Sevgul Uludag
caramel_cy@yahoo.com
Tel: 99 966518
The six "missing" Greek Cypriots whose remains were found in a place a reader of us had shown us and the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee on the 29th of January 2013, that is four years ago are now in the process of being returned to their families for burials…
There was digging by the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee in the place our reader had shown and they would find the remains of six "missing" Greek Cypriots there, in Masari… They have all been identified through DNA tests by CMP and the funerals have begun – we share the pain of the relatives and may they all rest in peace now… We are very happy with my reader for contributing to finding their burial site and ensuring the return – though tragic and very sad – to their relatives for proper burials…
Sotiris Kolovou has been buried with a ceremony on the 2nd of April 2017, Sunday at Agios Theodoros-Larnaca – he had been only 18 years old and he had been from Harcha… He had been a plumber and he had begun his compulsory military service in January 1974… According to the information I gathered from Facebook his mother's name was Elena and his father's name was Kyriacos… But they could not see the day of the funeral of their son because Kyriacos had passed away in 2000 and Elena in 2006… They were waiting for news from their "missing" son when they passed away from our earth… May they all rest in peace now…
According to the information given to us by some Greek Cypriot readers of ours, this group was arrested in Kyra in an orange orchard. It had actually been a group of eight persons but when two of them had gone out to look for food for the group they were captured and taken to Nicosia. Phedonas Phedonos would go "missing" there while the only one who would remain alive, Andreas Savvas would be taken to Turkey as a prisoner of war and would return to Cyprus. The ones arrested at Kyra would go "missing" until our reader would show years later in January 2013 their burial site. And their remains would be found where he had shown us…
My reader was only a seven-year-old boy at that time, travelling on a donkey with his grandfather… Passing from this spot in Masari, his grandfather would stop, get off his donkey and would feel pity for the six Greek Cypriots killed and left there…
"It is not nice to leave them like that" he would tell his grandson… "Let us try to bury them…"
And he would try to bury them there…
The seven-year-old boy would carry this trauma with him throughout his life until one day he would call me and tell me about it and volunteer to show… We would go together with the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee and he would show us the place… I thank him from my heart for his great humanity for doing that… Since his grandfather had passed away, no one except him knew of this place… If he didn't share this information with us, perhaps we would never know about this burial site…I also extend my heartfelt thanks to the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee for deciding to dig the place that my reader has shown…
The other "missing" Greek Cypriots who had been identified and found and whose funerals have started taking place are:
*** Loucas Tantiris – he had been born in Tymbou and his funeral took place at Agios Eleftherios Church in Latsia on the 23rd of April 2017, Sunday.
*** Achilleos Panayiotis was born in 1953 in Pano Zodia... He is among those whose remains were found in Masari…
*** Sotiris Nicolas Prokopiou was born in 1953 in Kyperounda... He too was buried in Kyperounda on the 23rd of April 2017, Sunday at 10.30.
*** Finding out that Kyriacos Epifaniou was among this group of "missing persons" found in Masari was a big surprise for me. His grandfather Nicolas Epiphaniou had been "missing" from Strongylos from 1974… So both grandfather and grandson were "missing" from 1974… I had interviewed Costas Epiphaniou years ago about his "missing" father, Nicolas Epifaniou – the family was from Vitsada… Our readers would help to find the story behind those "missing" from Strongylos and help to find their burial site… I thank my readers who have helped to find the burial sites of both the grandfather and the grandson Epifaniou… Grandpa Nicolas Epifaniou has been buried with a ceremony recently… I hope to be able to attend the funeral of Kyriacos Epifaniou if I find out when and where it will take place…
*** Among the group of six was also Stylianos Constanti who had been born in Argaka, Paphos… His funeral date: 7 May 2017, Sunday in Argaka…
I share the pain of the relatives of all the six "missing" Greek Cypriots who have been identified through DNA tests…
Now they will each have a proper grave, instead of laying down in an unmarked hole on the hills of Masari…
Their relatives and friends will have the chance to visit their graves and lay flowers…
My reader who had been seven years old when he saw them laying there in Masari calls me after he sees their photographs that I publish on my page in Yeniduzen…
"I couldn't come to myself" he says… "I felt so bad… All the trauma of all these years of carrying this as a secret inside me came out… I was merely a seven-year-old kid… And when I saw their photos I felt so bad – they are so young, some of them, why didn't they let them go? Why did they kill them? I didn't go to work today, I felt so bad after seeing their faces on your page… Please send my condolences to the families, let them know that I share their pain… I did it for humanity… They were human beings… I carried that trauma of seeing them there for so many years inside me… If they want, I want to meet the relatives of these six Greek Cypriots and tell them how sorry I am…I carry the same pain as them…
We were refugees of 1974 and we were settled in Masari… This was in 1974… My grandfather passed away a few years after 1974… He was the only one who knew and myself… If I hadn't spoken up, finding this place would be impossible…"
22.4.2017
Photo: The photo I published in Yenidüzen of the six "missing" Greek Cypriots whose remains were found with the help of one of our readers...
(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 28th of May, 2017...
(**) My article in Turkish was published in Yenidüzen about the six "missing" Greek Cypriots whose remains were found in Masari having been identified with DNA tests of the CMP... The article in Turkish was published on the 19th of April 2017 in Yenidüzen and here is the link to it:
http://www.yeniduzen.com/masaride-bulunan-alti-kayip-kibrislirumun-kimlikleri-belirlendi-cenazeleri-yapiliyor-10551yy.htm
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