Sevgul Uludag
caramel_cy@yahoo.com
Tel: 99 966518
On October 18th, 2015, I receive an e-mail from a close relative of a British `missing` person which is like a `miracle` for me… George Bernard Gibbins had been taken from Knodhara village – a small village in Mesaoria – on the 22nd of April 1964 by some Turkish Cypriots and killed and has been `missing` since then… I had done a lot of research about George Bernard Gibbins back in 2006 and had published my findings… I had found information from my Turkish Cypriot readers, as well as a British reader David Carter (who passed away some years ago)…
Gibbins was a `missing` person who used to distribute cigarettes for the `Ardath` company who went `missing` in 1964… I had even found a possible burial site around Goufez-Knodhara road, a well in which one of my readers had claimed he had been buried and had shown this possible burial site to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee in 2011. George Bernard Gibbins had been 32 years old when he had gone `missing` - he was married to Penelope and was distributing cigarettes. He had been going in and out of `ghettos` of Turkish Cypriots, distributing cigarettes and every fifteen days, he would go to Knodhara, where eventually he would go `missing`. Knodhara was a pure Turkish Cypriot village which is close to Chatoz. He was killed in Knodhara and the money on him, the cheques, as well as cigarettes worth 700 Cypriot pounds were taken by those who killed him. His car was found abandoned around Yenaghra village. Soon after he had gone `missing` the Ministry of Interior had asked for information about his whereabouts and had offered a thousand Cypriot pounds as reward money. His wife Penelope – they had only been married for 17 months – had gone on RIK radio and TV to publish a message asking for the release of her husband. According to David Carter (may he rest in peace), the brother of Gibbins, the 41 year old Edward would come to the island and do his own investigations. After some time, Major Macey who had been the liaison officer between the UN and the Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Kuchuk would go `missing` and so would his driver Platt… They would go `missing` around Agios Theodoros when they were trying to come from Karpaz area to Nicosia…
According to my readers from Knodhara, after Gibbins was killed, his money and the cheques he had were taken by those who killed him and they even went to the Turkish Ish Bank in Nicosia to cash the checks! Major Macey would start searching for information about the `missing` Gibbins and he would check the cigarette boxes sold in the Turkish Cypriot enclaves with their serial numbers to see what he would find. Major Macey and his driver Platt would go `missing in June 1964…
In her e-mail of October 18, 2015, Amelia Gibbins-McBride says:
"Dear Sevgul,
I hope this is you, if not then I am sorry for bothering you.
I noticed you wrote an article, last year I think it was, about Major Macey and George Bernard Gibbins.
George was my Grandpas brother, and in your article one of the men said he was buried in the place you wrote about. I was just wondering if you could tell me where that was? It's a mystery to us all what happened to him and my Grandpa spent years trying to find out. Unfortunately, he passed away last November, so if there's anything you could tell me I would greatly appreciate it.
Regards,
Amelia Gibbins-McBride"
I immediately write back to her and say:
"Dear Amelia
Thanks so much for writing to me! This is like a miracle...
I have done so much investigation about your grandfather's brother but never had the chance to contact anyone from the family since I did not know how...
I did investigations about him years ago and wrote about him years ago...
We also went with the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee officials where a reader showed us an area where in a well, he claimed was buried your grandfather's brother... This well's exact place we do not know but we know the area...
Perhaps the problem is this - that he is not `officially` on the `missing persons' list` in Cyprus - currently the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee is only doing excavations and exhumations of those on the list - Turkish Cypriot, Greek Cypriot and Greek `missing persons`. As far as I know, there is no British `missing person` on this official list. (Neither Gibbins, nor Major Macey and his driver Platt have ever been put on the official "missing persons" list in Cyprus by the British officials as far as I know. S.U.)
What does this mean? It means that even if they would find his remains `accidentally`, he would not be identified through DNA since his family as far as I know, has not given DNA...
But if you are willing and ready to work on this, we can speak about it and see how we can go about it for at least the family members - those who are close family - can provide DNA and make an official application etc. I have some ideas if you would like to speak about it...
