From Kokkinotrimitia to Nicosia: The stolen life of a young man…

From Kokkinotrimitia to Nicosia: The stolen life of a young man…

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.

Waiting for Godot…

Waiting for Godot…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 99 966518

One of my dear friends, Fatma Azgin, in an article entitled `The hopes for a solution are decreasing` in YENIDUZEN newspaper analyses the current atmosphere and points out that the `hopes for a solution are eroded…`
For those of you who do not know Fatma Azgin, she is a peace activist, a political columnist, a feminist active in politics and throughout her activism, she has always tried to create alternative ways towards the solution of problems…
Throughout her life, she has particularly supported young women… As a peace activist she has always tried to open paths for alternatives that the politicians would not see or would rather not see…
Having known and worked with her in various bi-communal peace and women groups, she has always been an `idol` for me, someone who speaks up and tells the truth long before others would throw away their fears to say it!
A pharmacist by profession, she had been the leader of the Turkish Cypriot Pharmacists Union and she is one of those rare Cypriots who is practicing what she preaches…
As a woman of this country she enjoys `both sides` of our island, she has close friends from `both sides` and currently does a TV programme on current affairs but again trying to raise alternative voices…
Last week in YENIDUZEN newspaper where she has a weekly column, she wrote:
`As Cypriots we know quite well that excitements for a solution have quite short lives and that each time not using our old experiences, we try to put old points of antagonism on the negotiating table and we knock down the `negotiating table`. Despite this each time we are `surprised` and disappointed.
We have become such `maestros` in this that we try to convince those who do not believe that there would be a solution and finding thousands of pretexts we become successful.
It is true that candidates and political parties in both sides during elections believe that stressing `the solution of the Cyprus conflict` would bring in more votes.
The deceased Turkish Cypriot leader Mr. Denktash would use posters saying `A solution without Denktash is impossible!` during elections.
The deceased Greek Cypriot leader Mr. Clerides too did the same: What he could not achieve during his presidency, he asked from others to fulfil and in the next elections, again he had promised a solution.
AKEL had said `No` to the Annan Plan. In the next elections Christofias had won the presidency and those who believed that he would find a solution with his counterpart Talat would get tensions ending up with `blame`…
First Talat was gone and then Christofias. Now AKEL is supporting Anastasiadis but we heard that they have `red lines`. If a solution is signed perhaps AKEL might say `No` again. Because in May 2016, there are parliamentary elections. They might want to strike a balance of those who would say `yes`, as well as those who would say `no`….
`Leaders` and political parties take stands during election times, according to the anger and disappointments of their communities. `The solution` would be remembered only after the elections!
The positive atmosphere created by Akinci and Anastasiades six months ago are quickly becoming cloudy. They could not even get a clear solution on the Confidence Building Measures. They could not agree on even one of the subjects they have been discussing like property, territory, population, guarantees and governance. Unfortunately there is nothing concrete apart from the lukewarm and respectable impression they have created!
If from the way they work and the way they meet not so often has not brought any compromise to the problems they are responsible for solving, at this tempo and `apathy`, we cannot get a solution neither by next March, nor in a few years…
Recently the Turkish Cypriot side is pushing forward at the negotiating table the demands they had before 2000, before Cyprus had become a member of EU. There started an effort to make the two zones `ethnically clean` within the context of property and population. Proposals are being made for creating `a two nation states` instead of building a federation.
Knowing that such demands are not in line with international or EU law and principles, they are trying to service `derogations`.
Ali Erel who is a specialist on issues of EU is explaining in today's newspapers, what it would mean and what it would cost these `old proposals` developed by the Turkish Cypriot side that can destroy the possibility of a solution.
I want to draw to your attention the last paragraph of the statement of Ali Erel – here he explains what cannot be part of a solution of the Cyprus conflict – the Cyprus that is a member of EU:
`Now it is time for making a choice. The truth is to work for an early solution within the EU values without dragging one's feet and without pushing for impossible things. Either to choose a life with EU values of respect for democracy, human rights and freedoms or instead of hiding behind a finger to come out openly and declare to Turkish Cypriots and to the world that the northern part of Cyprus would like to stay outside the EU rules, that it is good like that. This is what needs to be done!`
I would also like to say this: It is time to create the internal dynamics of the community that has not been felt so far… There is a very urgent need for the civil society to show the energetic and impressive activities it did in the past defending EU norms and standards and for demanding to live the democracy, for asking to become (to live in) a state within international law, for defending peace and reconciliation…`
Picking up on this last sentence of the article of Fatma Azgin, I want to share something I witnessed last week: Last week having the chance to meet with experts from South Africa who had been part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and who had been part of the whole process of reconciliation 20 years ago, having known Nelson Mandela, they would be shocked to find out that the civil society was completely out of the picture of the current negotiations for a solution.
For couple of days these experts were in Cyprus and met with different sections of civil society – from political parties to trade unions to NGOs of all colours…
Explaining to us what sort of process they went through 20 years ago in South Africa, we learnt that they refused any outside help be it from America or the UN or anywhere else. They wanted to do this process by themselves. So there was `ownership` of the process.
28 political parties would sit around a table to discuss 33 principles of what sort of a South Africa they wanted for the future… This would take a couple of years and then the new constitution would be in line with these principles. The new constitution would be widely discussed and more than 1 million proposals for the constitution would be taken from citizens before it would be finalized…
They too were shocked that the civil society was not involved in the peace negotiations in Cyprus…
Perhaps we as Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots prefer to wait for Godot, rather than do it ourselves…
Or perhaps we as the Cypriots of this land prefer to `play it safe` rather than stick our necks and get hurt in the process!
Perhaps we are so busy `saving the day` that we lose our prospects for our common future…
Actually there is no real infrastructure to support the reunification – all those efforts by civil society who sincerely work for reconciliation and peace on this land is not sufficient because there is no support from the mainstream politics and mainstream structures in the `two sides`…
Despite this those of us who want to create a peaceful future in this country we work knowing that our voices, our hearts, our souls would make a difference…
It takes five minutes to destroy something but it takes years of hard work to build something…

15.11.2015

Photo: Fatma Azgin at a peace demonstration (on the right) back in 2001…

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 13th of December 2015, Sunday.

Searching for stories of friendship…

Searching for stories of friendship…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436

I discover the lovely stories of Stephanie Jacobs on Facebook shared by `Tales of Cyprus` and through a friend, Zoe Piponides and today I want to share with you part of her fantastic research on our island… She says:
`I am currently a PhD candidate in the School of History and International Relations at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
My PhD journey began in April 2013; I was motivated to write the hidden chapter of Cypriot history: that of inter-communality, cooperation and friendship between Greek- and Turkish-Cypriots.
My topic was inspired by the loving friendship between my Greek Cypriot pappou (grandfather), Costas, and his Turkish Cypriot best friend, Mehmet. Pappou Costas continues to provide me with inspiration through his love and thirst for knowledge.
Title: Memories of a Cypriot Belle Époque from Cyprus and Australia; intercommunality from the 1930s to 1950s.
My grandfather moved to Australia in 1947 but before then, he lived in Agia Irini, a harmonious, multi-ethnic village in the Kyrenia District in the north of Cyprus. He told me stories of how he and his brothers would play with Turkish-Cypriot children, that it was common to speak both Greek and Turkish, embrace each other's cultural and religious customs and attend each other's events. This was normal life in Agia Irini, and many parts of Cyprus, until civil unrest broke out in the mid-1950s.
The aim of my interdisciplinary dissertation is to record and examine, first hand, oral history accounts of the relationships between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in several former mixed villages of Cyprus, before civil unrest broke out on the island. My study uses interviews conducted by myself, of elderly Greek and Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus and in Australia, which capture their childhood and early adulthood stories from several mixed villages, to explore Christian-Muslim relations in Cyprus from the 1930s-1950s. So far, I have conducted 24 interviews in Australia, spanning 6 different states and territories, and 40 interviews in Cyprus, spanning the north and south.
The four central research objectives are:
1. To capture and explore the childhood and early adulthood stories of friendship and intercommunality of those Greek and Turkish Cypriots who lived in mixed villages of Cyprus during the 1930s-1950s;
2. To investigate the experiences of the Cypriot diaspora in Australia, how each group settled and with which communities they engaged;
3. To examine how the memories of the 1930s-1950s differ between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, between those who migrated to Australia and those who stayed, and between those who migrated to Australia before civil unrest erupted in Cyprus, and those who lived through the civil unrest and migrated later;
4. To understand how religious, ethnic and national identities formed and evolved amongst Greek and Turkish Cypriots in both Cyprus and Australia.
On May 20th 2015, I flew to Cyprus to spend two months conducting interviews of Greek and Turkish Cypriots from three formerly mixed villages, spanning the north and the south of the island. One village (Akdeniz, formerly Agia Irini) had a Turkish Cypriot majority; another (Polis Chrysochous) had a Greek Cypriot majority, and the third, Alaminos, had close to a 50/50 split throughout the 1920s-1960s…`

