Sevgul Uludag
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Stavros Poyrazis: The person who saved the lives of his co-villagers Turkish Cypriots not only once but twice, both in 1963 and 1974…
He was the mukhtar of Strogylos village…
The person who had saved lives of Turkish Cypriots, would be killed by some Turkish Cypriots and he would go "missing"…
Never mixed up in bad incidents, on the contrary having only done good deeds, this innocent man was killed by a handful of Turkish Cypriots and this is became a black stain on the forehead of the Turkish Cypriot community…
There were also other innocent persons whose lives were taken from them…
Just like some Turkish Cypriots from Sinda and Strongylos, there were some Greek Cypriots from Peristerona Pygi, Monarga and Milya who would fill mass graves with the bodies of innocent Turkish Cypriots and this black stain would remain on the forehead of the Greek Cypriot community…
Years ago, I wrote about Stavros Poyrazis, about his life, about how he helped Turkish Cypriots, about how he would go "missing", details of how he had been killed and where he might have been buried…
Back in 2009 as the bicommunal peace movement of this island, we would honour "missing" Stavros Poyrazis at an event entitled "Those Who Saved Each Other"… In this event, we had honoured those Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots who had saved the lives of those from the other community, at the Peace Hall on Ledra Street in Nicosia… And this event would become an incredible event where people would talk and share and where the son of "missing" Stavros Poyrazis would take the plaquete saying "Thanks" to Stavros Poyrazis…
On the 4th of December 2016 Sunday, we are going to Agio Eleftherios church at Latsia together with Dinos Agiomammatis to attend the funeral of Stavros Poyrazis…
Dinos is a friend from "Worker's Democracy" with whom and his friends, we had done quite a bit during 2000s in order to commemorate our "missing persons" together, as well as those "who saved each other"…
We would have activities that would leave a mark on our communities. On the 22nd of July 2009 at the Ledra Street in Nicosia we would honour those who saved each other's lives during the conflict in 1963 and 1974… One of those we had honoured had been Stavros Poyrazis…
In the church the family of Stavros Poyrazis greet me – the grandson Stavros Stavrou who is the new mukhtar of Strongylos welcomes me. He is the son of Frangkis who is the son of Stavros Poyrazis and just like his grandfather, he continues the heritage and is the mukhtar… He gives a speech at the funeral saying:
"We gathered today with emotion and awe to bury the bones of a special man with due honour. Today we live again vividly the tragedy of 1974 and the tragic story of a small village in the plain of Mesaoria, which was meant to pay a heavy blood burden during that dark summer. Eight innocent and peaceful people were cowardly murdered by fanatic Turkish Cypriots, unfortunately also amongst the murderers Turkish Cypriots from our village.
Stavros Georgiou Poirazis was the natural leader of the Strongylos community. He was the muhtar since the founding of the Republic of Cyprus, Secretary of the Cooperative and President of the Church Committee of the Church of Agia Paraskevi, he was well respected by all Strongylos villagers, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot, as well as the people from the neighbouring villages.
Born and raised in the Mesaoria plain, it was impossible both for him and the other tragic co-villagers to flee chased. It was not in his nature.
Stavros Poirazis was above all human and he kept his humanity throughout his life.
In 1964 during the intercommunal trouble and while the Turkish Cypriots of Strongylos set off to leave the village, he being in charge of the Greek Cypriots, stopped them and assured them that nothing would happen to them and they should stay in their houses.
But the greatness of Stavros Poirazis soul does not stop here. In the summer of 1974, after the Treacherous Coup and the Barbaric Turkish Invasion, during the ceasefire he stood twice in front of fully armed fanatic Greek Cypriots from the neighbouring villages.
He stopped them and told them "Go back to your villages. You can not touch the Turkish Cypriots of Strongylos."
He was not afraid of death, he was familiar with it. The black shirt he permanently wore because of the unfair loss of his beloved daughter ten years before was evidence of the pain he carried inside him.
On 15 August 1974, he was arrested with other co-villagers by two Turkish Cypriots from Sinda as well as three Turkish Cypriots from Strongylos and they were brutally murdered in an area outside the village.
Their blood poured inside the plain which they loved and never left.
Really, where were all those who benefited. How small did they stand against History and Humanity? Until today they feel shame and they bow their head during our visits to the village.
The discovery of the bones of our co-villagers was thanks to the tireless efforts of the Missing Persons Committee as well as the enormous contribution of the Turkish Cypriot activist and journalist Sevgul Uludag, who risking her life collected information on the fate of our missing.
