Sevgul Uludag
caramel_cy@yahoo.com
Tel: 99 966518
I go to the cemetery in Nicosia, to attend the funeral of a young man of 25 years old, so young, so fresh at the time he was killed: back in December 1963… He had been a young policeman, his first job, his first post in Kokkinotrimitia where Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot policemen served together. Hasan Nural Cevdet had a brand new Volkswagen to go back and forth to his job and to his fiancee in Malia village and to his family who were at Ayianni, Paphos… When his father passed away with a heart attack and his family was in difficult conditions financially, he had decided to become a policeman to bring income to the family…
His mother had said, `No, my son… Don't be a policeman…`
But he decided otherwise…
It was his first post that would be his last post… Due to the 1963 intercommunal conflict…
Although he was not involved in any way in the conflict, an innocent person who only thought of his fiancee and his family, he would become a victim of the beasts of Kokkinotrimithia – the `nationalist` beasts who would take him in Kokkinotrimithia, put him together with other Turkish Cypriots whom they `caught` elsewhere and after some days, they would execute them in cold blood and bury them in the `laoumi` just outside Kokkinotrimithia…
Tall, handsome, innocent, thoughtful and clean, that's how his little sister Meral would remember him. She had been 15 years old when her brother, Hasan Nural Cevdet `disappeared` from Kokkinotrimithia – he had been only 25 years old! A young man who was planning to be married with his fiancee from Malia…
He remained young because dead people don't grow up…
He would have been 77 years old now, if his life had not been stolen from him…
His fiancee would wait for him for 10 years to return… Then his fiancee's father would find out that he had been killed. His fiancee's family would force her to marry again… She would marry…
But the memory of Hasan Nural Cevdet would live on among his family…
`One day he had come with his new Volkswagen and he told me that we would go for a trip… The Volkswagen was a light green… We would go… In those times, you remember, everywhere there was streams and water… He would stop somewhere and tell me to get out of the car… He would put a pillow for me near a stream and tell me to sit down and enjoy the view… `I want to wash my car here` he would tell me, `because it got dusty in Kokkinotrimithia…` And he would wash his car… He was so neat, so clean…
When I went to the viewing of his remains, they insisted I go to the next room to look at his remains. I did not want to go in but I was sort of pushed to go in... As soon as I went in and I saw the big hole on his skull, I started crying and wailing… I could not stop… I will never forget that… I will never forget the pain we have gone through…`
The father of Hasan Nural Cevdet was from Avdimou – Mr. Cevdet had been a policeman… He would get married with Ms. Emetullah from Ayianni… They would have five kids: Kamuran who would later become the head of customs in Famagusta, Sevim, Hasan Nural, Chetin who would become a doctor and Meral…
Mr. Cevdet would pass away with a heart attack in 1957… Hasan Nural Cevdet would `disappear` from Kokkinotrimithia in 1963… Kamuran would pass away in 1996… Chetin would pass away some years ago and the mother would pass away too…
Only Sevim and Meral, the two daughters would remain alive from the family to take back his remains to bury him…
Sevim is now 80 years old and she was very sad at the funeral… So was Meral, the youngest of the five brothers and sisters…
Their pain would revive itself on this day of the funeral and they would say `There is no medicine to cure this pain…`
I had gone many times to Kokkinotrimithia due to a Greek Cypriot reader who had told me the story of what happened in the village and with the help of my dear friend Maria Georgiadou from Kythrea whose mother, father, sister and brother are still `missing` from 1974, we would go and see him and speak with him… He would show us the burial site of the `missing` Turkish Cypriots – the `laoumi` just outside Kokkinotrimithia… He would introduce us to a person who knew the chain of wells and he would give us a map of the wells… I would share this information with the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee… This was back in 2009 I think…
There would be exhumations of the chain of wells in this area and in 2012, in one well they would find the remains of five `missing` Turkish Cypriots from 1963 – one of them being Hasan Nural Cevdet… In another well, they would find the remains of two `missing` Turkish Cypriots who are waiting for DNA identification…
The `gang` in Kokkinotrimithia had killed them as they killed some Turkish Cypriots in Agios Vasilios village and a teacher from Gonyeli who was teaching at the elementary school of Agia Marina… They would also loot the animals and even the `gandjelli` of the houses of Turkish Cypriots whom they had killed from Agios Vasilios village.
This `gang` must have had `protection` since it would not be easy to `arrest` and kill and make people `disappear` - you would need some sort of `infrastructure`, as well as `protection` from `higher authorities` to hide these crimes…
We would bury Hasan Nural Cevdet and I would share photos from the funeral on my FACEBOOK page and in the evening I would get a call from a Greek Cypriot reader from a village close to Kokkinotrimithia…
`Now that you published something about his missing Volkswagen, I remember something` he would say…
`Tell me…`
`I was in a coffee shop some years ago and they were discussing the Turkish Cypriot `missing persons` from the area and I remember an old man in the coffee shop, more than 70 years old, telling us that they had actually buried the Volkswagen in order to hide evidence… He had told us that there was a small church called Mana ton Paidon between Meniko and Paliometocho villages – this was the Acheras area… There was nothing there in those days, it was completely empty, save for this little church. This little church was for those who wanted to have children and who could not have children and they would go and light a candle there and pray… The old man told us that people in the Volkswagen were killed and then the Volkswagen was buried somewhere in this area…`
I thank my reader for telling me this but I have grave doubts about this since a Volkswagen in those times was something very valuable – either they would use it or break it into parts and use or sell the parts… So perhaps if anyone from the area of Kokkinotrimithia who remembers a new Volkswagen – it was light green when it was taken, with the number plate BA214 – can tell us, we can also find out what happened to the car of Hasan Nural Cevdet in those days…
In this village, I was told that a Turkish Cypriot who was taking oranges with his truck to Nicosia from Lefka was `arrested` and killed and his oranges were distributed to the villagers. The truck remained where it was for some days… The Turkish Cypriot who was taking oranges to Nicosia also had a young Turkish Cypriot boy with him to help him. Both are still `missing`… But the truck? The truck was not `missing` as I found out – it was changed and used and I would see this truck, in the middle of the village with my own eyes! We were with Maria Georgiadou and we were both so shocked that we could not speak at the site of this truck who my reader said, belonged to a `missing` Turkish Cypriot from 1963!
So the `gang` was so arrogant that I don't believe they would bury the Volkswagen – if my readers remember something, please call me and tell me so we can learn more details of this tragic story… My number is 99 966518 and I do not need to know your name if you don't want to say it… You may remain anonymous… What's important is for the truth to come out so that we know what happened in our tragic past in both sides of the dividing line…
Last but not least I want to thank wholeheartedly my reader from Kokkinotrimithia who told us the stories and who showed us the `laumi` where `missing` Turkish Cypriots were buried… And I thank my dear friend Maria Georgiadou for all her help in our investigations on this humanitarian task…
May Hasan Nural Cevdet and all other innocent victims – both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots – rest in peace… I share the pain of their relatives…
28.11.2015
Photo: The pain of all relatives of "missing persons" is the same…
(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 20th of December 2015, Sunday.
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