And here is one of her stories that was shared on FACEBOOK that I want to share entitled "A loving encounter in Northern Cyprus":

"This is how we used to live", my Pappou (grandfather) said to me, wiping tears from his eyes, "Greeks and Turks together". We had just eaten some freshly-made haloumi cheese, standing outside Pappou's old house in Agia Irini, Cyprus. Pappou (Costas) migrated to Australia in 1947 as a 21-year old and had not visited his village in the north of Cyprus since 1972. His two brothers, who remained in Cyprus, both live in the south since the Turkish military intervention in 1974 displaced them and, although the border between the Turkish Cypriot north and Greek Cypriot south was opened in 2003, neither had visited their village since the day they fled from the Turkish military in 1974.
It was very significant that Costas was in Cyprus in July 2013. It had been twenty years since he last visited and he had not expected that he would return to his homeland in his old age. At 87, Costas wanted to make the most of his visit. He was determined to make the journey to visit his old village. Much to our surprise, Costas's brother Andreas decided to come, too. Their younger brother Iordanis was adamant that he would not travel north, as, like many Cypriots, he feels that the experience would be too traumatic and heart-breaking; we understood and respected his decision. Two of his children, however, decided to join us. Costas made the trip accompanied by his two sons, three grandchildren, his brother, a nephew and niece, a daughter-in-law and a sister-in-law. We were a party of eleven (seven from Australia) sharing the two old men's journey back in time.
On Saturday 13 July 2013 we travelled from Polis (in the South of Cyprus) to Agia Irini (Saint Irene), now known as Akdeniz (the white Sea). The village looked very old and worn – underdeveloped. At first, Costas and his brother Andreas were rediscovering their village like two excited little boys; they reminisced about their childhood and giggled with delight. Soon they decided to go down to the old church, where their own Pappou had been the priest. Pappou and his two brothers had felt deeply connected to that church. We followed them as they led us to the small church of Agia Irini, at the edge of the village. It looked quite neglected and as we entered the mood changed very quickly. We realised that the church had been ransacked decades earlier. All of the icons had been ripped from the walls; everything was gone except for the beautiful floor tiles, which were covered in a thick layer of dust. After inspecting the church for a few minutes, Costas broke down sobbing; he was very distraught. His brother Andreas was also shocked and devastated but he reacted positively, defiantly, saying, "I am going to restore this church!" We left the church in a sombre mood.
We saw a car driving towards us in the distance and as it came closer we saw my mother, who had become separated from the rest of us shortly after we arrived in the village, sitting in the passenger seat. My mother got out of the car and announced, "I have found Mehmet!" The sombre mood was broken. While we went to the church, my mother had walked towards the mosque, asked for help from some workmen she met, and been directed to, "Go to coffee shop – good English!" She had been trying for a few days to contact Costas's oldest friend, Mehmet. My family all knew that a reunion of the two men would be the fulfilment of a dream. The kafenion (café) owner, Erol, had responded to her query about an old man who used to live in the village, saying, "Mehmet is my wife's mother's brother!" He showered her with hospitality and then went to fetch Mehmet. When mum encountered difficulty in locating the rest of us, Erol drove her around the village searching for us. "I have found Mehmet!" Costas's expression shifted from pain and fatigue to happy excitement, and he started swiftly up the hill, eager to reunite with his childhood friend.
I grew up hearing stories from Costas of how Mehmet and he were closer than brothers. My Pappou would have tears in his eyes and say to me, "I would trust a Turkish-Cypriot over a Greek-Cypriot any day; they are the best friends you could ever have". He told me that he and his brothers would play with Turkish Cypriot children, that most of the villagers spoke both Greek and Turkish, and that they embraced each other's cultural and religious customs and events. At Easter time, the Greek Cypriots would prepare special pastries (flaounes) and coloured eggs and would share these with not only their Greek Cypriot neighbours, but with their Turkish Cypriot neighbours too. After Ramadan, Eid was a Turkish Cypriot feast shared with their Greek-Cypriot friends. They were invited to each other's weddings and other celebrations, and people were judged on their character ahead of their ethnicity or religion. This was normal life in Agia Irini, a once harmonious, multi-ethnic village.
The love and friendship between Costas and Mehmet has lasted throughout the decades and overcome ethnic conflict and separation. Witnessing their reunion in the kafenion was an extraordinary surprise, a deeply emotional experience and a privilege for all of us. We drank lots of water and coffee, discovered mastica ice-cream and rejoiced in watching the old friends sitting and talking together, reconnecting after all these years. Amazingly, Erol, the owner of the kafenion, was the author of a book on the 2000-year history of the village; he sold quite a few copies that day. Eventually we left and walked back towards our cars. Suddenly, an older lady called out to us – in Greek! Emina had recognised my uncle (my dad's brother) from his visit to the village in 2011. She remembered Costas and Andreas from decades before and embraced them with much warmth. She called her sister Serpil, who joined the reunion and they told us many stories of the old days of the mixed village, and of how my great-grandfather, Pappou's father, had died. They introduced us to their children and grandchildren, some of whom now live in the house that had once belonged to Pappou and his brothers. Costas reminisced: "That room is where we used to store the hay…" Serpil opened the room to show us its current use: they make cheese there. She cut up some freshly-made goat's cheese and sprinkled it with locally collected sea salt; we all sampled it with relish. Then we all had to try the haloumi… and Serpil made up several parcels of cheese for us to take away with us.
Iordanis's two children grew up in the south of Cyprus. They had never met a Turkish Cypriot before. My aunty said to me, "They look like us, and they speak like us!" Her "knowledge", learned from school and the media, that Turkish Cypriots were very different to the Greek Cypriots, was deeply challenged. I observed her responding to the hugs, kisses and smiles of the Turkish Cypriots with warmth and affection. She told me that she was drawn to them and felt a natural connection to them.
So there we stood, outside the house in which my Pappou and his two brothers grew up, listening to stories of when Pappou was a child and enjoying our time with the lovely Turkish Cypriots living in the house today. When we left, my mum kissed Serpil and said, "Efharisto poli" ("Thank you very much") and she replied, "Tipota" ("It's nothing") and then "Kopiaste" (a Cypriot, rather than a Greek or Turkish word, relating to hospitality; "Come and share my food"). We left Agia Irini with Erol's book in one hand, bags full of cheeses in the other, and deep happiness in our hearts. We all shared a sense of amazement at the day we had experienced. We will go back. And we might even restore that church…
Stephanie Jacobs, September 2013
(You can read more of her stories at stephaniejacobs.com)

21.11.2015

Photo: Costas and Mehmet…

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 6th of December 2015, Sunday.

