Sevgul Uludag
caramel_cy@yahoo.com
Tel: 99 966518
There is good news from the former rubbish dump of Ebicho (Abohor) that we had shown to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee: Some remains are being found and I am happy that after such a long process of working on this, we are finally getting to a conclusion – not a conclusion for us but for the relatives of "missing persons" waiting to find out the fate of their loved ones… So far five "missing persons" buried in one spot have been found in a place we had shown to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee… I thank my readers for helping to find these "missing" five Greek Cypriots…
The search for the "missing persons" buried in the former rubbish dump of Ebicho (Abohor) had begun as early as 2009 when my readers would point this place out and start insisting that some Greek Cypriots "missing" from 1974 had been buried here… They would continue to provide information in 2010 and 2013 and insist that there were possible burial sites in this area…
It had been the British who had taken "havara" soil and created two huge holes by the side of the road while they were making the road running between Ebicho and Beykeuy – the holes would remain open… Deep and huge holes, they would be used by Turkish Cypriot soldiers for target practicing after 1963… In 1974, my readers claimed that some `missing persons` had been buried there… After some time this place would become a rubbish dump and the wholes would be filled with garbage and dead animals and construction debris… At some point the mukhtar of the village would fence it off in order to prevent people from using it as a rubbish dump and would plan to build a park there…
I would go here many times with the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee to show them the area…
Three years ago I had told my readers about one of those visits and wrote:
"On the 12th of November 2013 Tuesday morning, together with the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee, Xenophon Kallis and Murat Soysal, as well as the Coordinator of Exhumations Anthropologist Okan Oktay, we go together to investigate various possible burial sites I would like to show them.
Our first stop is the rubbish dump area of Ebicho (Abohor – Cihangir as the Turkish Cypriots call it). I want to show the fenced area of the rubbish dump of Ebicho to the Committee since I have found a Turkish Cypriot eye witness from 1974 who had seen some Greek Cypriot `missing persons` while they were being buried here. He had told me back in August this year that from the British times, there had been a huge hole where the British had taken soil for building the road back in the 40s or 50s. He said:
`When you go to the rubbish dump of Ebicho, on the right hand side at the entrance, there is a fenced area. In this area there used to be a big hole. This whole was 20 meters by 30 meters and its depth went as far as 3-4 meters at some points. The British had taken from this place soil while building a road passing next to the rubbish dump. We were even using this hole for shooting practice as young kids since bullets could not get out accidentally…
In 1974, when they were burying some `missing persons` in this hole, I was there. I was a young kid then… It was after the war. The bulldozer operator of the village – he died many years ago – had collected from around Palekythro and Ebicho, the ones killed in the war. I remember that he had buried here at least 8-10 `missing` Greek Cypriots.
These `missing` Greek Cypriots had remained out in the open for many days so their colour had turned dark. As a young boy, I had thought `Were they all black? I didn't know that Greek Cypriots had black people…And their hair had fallen out…` not realizing that their skin had turned darker, due to staying out in the open, in the sun…
In this havara hole, the bulldozer operator of the village had buried `missing` Greek Cypriots that he had gathered from around Ebicho and nearby villages. After some time, this hole had become a rubbish dump. Whoever had a dead animal would throw over this hole or whoever had a construction, the remains he would take here and dump it. But if there are excavations here, you would find the remains of at least 8-10 `missing` Greek Cypriots at the bottom of the pit. This hole has never been touched, has never been excavated. The only thing done was dumping rubbish over it. And finally, in order to stop people from dumping more rubbish, the municipality put fences around it.
Each time I pass from this area, I feel bad because I remember those people buried here… Please try to help and inform the Committee so that this place can be excavated and the remains returned to their families to be buried…`
Now we come to the rubbish dump and take photos. From the description of my Turkish Cypriot reader, we roughly find where the hole might have been. I thank this reader for his humanity…"
But our investigation would not stop and we would make another visit when another of my readers would show me and the officials of the CMP the second big hole in the former rubbish dump and tell us that at least two or three people had been buried there…
On the 21st of January 2014 we would pay a visit and on the 25th of February 2014 again we would visit the area with another witness to show us the second hole…
Xenophon Kallis from the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee would find aerial photos where the two huge holes would be visible… On the ground he would also find the locations of these holes…
Before digging could begin, the village council would decide to go ahead with the building of the park here and with a youth group would start planting trees… I would run to stop this and that's when we would meet the mukhtar of the village in February 2014 to convince him for the digging and that afterwards they could build the park… He would be very helpful and digging would begin in the former rubbish dump of Ebicho…
But problems would not stop there – the excavation team of the CMP would encounter lots and lots of asbestos among the debris and would have to stop. Because asbestos is a cancer causing material, the CMP, in order to protect the archaeologists and the bulldozer operators, would bring in experts to look at the site, would train the team that would do the excavations and would get them special protective gear and clothing…
Finally the digging would begin…
They would first find the remains of one "missing person" and then the number would increase to five "missing persons" and perhaps by the time this article goes to print could find more…
I thank my readers who gave information to me and who came with me to show us and who insisted for the past seven years for this site to be excavated in order to find the remains of some Greek Cypriot "missing persons" buried here…
I thank the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee for deciding to excavate this area…
I thank the mukhtar for showing understanding and being helpful to us…
14.3.2016
Photo: View from the digging at the old rubbish damp at Epikho…
(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 3rd of April 2016, Sunday.
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