The essence of the story, that I have found out, has two aspects - he was killed and the money and the cheques he carried and the cigarettes were taken.
The more `political` implication of the killing I suspect and I heard rumours is that at that time, while Turkish Cypriots were gathering in `ghettos` due to the intercommunal fighting that began in December 1963, the distribution of cigarettes to these `ghettos` (`pure` Turkish Cypriot villages where no Greek Cypriot or foreigner could enter) was done by your grandfather's brother and the ruling elite at that time wanted to give this `distribution` to a Turkish Cypriot. I do not know if your grandfather's brother, Gibbins was the only distributor to these areas but I know for sure that he was one... So eventually the distribution job went to a Turkish Cypriot after Gibbins was killed.
He was killed as far as I could gather around Knodhara and buried in a well outside Khonadra-Goufez road... I have a reader who has shown us the area where the well might be, his possible burial site... There are a few wells in that area but we can work to narrow down to which well he might have been buried in...
Again I thank you so much for contacting me and I would appreciate if you have any photos of him or any details of his life - we know nothing of him - where he was born, how many brothers, why he was in Cyprus and so on... What did your grandfather do to find him and what happened to the wife of Gibbins, did they have any children - as far as I know they did not have any children - and so on...
Last but not least let me express my sorrow and share the pain of your family for his disappearance like that... He was an innocent person, like so many, who went `missing` and after half a century we are still looking for their remains...
Many regards from Cyprus,
Sevgul Uludag
Investigative Journalist"
Amelia Gibbins-McBride writes back to me and says:
"Dear Sevgul,
Thank you for your reply, I'm happy to have found someone who knows a little more about what happened to Bernard.
Unfortunately, I can't tell you what happened to his wife, after Bernard's disappearance she cut herself off from the family, nobody heard from her after. So we assume that she started a new life and remarried. Although I did hear that she may have been pregnant at the time of his disappearance, but I'm not completely sure this is true.
I think I would like to take things further with this, I feel that as a family we should know what happened to him. I just don't know where to start.
It's very strange to me that he isn't on the missing persons list, I don't understand why that would be. If you think you could be of help in this, I would appreciate it.
Regards,
Amelia."
Then I write back to her and say:
"Dear Amelia
What I recommend is this:
You can write a letter to the British High Commission in Cyprus and ask them to bring the case of your "missing" relative to the attention of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee.
You may say in this letter that as an investigative journalist, I have investigated the disappearance of George Bernard Gibbins and even found some information about his POSSIBLE burial site and have shown this to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee. I am available to help in any way I can to both the British Embassy in Cyprus and to the CMP, voluntarily, as a humanitarian task.
I will write something on my page about the whole thing so that we can put it on record that the family of Gibbins is searching for information and the burial site.
I know someone who works at the embassy (British High Commission in Cyprus) and her e-mail is:
……..
You can write to her and copy me as well and you may tell her that you got her mail from me - she can then send your letter to the appropriate person - whoever that might be - at the British Embassy in Cyprus.
I hope that we can get some results like that...
You would also need to give DNA - yourself or the close relatives who are alive - so that if there is digging and if the remains are found, they can be matched.
Again thanks so much and I look forward to hearing from you...
Regards,
Sevgul Uludag."
After some time, I receive an e-mail from one of the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee, asking me if I would go to an informal meeting with an official from the British High Commissioner about `missing` Gibbins. I tell him I would of course any time and that I am ready to help voluntarily…
This means that Amelia Gibbins-McBride has in fact written to the British High Commission in Cyprus and that they have contacted the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee about the case of `missing` George Bernard Gibbins…
Then the CMP official writes to me and informs me that the person whom we are supposed to meet is out of the country and when he gets back to Cyprus we would arrange this meeting.
I look forward to that meeting and see if we can in any way help Amelia in her search for her `missing` relative…
12.12.2015
Photo: The mandra where there are some wells...
(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 10th of January 2016, Sunday.
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