Sevgul Uludag
caramel_cy@yahoo.com
Tel: 99 966518
One of my readers come to visit me at the newspaper where I work and we sit down to talk… We had visited him years ago together with the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and he had drawn up a map of `gamini` and where the remains of some Greek Cypriot `missing` were buried at St. Hilarion. Now he comes to say that if the CMP can get permission to go into this area at St. Hilarion, he is ready to accompany them and show them the exact location of the `gamini` and the burial place of the remains of some `missing` persons.
He had been serving there at the St. Hilarion military camp when he had accidentally come across the remains of some `missing` Greek Cypriots. It had been a `gamini` where soldiers were using as a place to throw trash… As he ordered some soldiers to cleanse out the trash, there came out the remains of the `missing` Greek Cypriots who had been buried in the `gamini`. This accidental find ended up him having the soldiers remove the remains and bury further up... He had provided with detailed information about this incident to the officials of the CMP when we visited him and had drawn up a detailed map…
`You know` he says, `using this map, they accidentally found another `gamini` where the remains of some other `missing` Greek Cypriots had been buried, much further down… Actually the map served quite well but in a completely different way! A `gamini` in Boghazi was found because of that map… Some people looking at that map found that `gamini` and incidentally some other `missing` were buried there but the `gamini` on the map is actually not that one, but the one in the military camp… This is a humanitarian task and I am ready to show this place that I have provided the drawing to the CMP… I consider this as a humanitarian duty… To go and show I mean… Because just as Turkish Cypriots want the remains of their own `missing` persons to be found, the Greek Cypriot relatives also have the same right… Now it is time for humanity to speak up… Those who know any information should also speak up…`
Another reader writes me a note:
`During my lyceum education at the Namik Kemal Lyceum in Famagusta, our teachers used to tell us that in the front garden, under the pine trees, some Greek Cypriot soldiers killed in the war in 1974 had been buried there and used to say `If you dig one meter deep, you can see the bones…` These were I believe sincere confessions… But due do our age, we did not really take these confessions seriously at the time… But I believe that there are people who had been buried there… Now I feel much better that I gave this information to you…`
Another reader has other information about a `missing` Turkish Cypriot…
He had called me a few years ago and told me a story about a `missing` Turkish Cypriot from the area of Limassol.
In 1974 he had been serving as a soldier in Limassol…
`One day, there came some very angry Greek Cypriot soldiers in a landrover` he said, `at the back of the car was a rope… Apparently they had tied a wounded Turkish Cypriot soldier behind the landrover and on the way to Limassol the rope broke and the body of the Turkish Cypriot soldier remained wherever the rope broke… They had been extremely agitated and angry since they had attacked a village around Limassol and there, had lost 3 or 4 of their friends… They had also killed some Turkish Cypriot soldiers during this fight but one remained alive but wounded… It was this guy they took and tied to the back of the car… I did not know who these soldiers were but if you like you can make some investigation to see whether you could find which unit they were serving since we know which village they attacked at the time…`
I actually know which `missing` Turkish Cypriot he is talking about and despite the search for him, his remains have not been found yet… The brother of this `missing` Turkish Cypriot calls me all the time to see if there is anything new… There was some digging at a possible burial site but no remains were found – perhaps they had removed the remains to another place or perhaps as this reader is relating what he heard, they actually tied him at the back of the landrover… Difficult to believe – could be true, could not be true, no one knows except those present who took this young wounded boy from where he was and he `disappeared` from the earth…
He also tells me about an elderly Greek Cypriot who had been involved in the murders of Turkish Cypriots from Tochni and Zygi…
`He is very old now and he is very sorry for what they did…` he says…
`Isn't it a bit too late to feel sorry for what they did?` I ask him…
`He says they were young and they did it… But now he feels sorry…`
We agree to meet with him to talk more in detail and to see how we can go about to do more investigations…
Another reader from another village calls about a Turkish Cypriot `missing person`…
`It was in 1974… Our village had come under attack from Greek Cypriot soldiers… Half of our village was occupied by Greek Cypriot soldiers… Our village moved to another Turkish Cypriot village… Only some Turkish Cypriot soldiers remained in half of the village… One day an officer was laying down as a Turkish Cypriot came to that military post and said to the officer `What are you doing, laying down like a woman there? Get up and let's go and fight the Greek Cypriots! They occupied our village!`
The officer was really pissed off but did not say anything, he just said, `Ok, let's go…` But after a few meters, shot this Turkish Cypriot at the back… I can give you a name who were present and were witnesses to this shooting. Everyone was shocked! The officer after this incident left the village very quickly…`
I thank this reader and promise to call the name he gave me to find out more details about this `missing` Turkish Cypriot…
As we go along, people remember an incident that happened that they had been witness to or what they heard from their parents… The `missing` Turkish Cypriot supposedly shot by the officer, my reader heard from his father and says the whole village knows but they keep silent, afraid not to get into any sort of trouble…
There is information everywhere, if you are ready to investigate… There is no `cut` from information flow – so long as you have an open mind and an open line of communication with people, they would always tell you things that they have never told others before… The idea is to open a door for truth to come out, the door that would be safe enough where truth can come out… The door that would allow people to speak up without necessarily disclosing their identity… And this we provide to our readers and that's how we find out things we never knew before that were kept hidden for almost half a century under covers…
Any of you can call me and tell me your stories – with or without your name – at my mobile number 99 966518. The more we know, the more we will be able to clear our path towards our common future on this island…
20.9.2015
Photo: Burying the victims of the massacre of Tochni...
(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 18th of October 2015, Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment