Sevgul Uludag
caramel_cy@yahoo.com
Tel: 99 966518
I had written the testimony of a reader about a possible mass grave near Hotel Cornaro in the military zone in Nicosia exactly nine years ago in YENIDUZEN newspaper… My article, based on the testimony of one of my Turkish Cypriot readers was published on the 14th of August 2007…
I had further published a more detailed interview with this reader in 2011. I had introduced this reader to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and he had told them in person that he was ready to show them this area whenever they would get the necessary arrangements in place so he could go with them inside the military zone to show.
After nine years from my article about the Hotel Cornaro possible mass grave, last week on Thursday, the 21st of July 2016, the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee made the necessary arrangements so that my reader could go with them to visit the area in the military zone. I could not accompany them since it is a military zone but my reader went with Okan Oktay, the Coordinator for Exhumations and Xenophon Kallis, the Assistant to the Greek Cypriot Member of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee.
My reader showed them the area and shared what he knew and suggested the area where there might be a mass grave…
I thank the officials of the CMP for making the necessary arrangements so my reader could visit the site and show them the possible burial site.
On the 14th of August 2007, what had we written in YENIDUZEN about this possible mass grave?
After a boy had discovered in 1974 a mass grave in the area of the old Grammar School he had taken some human bones – at the time he was barely 13-14 year old kid and had kept these bones in his house as a memory from war. After he read my articles on "missing" he found me one day and told me the story that he had some human bones and he wanted to give them to me so I could give them to the CMP. I would visit his house and he would give me the bones and I would give these to the officials of the CMP the same day… That had happened around the 12th of August 2007… Later on the lab would look at these bones – they were big leg bones with bullets embedded inside the bones… They would tell me that these remains belonged to three different persons… But because they stayed in the sun too long, it was not easy to extract DNA from them…
Later on I would ask this reader to show me the place from where he took these human bones. He would show me and when we would go with the officials of the CMP to the place for me to show them, they would find more human bones there… Over the years we would go and show various times and each time we would go, more small bones would be found… After about five years if I remember correctly, the CMP would start digging in the area we had shown and they would find the remains of 12 "missing persons" there. (Mr. Nestoras Nestoros had informed me that out of these 12 "missing persons", 10 had been identified and that they were Greeks, not Greek Cypriots… And they were waiting for the DNA results for the other 2 "missing persons" when I had asked him about it.)
When I would publish the story of the boy who had found the bones on the 13th of August 2007, this would create quite a stir amongst my readers and they would start calling me and telling me about a possible mass grave around Hotel Cornaro…
So on the 14th of August 2007, I would write the following in YENIDUZEN newspaper:
"Yesterday we gave the bones that came from a mass grave that a boy had discovered 17 years ago to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee. Today they will start investigating.
Our publication yesterday created quite a stir and we got numerous calls from our readers. Turkish Cypriots who took part in the fighting around Hotel Cornaro insisted that there is a mass grave in that area… Our readers said, "When we looked down from the top of the Hotel Cornaro, we could see the bulldozers burying the dead bodies. They had buried them in quite a big cavity…"
And one of our readers wanted to share the following information:
"We had participated in the military operation around Hotel Cornaro and we had taken over the Hotel Cornaro… As we were trying to install anti-aircraft guns on the top, we could see that soldiers were digging big holes in order to bury dead bodies… In fact, an officer from the TURDIK confirmed that to us. In this area we were around 30 persons. In the first phase of the war, we had been stationed at the Nicosia Club… Then reinforcements came and we had progressed towards Cornaro. This was in the second military phase. What had happened there was also published in the media in Turkey.
Because what had happened there was an extraordinary type of war… There was very violent fighting here… Because the aim of the Greek contingents was to stop the Turkish soldiers coming down from the mountains to Nicosia. They had attacked in full force and were heavily concentrated on the attack in Geunyeli. Because Geunyeli was closer to the mountains…
In the Cornaro Hotel, we were on the side, forming the left wing and were supporting TURDIK… We were preventing the left wing from being surrounded. We were around 900 persons – only 150 were professional Turkish Cypriot soldiers and the rest were reservists and volunteers and university students who had come to Cyprus for the summer holidays… I am ready to show from on top of the Hotel Cornaro where exactly the dead bodies had been buried."
After four years, I would publish a detailed interview with this reader in 2011 in YENIDUZEN – that is exactly five years ago…
Here is what my reader had told me five years ago:
"There was heavy fighting in that area. This was the area above what we called the Grammar School, fighting lasted for days, there were military (Greek Cypriot) posts above that school… TURDIK lost a lot of soldiers there. We used to watch from on top of the Hotel Cornaro, the planes would also come and bomb the area… It is difficult to fight with military posts on the ground – planes would come and bomb and that's how commandos would progress since when they threw a bomb, a lot of dust would arise… Then these military posts were destroyed, there were a lot of wounded. At night bulldozers came and they dug all night long… We only heard the screams and shouting…
The following day we asked an officer, "What was all that fuss with the bulldozers last night?"
He said "We dug cavities and we buried the dead…"
We saw the bulldozers from above – why had the bulldozers come?
If I was on top of the Hotel Cornaro towards the south, that is to the Greek Cypriot side, I could be able to show this area where the bulldozers had been digging… To the right of Cornaro there had been an area with trees. As I remember, there had been an area with trees on the south…
We saw the bulldozers between those trees and the Hotel Cornaro – it was not dark yet when the bulldozers had begun to dig…
There was an officer who would always visit us and we would talk. And when we asked him he said "Where should we take them to bury? We just buried them and finished… Things like that happen during the war" he said.
The location where the bulldozers were digging was the right of the Hotel Cornaro, between the place with trees and the hotel. If I go up there, I would probably be able to show… But there were a lot of dead bodies there, a lot of wounded. How many could there be? How many persons were in those military posts on the ground? 20? 30? 40? 50? Two bulldozers were digging for hours… That is, they did not dig holes by hand but by bulldozers… And there had been very intensive fighting in that area…"
So finally my reader got the chance to show this area climbing on top of the Hotel Cornaro.
Afterwards he called me and told me that the place he thought where the bulldozers had been digging, they had planted more trees there…
I thank this reader for his courage and for his humanity and I thank the CMP officials for making the necessary arrangements so he could show the possible mass grave…
23.7.2016
Photo: Once upon a time, Hotel Cornaro…
(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 14th of August 2016, Sunday.
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