The `missing` boy with his red bicycle…

The `missing` boy with his red bicycle…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436

It all started with our dear friend Katerina Antona creating a Facebook page on `missing persons` - both from 1963 and 1974 – both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots… Katerina's young brother Christakis Antona was `missing` from 1974 and his remains were found, together with other `missing` Greek Cypriots at a well in Agia Kepir…
Although Katerina found the remains of her brother, she did not stop searching for information for other `missing persons`… She is one of the unrecognized heroes of this land – she takes that extra step to make life more bearable for others… She goes further than others in order to ensure a better future for all of our children… That is why she created a page on Facebook for `missing persons` - this she does from the heart, as an ordinary citizen of this land, as a humanitarian task… She does not receive `funding` or `project money` to do this – she does this totally voluntarily, as a humanitarian gesture… How many people do you know who do things like that nowadays around you?
So on Katerina`s Facebook page on `missing persons` of 1963 and 1974, we would all try to contribute with information and articles and news and I would get to know the story of a young `missing` Greek Cypriot from 1964 Kypros Kyprianou, through this page of Katerina on Facebook…
She would draw my attention to this particular `missing person` and I would ask her to get me in contact with the brother of the `missing` young boy, Andreas Kyprianou and finally we would agree on a day to meet with him to learn more…
Andreas Kyprianou was born on 1938 at Mousoullita village, a small Messaoria village… He would attend a commercial school which would become a lyceum and he would be living in Nicosia with his grandmother at Pallouriotissa. Every Saturday and Sunday he would be going back to his village to his family. He would graduate in 1954-55 and when he would learn that CYTA was looking for workers he would apply and get a job… He passed examinations and had a course for the installation of telephone exchanges. He would be trained and would do the wiring and checking and repairing of all the telephone exchanges all over Cyprus.
He began working in CYTA in 1956 – at that time CYTA was managed by the British and they were doing cable as well…
Andreas was one of five brothers… His father from Pyrga, Costas Kyprianou had been married to Agathi from Mousoulitta and that was where their home was… They had five children, all boys: Andreas, Panayiotis, Sotiris, Kypros and Kyriakos…
The last exchange they installed to Turkish Cypriots was in Kyrenia in 1962-63, Andreas remembers…
`We installed telephone exchanges at Lapithos, Agios Epichtitos, at Kythrea, at Lefkonico and Yialousa, at Rizokarpasso and Paphos… CYTA had a Toyota car and I would go with my team to build exchange cables, to wire them, to check and repair all the faults. Then we would give the exchange to the authorities there and go… I worked in Polis as well…`
His brother Kypros Kyprianou would go `missing` on the 3rd of February 1964…
Kypros had only been 18 years old and he had graduated from the lyceum in Famagusta and had come to Nicosia to find a job. Their grandmother had died by that time and Andreas who had been married to Latsia had a house there and sometimes his brother Kypros would come to stay for a few days and then take the bus to return to Mousoullita.
On the day Kypros went `missing`, he had come to the shop of their brother Panayiotis who had a souvenir shop at the end of the Ermou Street, near the old Olympiakos building. He had met a friend of his and got his brother's bicycle… The friend of Kypros, Theodoros was going to sit in the exams to become a policeman and asked Kypros to accompany him… The exam would be at the Paphos Gate in Nicosia. Theodoros went inside for the examination and had told Kypros to wait for him there since it won't take him so long…
Andreas thinks that maybe Kypros tried to pass from the Paphos Road where four Greek Cypriot policemen were caught by some Turkish Cypriot policemen that same day. They were caught at the Chappa Building near Paphos Gate and kept some time and some of them were tortured as I would find out years later… So it was the same day that there were troubles in this area that Kypros also went `missing`…
`My brother had told my mother that he intended to go to a doctor because he had some stomach pains` Andreas says… `But that day he didn't go to the hospital…`
When did they realize that Kypros had gone `missing`?
`He didn't come back to my brother's shop to bring back the bicycle… I went to the police next day and to the UN – I begged the UN soldiers to search for my brother… I showed the UN soldier my brother's photograph and also gave him the photo – nothing came out of this. Another time I went to the UN again and the UN soldier told me `I saw this young man in the garage of Pavlides… Maybe this was your brother…`
My father Costa was searching for my brother continuously… And he was trapped by some Greek Cypriots to get his money… One Greek Cypriot had told my father that he knew some Turkish Cypriots who would help him to find my brother Kypros Kyprianou… So on 11th of October 1965 my father started to go from Pallouriotissa to Tymbou on his bicycle to meet this guy and at the Zoppas crossroads, one truck coming hit my father and my father was wounded on the head and on his chest. That day I was passing by chance from there and someone stopped me and said, `Andreas your father is in hospital…`
I ran and he was alive – there were 5-6 doctors around him and they said there was no cure… Five minutes later my father died… He had had 500 Cypriot pounds with him…
My father was a very energetic person. He did not have a piece of land but he worked hard to have his children study… He was running everywhere when my brother had gone `missing`. After he died, the police told me he had 500 pounds in his pocket.
I went to find the Greek Cypriot who had trapped my father – I wanted to ask him `Why did you do this?` When he saw me, he ran away… He is dead now…
After my father died, a year later my mother Agathi also died from a heart attack… Of course you can understand our pain, our mother's pain…
My brother was a very nice person, very quiet. We are a family who never hate people, we like people… I had a friend working with me at CYTA. His name was Ahmet Cevdet. `Mastro` he said to me one day, `what will happen if there is a war and you see me in front of you?`
`I would shoot up, in the air` I said.
`I would do the same` he said… Unfortunately I couldn't find him. He used to work at CYTA, later he became a soldier in Nicosia.
From Gonyeli, there was another Turkish Cypriot working with us in CYTA, his name was Veli Mehmet. He was more `political` though – not like Ahmet Cevdet…
The day my brother went `missing` he was wearing grey trousers and a white shirt.
He disappeared with the bicycle – the bicycle was a coffee / red colour and it was a new bicycle - `Ranch`…`
These are the words of Andreas Kyprianou…
I sense that perhaps the bicycle is the most important clue for us to follow – perhaps with the help of my readers, we might find out what had actually happened to this young, innocent boy of 18 years old who had nothing to do with any `conflict` but was merely on his brother's bicycle – perhaps he took a wrong turn and he passed accidentally to the Turkish Cypriot side of Nicosia at a day where `conflict` was brewing…
One of my Turkish Cypriot readers from London, years ago, had called me about a young boy who had crossed by mistake with his bicycle and was caught and was taken to a house near Ledra Palace… This was the house of Dr. Mangoian who had died and his wife Haysmig was living downstairs and upstairs was a military post for some Turkish Cypriot soldiers. According to this reader of mine, this young boy was questioned in the garage of this house and killed there…
`They had even shared his clothes amongst them, those who had killed them` he would tell me…
This reader of mine was serving at that military post and that's why he had been a witness…
`They buried him in the garage` he would tell me.
I would show this possible burial site to the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee but so far there has been no excavations there. The garage is no longer there… The house also had a basement and perhaps this needs to be explored, as well as the garden…
The owner of the house, Haysmig Mangoian would later be killed by a Turkish Cypriot in her house… The same Turkish Cypriot would kill another woman, a Turkish Cypriot, in the same street and finally would be imprisoned…
The Mangoian house would for many years be used by the military – years later they would give this house to journalists from Turkey to use as their association's offices and the downstairs and the garden at the back would be hired to different people to be used as a restaurant – but all of them would fail…
With the help of my readers we need to explore whether my reader from London was talking about the `missing` Kypros or someone else…

12.11.2015

Photo: Kypros Kyprianou...

