and over again by helping out in a very humanitarian way in order to heal the terrible wounds that our country suffers…

8.8.2014

Photo: The old olive trees in Koma tou Yialou...

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 31st of August 2014, Sunday.