I will end with the words of dear Sevgul when I introduced myself as the grandson of Stavros Poirazis.
"It is an honour for me. Stavros Poirazis, the muhtar is A HERRO OF OUR COUNTRY.""
Then comes another grandchild of Stavros Poyrazis, Georgia Georgiou – the daughter of Maria who is the daughter of Stavros Poyrazis – and says farewell to her grandfather:
"When my daughter was saying goodbye to her grandfather, my thoughts were coming to you. A promise I gave to myself many years ago to say goodbye to you grandfather.
Stavros Poirazis. My grandfather. An image unknown to me, because I did not manage to meet you as some wanted to bring the events to here, after 42 whole years of anguish and hope of your return.
I got to know my grandfather through my grandmother Zoiro's and my mother's descriptions. They were always saying that your grandfather Stavris was a progressive man, honest and social. A correct family man. That is why he was also loved by his co-villagers in his beloved village Strongylos, which he did not abandon.
We gathered here today to say goodbye to you – your children, your 24 grandchildren and your 50 great-grandchildren. A big family which you built with grandmother and did not manage to live with us joys and sorrows – 42 years you were absent and always your absence was great at every family gathering.
My grandfather, up there where you will go I am sure you will find open arms waiting for you, your beloved daughter Theodora, uncle Giorgos who we lost recently, so unexpectedly, and your beloved wife, grandmother Zoiro who left with the grief of your return.
Hope you have a good trip grandfather."
And then the child of a grandchild of Stavros Poyrazis, Panayiotis Georgiou – only 12 years old now – reads a poem, a poem written by the daughter of Stavros Poyrazis, Maria…
My father, I never forgot you
nor will I forget you.
Days and nights come
your words in my mind.
Everything became advice and I
tell it to others.
To your grandchildren father,
and your great-grandchildren.
But the most golden advice that
was written in my soul,
is that lies and unjustness
don't love them, my daughter.
The road that you carved for me
I follow it
and always with your thought,
I will finish it.
A lot of people passed from your home,
ate bread, drank water, you were opening your soul
and you were concerned for the village
both christians and turks.
But no one father, was there to save you.
I have kept the words you told me:
"Take your children my daughter, and leave to save them
And I will stay in the village,
A Worthy patriot."
And my soul will always shout
"WORTHY IS MY FATHER
Stavros Poirazis"
What remains of Stavros Poyrazis lies in a small coffin in the church…
Today we are saying goodbye to what remains from Stavros Poyrazis, the person with a huge human heart.
I too put some colourful flowers below his coffin and pay my respects to him…
Next to his coffin there is the plaquete we had given to honour him, on the plaquete the words "Thanks…"
All those who had been taken from Strongylos – Stavros Poyrazis was not taken alone but together with others – were brought to the Cave of the Horses, killed there, later buried in a field near the Cave of the Horses, then their remains taken from there and carried to Abalestra near Sinda… All those who had been taken from Strongylos and killed in this way are slowly returning to their families in small coffins…
From now on Stavros Poyrazis will rest in Latsia, his remains having been found in a well in Abalestra…
A day after the funeral, his daughter Maria sends me her thanks through her son Stavros Georgiou…
One day I will visit the daughter of Stavros Poyrazis, Maria, in her house and will thank her for what her father has done – the huge humanitarian deed of saving lives of Turkish Cypriots… And in my name, I will apologize to her for the horrible murders of a few Turkish Cypriots…
Our friendship with the family of Poyrazis will continue…
I will tell your story dear Stavros Poyrazis to everyone, as long as I am alive…
I will say to everyone that you did not lose anything from your humanity even under conditions of war and I will tell how you used your power as a muhktar to save lives of your villagers, how you gave them their lives…
When we hold meetings with youth, I will make sure to teach them your name so that they can take you as a bright, shining example of humanity…
Stavros Poyrazis… Strongylos… I will make sure that our youth will learn these words that carry so much meaning for this island...
I am happy that both myself and my wonderful readers have helped to continue your name, to identify where you had been buried and have told your humanitarian story so that no one can deny it and everyone finds out about it…
May you rest in peace dear Stavros Poyrazis…
Photo: Stavros Poyrazis…
(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 15th of January 2017, Sunday.
Fort the Turkish version of article published in YENİDÜZEN on the 15th of December 2016:
http://www.yeniduzen.com/bir-cenaze-toreninden-notlar-9906yy.htm
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