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 29th of November 2016, Sunday.

`Does human life carry as much weight as property?`

`Does human life carry as much weight as property?`

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 99 966518

Leyla Kiralp was supposed to attend the conference in Brussels where Secretary General of AKEL, Andros Kyprianou and leader of CTP, Mehmet Ali Talat were speakers. She did not notice until she was about to get on her plane from Larnaka to Brussels that her Cypriot identity card had expired! She could not get on the plane and go to Brussels. She had been asked to say something about `missing persons` at that meeting in Brussels so she had written her speech. Although she could not go to the conference, AKEL MEP, our dear friend Takis Hadjigeorgiou, read excerpts from her very powerful speech at the conference.
I want to share her speech with you because I think it reflects the feelings of many relatives of `missing persons`, both Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot.
This is the speech of Leyla Kiralp:
`Prior to 1974, many Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots were taken from their homes, from the roads and from the fields, executed and buried in unknown places, making them `missing persons`. In the war in 1974, the number of `missing persons` increased even more. Many people were executed en masse and buried in mass graves. The burial sites of many of them are still not known… According to the figures given by the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee, 2001 persons went `missing` between 1963-74. Until now the remains of 603 `missing persons` were found and around 1400 `missing persons` are still `missing`. Relatives of `missing persons` from both communities have been through unbearable traumas. And these traumas still continue…
My first husband, my relatives and villagers from Zygi, as well as tens of Turkish Cypriots from Tochni were taken as prisoners of war by some Greek Cypriots from EOKA B in 1974, they were executed and went `missing`.
After 40 years, the remains of my husband and some of my relatives were found. And a year ago, the remains that were found were given to us in small coffins to be buried. We buried our relatives after 40 years. We went through the traumas we had been experiencing over 40 years, every day, again. But at least now they have graves and we find condolence in the fact that we can visit them any time we want.
After 1974, the politicians from both communities tried to show that their own community have `missing persons` while denying and hiding the fact that the other community too had `missing persons`. Turkish Cypriots did not know about Greek Cypriot `missing persons`, and Greek Cypriots were unaware of Turkish Cypriot `missing persons`.
When the two communities started coming closer, the fact that both communities have `missing persons` came to the surface. Especially after the checkpoints opened in 2003 and as the relations of the two communities developed, we became face to face with the reality of `missing persons`. With the work of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee, remains of many `missing persons` were found and their fate became known. I want to thank again all those who help to find the remains, particularly to the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and journalist Sevgul Uludag.
What does it mean to live as the relative of a `missing person` for 40 years? Can you understand that? A whole life of 40 years spent between hope and hopelessness, a life you go through with politicians who don't care about what sort of life the relatives of `missing` are living but only interested in using the `missing persons` and the pain of their relatives for their own political propaganda. 40 years is a whole lifetime and unfortunately it passed with deep traumas and psychological and biological illnesses connected with these traumas. Some of those relatives of `missing persons` who struggled against these illnesses with their own means managed to stay alive until now but many of them died young, being sick from these illnesses created by the traumas.
After 1974, I had anger and feelings of vengeance in me. Living like that made me sick. I got treatment with my own means and got my health back. I managed to put love and tolerance, instead of the anger and hatred in me. Was doing this easy? Of course not…
As I got my health back and as the anger and hatred subsided, I started thinking in a more healthy way. I managed to forgive those who have put me through this trauma in 1974. And I called on them to face their own conscience.
It is not possible to forget what we have lived but it is possible to forgive.
Those who manage to forgive primarily give themselves peacefulness and to those around them as well…
I remarried seven years after 1974. In 1986 my son was born. But they too were swept by the `Traumas of the Missing Persons`… This is such a trauma that it continues passing from generation to generation.
Think of a child who has lost his bicycle and think of his family buying him a newer and more expensive one. The child misses his old bicycle. But how about the children who have `missing` fathers? Who they will put instead of their father? What about those mothers and fathers who have lost their sons or daughters? Who can replace their children? How can they cover such a loss? Having someone `missing`, that is having someone killed and buried somewhere unknown is the heaviest and most destructive situation a human can experience.
The political leaders of the two communities have not put forward any document on the negotiating table about `missing persons` or the relatives of `missing persons`. Beyond that, the issue of `missing persons` is not even on the table of negotiations!
But a peace process is a process of reconciling people with their country. A peace process where the relatives of `missing persons` who have lived through the heaviest aggravation in the Cyprus tragedy are not involved, is an incomplete peace process.
The most basic and the most sacred human right is the right to life. The right to life of the `missing persons` has been taken away from them and the rights of their relatives left behind is not even mentioned in the negotiations process – and if you compare this in line with the universal human rights and democracy such a process is incomplete.
Policies towards `missing persons` and their relatives must be the priority of the peace process. Many countries who went through internal wars like South Africa, had a Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up. Such a commission must also be set up in Cyprus. The political leaderships of both communities must apologize to the relatives of `missing persons` of the other community. The perpetrators must be encouraged to come out and admit what they did and show the burial sites of the `missing persons`. Negotiations are being done on how to compensate on the issue of property. Doesn't human life carry as much value as the property according to the two leaders? Is it possible to trade and exchange human life? Is it possible to trade and exchange the years spent going through traumas of the relatives and families of `missing persons`? Why is no policies are being negotiated at the negotiations table concerning the `missing persons` and their relatives until now?
How do the two leaders think that they can build peace without mutual apologies? In order to ensure that the events that happened prior to 1974 and during 1974 don't happen again, as the two communities we must first forgive each other.
Having lost at a very young age my husband, my relatives, my villagers, my house and my village, as a relative of a `missing person`, I have long ago forgiven those who have made me go through this pain and I extended my peaceful hand to my Greek Cypriot citizens for the peaceful future of my country and my people.
Thousands of friendly hands reached out to me. Even if we did not understand well each other's language, we agreed in the language of peace and friendship. We walked through this difficult and long road step by step, making a lot of headway… All of the people of Cyprus must continue to walk on this road and go hand in hand for peace to come to our country urgently. But for the federal state to bring peace in the real sense of the word and for it to be real democratic and in line with human rights, bicommunal policies must be produced and implemented about `missing persons` and their relatives…`


30.10.2015

Photo: Leyla Kiralp together with Christina Pavlou Solomi Patsia...

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 22nd of November, 2015 – Sunday.

Mass graves where nothing grows because of lime…

Mass graves where nothing grows because of lime…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436

It is during a cigarette break at the 9th Global Investigative Journalism Conference that I get to meet an investigative journalist who had worked in Morocco…
I cannot find my lighter and he lights my cigarette and we start talking… After a few minutes, our conversation turns to `missing persons` and `mass graves`…
`Our ones are more `clever` than your ones` he says…
`Why is that?`
`Because of lime` he explains… `They put so much lime on the bodies they buried in the mass graves that not even a single piece of grass can grow on top! They planted trees on top of the mass graves but they would not grow because they put so much lime! A French journalist has taken photos from the sky and has managed to show where these mass graves are because nothing grows on top of them!` he says…
They would plant orange trees on top of the mass graves in Morocco but these would not grow because of so much lime…
`You would not believe this but even in the most expensive areas in Casablanca and Rabat, there are mass graves like that… But no one cares…`
We have had some contact with the relatives of `missing persons` from Morocco through FEMED – FEMED is the organization that brings together such associations of `missing persons` and `forced disappearances` throughout Northern Africa and the Mediterranean in general. Last year and this year, the human rights association from Morocco had some activities in Morocco and in Cyprus with the association of our friend Achilleas Demetriades, `Truth Now!`… In these activities our association `Together We Can` where relatives of `missing` and victims of war – both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots – also participated…
A few years ago some sort of `Truth and Reconciliation Commission` had been founded and I find out from our journalist friend from Morocco that it did not quite work out in the real sense of the word…
`They contacted the relatives of missing persons from before and told them not to say the names of the perpetrators, the killers!` he says.
So the relatives of the victims were banned from saying out loud the names of the perpetrators!
Even the `Equality and Reconciliation Commission` itself were banned from identifying and saying out loud the names of those officials responsible for making people `disappear`!
`What is more` he says, `some of those responsible are still working at some official levels I believe…`
The commission that was supposed to work on finding out the `truth` was also banned from making investigations about `torture`…
The commission would make various public meetings in various towns to help the relatives of `missing persons` to speak up and then drew up a set of recommendations. But whether and when these recommendations would be implemented is still a question mark if I understand correctly…
We finish our cigarettes and go in to continue to participate in the networking sessions, in the panels and in the seminars of the Global Investigative Journalism Conference…
Our association, International Women's Media Foundation IWMF has developed an application for the safety of journalists called REPORTA… I go to listen to Anna Schiller from IWMF who introduces us this tool called `Reporta`. It's an application that can be downloaded free and offered free of charge - The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) designed Reporta to empower journalists working in potentially dangerous conditions to quickly implement their security protocols with the touch of a button. `It is free and a comprehensive personal safety app for iPhone and Android devices that journalists working in potentially dangerous environments can utilize to quickly implement their security protocols. The app is designed specifically for journalists worldwide and available in six languages – Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, Spanish, and Turkish.`
"Journalists covering conflict zones, working in repressive environments, or reporting on sensitive or highly charged issues are too often the targets of attacks," said Elisa Lees Muñoz, Executive Director of IWMF on the website introducing Reporta. "Reporta was developed with the goal to harness the power of the one piece of technology that most journalists use every day – a mobile phone. Now more than ever, it is critical to equip journalists with a free tool to help them stay safe and best positioned to continue to tell the significant stories of our time."
Reporta's launch comes at a time when violence against journalists is on the rise. The last three years have been widely reported as the deadliest period on record. Too often, journalists reporting on corruption, conflicts, and other illegal or sensitive activities face threats of harassment, abduction, or even imprisonment. In addition, IWMF research found that nearly two-thirds of women in media had experienced intimidation, threats, or abuse as a direct result of their work…`
Anna Schiller explains to us how it works… I start thinking that this tool is not only good for journalists working under dangerous conditions but it could also be used by women under threat from violence or anyone who might encounter violence…
So what happens is you `check-in` at times when you decide – let's say two or three times a day. If you fail to `check-in`, the application sends you a reminder. If you still don't check-in, it notifies your designated contacts.
It has an SOS button that if you push for three seconds – showing you are in grave danger – it locks down the application completely and immediately alerts the contacts you have chosen to be alerted in case of danger like your editor or your friends or your family, telling them that you are in danger and giving them your last location… Or if you have sent a video or photos or sound showing what sort of danger you were in…
This tool will be particularly useful for investigative journalists working in dangerous zones…
We go to listen to journalists working under dangerous conditions… A journalist from Palestine speaks:
"I live 20 minutes away from Jerusalem but I cannot enter Jerusalem… I cannot do journalism in 80% of my country…`
All those journalists coming particularly from the Middle East, you can tell how hurt they are from their eyes… You can see the scars in their eyes… I have been participating in international conferences for so many years and always and always, the desolate Middle Eastern journalists can be recognized from their eyes – even if you don't know where they come from, you can tell from the pain that you can read in their faces that they are in fact from the Middle East…
Since I have known myself, Middle East has been on fire and even more so now with Syria…
The Asian journalists, on the other hand are much more at peace with themselves, more calm, more peaceful…
The African journalists, despite the grave problems of their land are more merry and more peaceful…
The most hurt are from our area, the Middle East…
Perhaps they have seen more deaths, more `missing`, more war… Perhaps the light of hope has been extinguished over and over again and like the Phoenix bird, they have had to recreate hope from their ashes and they have done this so many years that they are tired and hurt… Their eyes are sort of helpless, crying out loud with pain… The wounds of their hearts are reflected in their eyes – desperation and it is like a feeling of getting stuck in a one way street…
Shall we ever see how their wounds would be treated and how our whole area will reach calm and peace?
Today this seems so far away… The whole area of Middle East and North Africa would need hundreds of years of reconstruction, rebuilding, restoring and treating the wounds of all the losses of those who have remained alive from the whole turmoil…

23.10.2015

Photo: Palestinian journalist saying he cannot do journalism in 80 percent of his country...

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 15th of November 2015, Sunday.

11/17/2015 5:32:41 PM

11/17/2015 5:32:41 PM

Notes from the Global Investigative Journalism Conference…

Notes from the Global Investigative Journalism Conference…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 99 966518

I go to Norway to attend the Global Investigative Journalism Conference… I am the only investigative journalist from Cyprus going there and on my name tag it says `YENIDUZEN and POLITIS newspapers` and I am proud of that – it shows that I come from `both sides`, not just one…
In preparation to the conference, the organizers had created a world map to show which countries we were coming from and apparently they would show only the northern part of the island but I would intervene and work with the organizers in order to fix this in order to show the whole of Cyprus, not just one part… After all, as an investigative journalist, I do not write about only `one side` but `both`… And in my heart, I refuse the division of my country – for me Cyprus is a whole and cannot be divided…
Seven years ago, I was here at Lillehammer, an Olympic town two hours by train from Oslo, again for the same conference… This year the conference runs between the 8th to 11th of October 2015 at Radisson Blue Hotel in Lillehammer in Norway…
Lillehammer is a quiet town with such stunning beauty of autumn that it is breath-taking! The colours of the trees have turned into all shades of yellows and oranges and the air is crispy, cold, maybe around 6 or 8 degrees – coming from a Mediterranean island, I really feel the cold. We are not used to cold weather, we don't know how to handle cold, we don't know how to walk in snow, we don't know how to hold an umbrella and walk in the rain because we actually don't have to if we live in Cyprus… So I bring warm clothes with my fear of the cold!
Lillehammer had become famous for winter Olympic Games – and later on, a fantastic TV series called `Lilyhammer` would make it even more famous… Set in Lillehammer, a New York mobster goes into hiding in rural Lillehammer in Norway after testifying against his former associates. Starring Steven van Zandt as `Johnny`, this comedy series reflects the cultural differences between the USA and Norway – but I think it is more than that… I find Norway refreshing with its quiet beauty and its very kind people… Norwegians sitting on top of the world have created a country with such beauty and such culture that it is extremely difficult to find in today's world such a place… They are a welcoming people, sharing what they have with others – and Cyprus has been part of it… They have set up PRIO in Cyprus and the main funding for Home for Cooperation in Nicosia in the buffer zone comes from Norway…
No, it's not something `symbolic`, it is more than that – it is the curiosity instilled from an early age towards `others` and the respect and kindness towards `others` - in order to respect `others`, first you have to respect `yourself` and that's what I see in Norway… Outside my hotel, I see a group of kids, around 8 years old with their teachers and they call me and say hello. I stop to talk to them – it is a group of around 15 of them and almost all of them speak perfect English… They are learning to become boy scouts and they are trying to make compasses and we speak of Cyprus and they become happy! Their teacher asks them if they know where Cyprus is and at least 6-7 hands shoot up, all smiles! They have all gone on holidays in Cyprus and say `Cyprus is very nice!` I leave the little Vikings on their task of making compasses and trying to find their ways in the forest with a big smile on my face…
Every two years, investigative journalists from all over the world gather at this conference to share their investigations and to learn the new techniques and trends in investigative journalism.
Seven years ago, again it was here, at Lillehammer – and now again back to Lillehammer… SKUP, the Norwegian Investigative Journalists' Union is our host, as before… SKUP had been the target of the Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik when SKUP was having its congress but since he could not finish the bomb he was making `in time` he changed the target and on 22 July 2011 killed 8 persons by setting off a bomb in Oslo and then he went and shot 69 youngsters at a summer camp of the Workers' Youth League. He was convicted of mass murder and terrorism in 2012 and is now in jail… From Norwegian colleagues we learn that his initial target of bombing was the SKUP congress – he hated journalists and he wanted to kill journalists but since he could not finish his bomb `in time` he changed his target… Police would find among his notes that the original plan of bombing was the SKUP congress…
Our conference is the ninth conference of the investigative journalists of the world and we come from 120 countries, around 900 investigative journalists… I share the hotel flat with two other journalists: One from Azerbaijan and one from Tadjikistan… At the conference, I meet journalists from diverse regions – we sit down with journalists from Mongolia to share experiences and they give me their money as a gift where there is the picture of Djengiz Khan – they are proud of him… We speak of the weather and life in Mongolia and in Cyprus…
There is a surprise in for me at this conference: I was awarded with `Courage in Journalism` by the International Women's Media Foundation in 2008. I find out that this year, `Courage in Journalism` Award goes to the Honduran journalist Lourdes Ramirez and she is here, at the conference! We meet and hug each other and talk about the award and our lives… A journalist from Paraguay, Mariana Ladaga Pereyras translates for us…
Because of her investigative work on crimes of the gangs Lourdes came under threats from some gangs and she had to flee for some time to live in America but then she went back to Honduras… One of the most violent countries in the world, only 2 per cent of crimes are solved and police corruption is widespread… After Norway, Ramirez will fly back to Honduras and then to Washington, New York and Los Angeles to attend the award ceremonies of IWMF… I wish her luck…
The most interesting discovery for me is not only the journalists from Mongolia and Honduras but also Faroe Islands… I had never heard of Faroe Islands and here I have an opportunity to learn more from Sveinur Tróndarson… He speaks at a global networking session and soon, together with a Catalan journalist, we get out to speak about Faroe Islands…
Faroe Islands are somewhere between Iceland and Norway – they come under the `rule` of Denmark although Faroe people are not Danish. They are an `autonomous country` under Danish Kingdom. According to Wikipedia, `Between 1035 and 1814, the Faroe Islands were part of the Kingdom of Norway. The 1814 Treaty of Kiel granted Denmark control over the islands, along with two other Norwegian regions: Greenland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands have been a self-governing country within the Danish Realm since 1948. The Faroese have control of most domestic matters; areas that remain the responsibility of Denmark include military defence, police, justice, currency and foreign affairs.`
I learn that `Faroe Islands` mean `The island of sheep…` Even before the Vikings arrived there, there had been people living on these islands… Their population goes back to Faroese, Scottish and Norwegian/Scandinavian…Their culture is a Nordic culture…
And weather? Out of 365 days, 260 days are rainy… People speak Faorese language, as well as Danish language… The Faroese language dates back to `Old Norse` language spoken in Scandinavia in the Viking Age… According to Wikipedia, `Until the 15th century, Faroese had a similar orthography to Icelandic and Norwegian, but after the Reformation in 1538, the ruling Norwegians outlawed its use in schools, churches and official documents. Although a rich spoken tradition survived, for 300 years the language was not written down. This means that all poems and stories were handed down orally... These were eventually written down in the 19th century.`
They have few trees but lots of seabirds… They have seals and sometimes whales visit Faroe Islands…
What do they eat? They eat meat, seafood and potatoes… Goat meat is the basis of many meals and one of the most popular treats is `skerpikjot` just like our `tsamarella`… They also eat whale meat and lots of fresh fish, as well as seabirds and their eggs… Dried fish is also commonly eaten…
They too face similar problems like us: Youngsters moving to Denmark or elsewhere and as in the words of Sveinur, `We have same problems as you…`
The main bulk of their budget comes from Denmark and they have self-rule, except in foreign affairs… 49 thousand people live on Faroe Islands and 95 per cent of their economy depend on fishing… `That's why Faroe Islands said NO to membership to EU` explains Sveinur, because it would limit their fishing… So not a member of EU, its main budget coming from Denmark, there is always discussion about whether to become `independent` from Denmark or to stay as they are we learn…
Going out of Cyprus brings me information that I would not come across otherwise… I will continue to share my experiences from the Global Investigative Journalism Conference next week as well…
(To be continued…)


Photo: With journalist Lourdes Ramirez from Honduras and journalist Mariana Ladaga Pereyras from Paraguay…

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 8th of November 2015, Sunday.

Killed in the basement of the Communal Chamber, buried in the Gardens of Tekke…

Killed in the basement of the Communal Chamber, buried in the Gardens of Tekke…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 99 966518

One of my Turkish Cypriot readers, while talking of another subject, all of a sudden has the urge to tell me something shocking… He must have kept it in him for half a century, without being able to tell anyone and now he has found the opportunity to talk about it…
He says:
`It was after the troubles between the two communities began in 1963-64 but I can't remember the exact date… It could have been around 1964-65... A Greek Cypriot had passed from the Greek Cypriot side to the Turkish Cypriot side of Nicosia from around Ottoman Bank – yes there was the Ottoman Bank once upon a time, near Lokmadji barricade, that is the beginning of the Ledra Street…
He was a well-built youth, maybe around 25 years old. He was tall and strong. There is the famous bicycle of our famous kebab house owner Anibal, you know with the front to put things, right? Well, he had one of those bicycles and I remember he always used to pass to the Turkish Cypriot side in Nicosia and would go around. I believe this kid was a baker or was working in a bakery…
That day he was wearing what we old people call `fanella`, that is what the men used to wear under their shirts, the white `fanella` because it was summer and it was hot…
He had come from the area where there are the Chappa buildings… He must have crossed from the Paphos Gate and turned right towards Lokmadji where there was the Ottoman Bank…
I remember that day that there was a fuss at the barricade… The commander responsible for the Lokmadji barricade was having a heated argument with the UNFICYP Commander… This UNFICYP Commander was a very tall guy, I think he was from India… The UN Commander was saying, `You put this barricade too far, you have to take it back` etc. and there was arguments between him and the Turkish Cypriot commander.
This young guy with the bicycle came at that moment, I remember him very well… He had big muscles on his arms and he was well-built…
While the scuffle at the Lokmadji barricade was continuing, some Turkish Cypriot soldiers caught this young guy and took him to the cellar of the Communal Chamber and killed him there.
They had killed him there, at the basement of the Communal Chamber… Later on they buried him at the Tekke Gardens in Nicosia… The body of this young Greek Cypriot `missing person` is also there…
If they ever dig the area of the Tekke Gardens one day, they will find the remains of this `missing` Greek Cypriot there… You know very well that both Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot `missing persons` were buried in the Gardens of the Tekke in Nicosia and I could never understand the `stubbornness` of the Turkish Cypriot side for not allowing to dig there… Why this stubbornness? Because sooner or later this place will be dug and the remains of some `missing` will be found in this area… Those who were buried here are not inside the cemetery – I heard from one of those who knew that they had been buried next to the wall of the cemetery… This must be investigated by the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and excavations must be done in that area…
Years later as I was speaking with my friend, the Turkish Cypriot commander who had been arguing with the UN Commander that day, he said to me, `You know what I feel sorry about most? That boy that others took away and killed in the basement of the Communal Chamber while I was arguing with the UN Commander… I feel most sorry for this kid…`
I want to tell you something else that I remember now… We had passed from Exometochi right after the war and there were so many dead bodies lying around… I believe they must have been buried there… Too many bodies and they were all deteriorated for staying out in the open for some days in that heat… Please investigate this as well…`
The Communal Chamber my reader is talking about had been where the late Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash had his office. Because my sister's husband, Kutlu Adali - who would be killed later on in 1996 by sinister forces on this island – had been his private secretary, I used to go to these offices as a child and I remember very well that they had offices also responsible for education, for lottery etc. This was the seat of the Turkish Cypriot administration…
I could never understand why I would feel goose bumps while entering this building – ever… Now it starts making sense… You must know the feeling when you pass from somewhere or when you visit a place and you have an eerie feeling for no clear reason at all… Now it makes sense: There must have been some sort of bad energy left there due to this killing in the basement… And we don't know what else happened there…
I would go to the Communal Chamber to see my sister's husband and my sister at work – my sister Ilkay Adali was working in the finance department and was responsible for drawing the lottery… All the women civil servants, on certain days, would line up outside to draw balls from a revolving machine to declare the winning ticket and my sister, young and beautiful, would be one of the women civil servants making the draw…
Under the Communal Chamber (Kıbrıs Türk Cemaat Meclisi) were a variety of shops: There was a famous shoe-maker, Bahcheli – the grandfather of our journalist friend Simon Bahcheli – who would make shoes for my sister… There was two confectionaries – one of them the famous Tatlici Shukru and the other Sozer Confectionary… So as you approached this Communal Chamber, there would be the wonderful sweet smell of cakes that would hit you and you would want to stop and buy some marzipan or some other delicacy… The reason I constantly went to the Communal Chamber, more than anything else, was the bookshop at the entrance of this building: Ozker Yashın Bookshop… Ozker Yashin was the father of our famous poet, our friend Neshe Yashin and although I grew up in a library since the age of three – and I would leave no books unread in the library – I still had an account with the bookshop that my sister's husband Kutlu Adali had opened for me at
the Ozker Yashin Bookshop. I would go and buy books from there and at the end of the month, Kutlu Adali would be paying for this… In the end he gave up since he could not cope with me, as a child, getting so many books and devouring them! I would get the series Tintin from Herge who was my idol at the time and many other books… Adali loved books, he lived with books, he lived for books – he too had a huge library and he liked binding his own books in his free time. He made his own bookshelves and spent most of his wages on books, newspapers and magazines…
After my reader's information about the killing of a Greek Cypriot youngster in the basement of the Communal Chamber and burying him in the Gardens of the Tekke in Nicosia, I would consider myself lucky when I would come across some photos I had never seen of the Gardens of the Tekke… I would be on FACEBOOK when one famous photographer, Dervish Guryel would share some very old photos from the burials there… I would take these photos and notify the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee… I would also speak with Mr. Dervish Guryel who would tell me that a guy he did not know from before, some days ago contacted him and gave him a bunch of photos as a gift… That these photos were taken by the Turkish Cypriot PIO in those days, back in 1963-64…
Why were these photos so striking? They were striking because it shows that the burials were not in the place where the cemetery is today at the Gardens of the Tekke…
We must do more investigations about the Gardens of Tekke and see what sort of progress we can get… These photos that I share with you today – that I also shared with my Turkish Cypriot readers when I printed them on my page in YENIDUZEN newspaper – is a step forward towards solving the puzzles in the Gardens of Tekke and bringing us a step closer to finding the burial sites of both Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot `missing persons` buried there…
I thank my reader for all his information about the young `missing` Greek Cypriot and I also thank Mr. Dervish Guryel for sharing these photos…

14.10.2015

Photo: The way Gardens of Tekke were… Photo: Courtesy of Mr. Derviş Güryel…

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 1st of November 2015, Sunday.

Stories from Peristerona, Kyrenia, Athienou…

Stories from Peristerona, Kyrenia, Athienou…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 99 966518

`We were at a place and he had been sitting next to me… I did not know him… He was around 72 years old, born in 1943… He could speak Turkish… So we conversed in Turkish…` one of my readers told me last night… He had taken notes and brought these to me:
`This guy was from Peristerona as he said… He told me that Peristerona was a mixed village and they had very good and friendly relations with Turkish Cypriots. He told me the following: `We had never been afraid of each other and we never believed that such things would happen… But I lived through one thing that was very painful` he told me… I asked him what it was and he told me that it was like a rock sitting on his heart… Back in 1963-64 there were some Greek Cypriot `patriots` in an organization but we stayed away from them… We knew who they were. We knew that such an organization would not last too long… That's why they did not like us… One day they had brought a Turkish Cypriot family to the village, there was a woman, one or two kids and the husband of the woman… The woman was crying out loud… Their hands were tied… They were taken to the spot behind the coffee shop in the centre of the village… I had heard gun shots and
heard that there was killing there… We heard that they buried some people behind the coffee shop… They told the villagers that if they speak about this, their end would be no different so we never said anything to anyone… I had a wife and kids… I never spoke about this to anyone… But my heart is deeply hurt… I apologize from God for this…` So these were the things he told me and I took notes to give to you for investigation…`
`But as far as I know` I tell my reader, `there is only one young Turkish Cypriot woman, Ilkay, who is `missing` from Peristerona… The remains of other `missing` have been found if I am not mistaken… Still we need to investigate every single thing to differentiate fantasy from fact… Perhaps we can try to find some friends from Peristerona to see if they remember such a thing…`
I thank my reader for sharing this information to investigate…
Another reader sends me a note:
`I heard this two years ago but now I remember to write about it to you and I am enclosing a google map so you can see…
There is a shooting range in Kyrenia and this place before 1974 was a military unit of the Greek Cypriots, they were the artillery unit if I remember correctly… I heard that here some Greek Cypriots had been buried… The local Kyrenians and those from Templos should know about this. I am talking about the new ring road going from Kyrenia to Karavas, just the north of this is a university… The place I am talking about is about 400 meters towards the east…
There is this person called….. but he is no longer alive but his son is alive… If you find the son, they might have more detailed information about this…`
I thank my reader for this and for the map he has sent me…
Another reader from Kyrenia writes to me to say what he used to hear from his father about the `Hirondelle Junction` in Kyrenia…
`My father used to tell me how he had seen a Greek Cypriot tank burnt down and 4-5 dead Greek or Greek Cypriot soldiers behind this tank… It is quite well known in Kyrenia that there were mass killings more than once next to the wall of the English cemetery…
If those who had been killed were thrown in the streams, no one is able to find them… But if they buried them there, perhaps their remains can be found… From what my father used to tell me, the possibility of a burial site there is very high…`
Another reader comes to sit and speak with me about something I didn't know:
"You know the Turkish Cypriot village ……?` he asks, giving me the name of the village…
`Yes I do… They found the remains of some young Greek Cypriot soldiers there, buried in a well…`
`I know… But do you know what actually happened in that village?` he asks…
`Tell me` I say to him…
`Well, some Greek Cypriot soldiers based in Athienou attacked this Turkish Cypriot village and took some prisoners of war – among the prisoners were also families, civilian I mean and of course women… From what my parents and uncles have told me, they kept them in a house for some days… This was 1974… I heard that they raped some of the women… So you see, you can understand why some people from that particular village turned sort of `violent` afterwards… They were trying to take `revenge` but of course, from the `wrong` people! Those who came from Athienou – I don't know if they were from Athienou or just happened to serve there – got away and nothing happened to them while other innocent youngsters paid for the price of those rapes…`
Rape during wartime is something so deeply hidden in both communities, it is extremely difficult to understand why this or that group of people would all of a sudden turned so `violent` - when you know that in certain villages there were rapes, you begin to `understand` - definitely not accept but understand – why they all of a sudden had gone `crazy`…
No one has ever spoken to me about the rapes in that particular village… So when one relative of a `missing person` whose brother had been found in the well in that village, asks for help to get back perhaps the golden cross that his brother had on him when he had been killed and to ask these villagers for help, this is when I come across the hidden story of rape in this particular village.
My reader who had been trying to help me only explains to me the rapes and despite his efforts, cannot get his villagers to cooperate…
The sister of the young `missing` Greek Cypriot whose remains were found in a well had explained to me that there had been nothing on them – that they were stripped of their rings, watches, golden crosses and if she could get back the golden cross of her brother, this would mean so much to her…
Unfortunately I would encounter a wall of silence instead of cooperation and when we look underneath this silence, we find out that it is the rapes that have caused this silence…
There are many things that we do not talk about as Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots as well as other communities of this land – we are not willing to talk about what went on, how the silence of the many helped the few well organized, well trained, well equipped to get their way that would lead all the way to the partition of our island… The few `patriots` who had protection on their own sides, managed to lead the events, with the help of outsiders to the point of almost no return… Not only that but the partition of the minds, the silent walls, the ignoring of the other, the suspicions, the fears, the concerns… All of these we need to deal with because it is the only way forward… Otherwise silent suspicions would be fed with fears and this would hinder the reconciliation of our communities on this island…

26.9.2015

Photo: A series of paintings by Turkish Cypriot artist Nilgun Guney about `missing persons`…

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 25th of October 2015, Sunday.

Stories from St. Hilarion, Famagusta, Limassol…

Stories from St. Hilarion, Famagusta, Limassol…

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.

Little Andreas teaching us a lesson of humanity…

Little Andreas teaching us a lesson of humanity…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436

The story of the six month old Andreas found in a mass grave at Trachoni together with his mother, three aunts and his grandmother really scorches the hearts of my readers… I had been there when baby Andreas had been found in a mass grave in Trachoni – we were coming back from showing a possible burial site to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and had stopped at Trachoni where exhumations were continuing…
The archaeologists who had been working there were devastated because of the finding of the remains of little Andreas…
Having translated the article of Vassos Vasiliou from Phileleftheros last week about the planned funeral of little Andreas and his family, my readers find out that he had been buried with his pacifier… It is a great shock to learn the details of his killing and quite unacceptable for my Turkish Cypriot readers at the YENIDUZEN newspaper… I receive many messages, telling me how their heart revolted to such news…
One of my readers in his note to me says:
`Dear Sevgul, I was devastated with this news today… It is impossible to be human and not feel sad with such news… How could we become so violent? Didn't that soldier have any wits or any conscience? Wasn't he human? Didn't he have a commander to tell him that what he is doing is wrong? How can these be done to innocent people?...`
Another reader sends another note:
`War is the dirtiest game of the grown-ups… Children die in this game where even the winners lose…`
And another reader thanks me for sharing the story of little Andreas… He lives in Trachoni and he is shocked to find out that such terrible crimes have happened in this village… `What terrible crimes have happened in Trachoni… Thanks Sevgul for telling us` he writes…
Sami Ozuslu, one of the journalists in YENIDUZEN and the director of SIM TV writes an article about little Andreas… The title of his article is `Lament to the six month old baby…` He says:
`Your name was Andreas, you little baby…
That's what the newspapers said…
If you lived, you would have been 41 years old now…
Who knows how you would turn out.
Would you be tall or short?
Would your eyes be green or brown?
We don't know any of this…
You never lived!...
***
They say you had your pacifier in your mouth.
You under the soil with your mother and your aunts… All of you together there… In darkness… No one knew… No one could know… For a whole 40 years you had been `missing`. They even made you `missing`! Our humanity is `missing`… We are all `missing`…
***
Andreas you had only been six months old…
Maybe in that short life of yours you only said `Aghuuu`…
You might have cried a lot, when you had been hungry or when you had a tummy ache…
But you could not utter any other word in this life…
They did not allow you, they did not let you to say your words…
Probably they could not look at your face as they were burying you in the `mass grave…`
Probably they couldn't look in your face…
How can any `human` look at the innocent face of a baby as they become its murderer?
And now we cannot look at your face Andreas…
***
Who knows what sort of a human being you would turn out to be if you had lived…
What sort of games would you play as a child?
Lingiri or the long donkey?
In those times these were the most popular games Andreas…
And pirilli…
You would have probably liked all of it…
And you would like the balls…
And you would like the spinner…
They did not allow you to live your childhood…
***
How many girls would you make fall in love with you in your youth?
And how many times would Eros would knock on the door of your heart?
How would you recover from your adolesence full of tension with acne on your face?
With whom would you be friends and with whom would you have rifts during breaks at school?
Would you like mathematics or literature?
Would you go and study at the university or would you be a farmer in the village?
Would you aim to be rich in life or would you run after your ideals, wherever your heart would take you to?
Would you get married and have kids?
Would you love kids?
They did not allow you to love Andreas!...
***
Your name was Andreas, you little baby…
Your name could have been Ali or Ayshe or Panayiotis…
What difference does a name make?
Which baby knows its name with its pacifier in its mouth?
Which baby is aware about where it's born, which colour it is, its nationality, religion, beliefs?
And which baby deserves to die with its pacifier in its mouth, without having said `Mama`, without crawling, without taking its first step, without its first teeth coming out and without getting to know its environment?
Which conscience can give its okay for such a murder, which heart can survive such pain?
***
Your name was Andreas, you little baby…
The baby who could not grow up…
The baby who was not allowed to grow up…
That there was not even a photo of yours left behind…
Thank God that you don't have a photo Andreas…
If there was, how would we look at your face?
Thanks heavens that you don't have a photograph!`
Cyprus has become a mass grave for babies, youngsters, men and women, old people… The violence of humans on this land has had no limits: They have killed even six month old babies without a flinch…
As we sit down under cloudy skies with our group `Together We Can`, the bi-communal group of relatives of `missing persons` and victims of war, the subject turns eventually towards little Andreas…
One of our members, Erbay Akansoy, whose relatives were killed in Maratha in 1974 says, `Some people have said to me that babies were also killed in Maratha… But it is not appropriate to try to make a comparison like this… A baby has been killed. There is no pretext to killing a baby… The person who killed the baby is a killer… That's it…`
What he means actually is not to try to make `comparisons` and try to `measure out` or `weigh` the devastation…
A baby has died… A baby was killed… A six month old baby who could not live and grow and sit with us now, be amongst us to enjoy life…
And whoever killed the baby is a baby killer… Whether in Cyprus or Afghanistan or Iraq or Northern Ireland, whether in Trachoni or Maratha, a baby killer is a killer. No excuse. No pretext.
When Christina from our group had posted something on Facebook about Maratha recently, one Greek Cypriot reacted and claimed that `They were to blame because they did something…`
So Christina answered this person, `Who did? These children and babies? What could they do?`
Little Andreas and all the other little babies who have been killed in Cyprus are creating waves when news is coming out about the details of their death: They open a path for us to become human again, to try to feel the devastation of war, to try to see how inhuman things get when there is a war and to try to learn from this…
Little Andreas is teaching us a lesson of humanity because of his age…

3.10.2015

Photo: Digging at Trachoni in October 2011...

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 11th of October 2015, Sunday.