Sevgul Uludag
caramel_cy@yahoo.com
Tel: 99 966518
`The ghost` resurfaces again... His name comes up, surprising me... Why am I surprised that `the ghost` has resurfaced? With the new information, I realize that he had been what is called a `serial killer` - he killed both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots back in 1958, he killed in 1964 and most probably in 1974 as well... He had been the `chief` of the area around Lefkonico, my father's village. Sure I know exactly who he is and I know his name but I prefer to call him `the ghost` because his name keeps on surfacing on different murders...
I first came across his name when I was working on the story of a Turkish Cypriot, Ismail, from Lefkonico... Ismail Djelal was from Lefkonico and he had been working at the electricity station there. One night back in 1958, while going home, he had encountered this `ghost` - a Greek Cypriot – with his friends torturing Menikou from Gouphes village. It was the time when EOKA was killing AKEL or PEO members or local leaders... Menikou was tied to a tree and tortured and then killed by this gang in Lefkonico. Although they wore masks, Ismail recognized him from his voice – when Ismail tried to say `Hey stop! What are you doing?`, he had spoken to him, telling him to hurry back to his house... One month later, he would set up an ambush for Ismail and would kill him as well – Ismail was a witness to his torturing and killing of Menikou so he had to silence this Turkish Cypriot witness.
The killing of Ismail had frightened the Turkish Cypriots of Lefkonico – so they left their village, going to Psillati (Ipsillat) or Artemi (Aridami) villages nearby...
In 1964, the ghost would surface again – this time in order to kill, with his friends, another Turkish Cypriot: Ahmet Mehmet Mono who had gone to Lefkonico to renew his car insurance. The ghost had been against Turkish Cypriots so he would kill, with his friends, Ahmet Mehmet Mono, who is still `missing` until now...
I find out from a Greek Cypriot friend who spoke to a Greek Cypriot witness about other murders of this ghost. On the 31st of December 1963, three Turkish Cypriots from Komikebir were going to Nicosia – they had been very much worried about the intercommunal fighting among Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots and they wanted to go to Nicosia to pick up some of their children who had been there at school. They went with the bus of Halil Kemiksiz from Komikebir. According to the Greek Cypriot witness, the bus driver, Halil, did not want to pass through Angastina since a Greek Cypriot connected with the church there had set up a `barricade` and would shoot at the passers-by from a two-storey house – so Halil took the road going through Lefkonico.
With him were Ibrahim Durmush Muya and Ali Fuat Mustafa... Halil's wife also wanted to go with him but the bus driver said, `If you go, who will look after the children?` Halil had five children, Muya had six children, Ali had two children, a total of 13 children... So Halil's wife had put in a big basket (köfün) some bread and buns she had cooked and some oranges to send to her relatives in Nicosia. Off they went, never to return… They too are still `missing` to this day…
According to the Greek Cypriot witness, their bus was stopped at Lefkonico and searched:
`They say, they found a pistol in the bus but I am not sure if this is true` he says. And he continues to tell the story:
`The police of Lefkonico arrested these three Turkish Cypriots from Komikebir and put them in the prison in Lefkonico. They kept them there for more than a month I think. Some of the Greek Cypriot policemen wanted to release them and send them back to their village…`
But not the `chief` of the area, `the ghost` as I call him…
`After keeping them at the police station in Lefkonico, they decided to send them back to their village, Komikebir. So they took the three Turkish Cypriots out of the police, brought them to the barber shop in the village where they were shaved and gave them clean clothes. But when it was time to drive back to Komikebir, the `chief` of the area took over… They took the road from Lefkonico to Akanthou and on the way, one of the Turkish Cypriots, Halil, realized that they were not being taken to Komikebir so he started protesting. They stopped the car and shot Halil – Halil was wounded and while they were busy with Halil, the other two Turkish Cypriots tried to run and get away… They started chasing them, one of them almost got away but in the end they caught them and brought them where Halil was. They killed all three and left them there. The next day, they sent a bulldozer to bury them. This area where they had been killed and buried between Lefkonico and Akanthou is called `Mersinlik`… They were buried next to a stream…`
13 children remained without fathers because Halil, Ibrahim and Ali never returned to Komikebir. And they are still `missing`… And this was the work of the `ghost`. But not just the `ghost`, that is the `chief` of the area but why did the police allow this `chief` to take over and let him do what he wanted?
And what happened to the bus that belonged to Halil from Komikebir?
The witness also has the story of the bus:
`The chief took it to a man in the village who used to repair cars. He had the top of the bus removed and made it into a `garutsa`, a carriage for carrying furniture and stuff… He used it many years… That's why the bus was never found…`
Years later this `ghost` would surface at Pergamos during his adventures of smuggling. As a `contraband` he would be arrested by Turkish Cypriot authorities and sent to prison. The son of Ismail would hear of his arrest and would go to visit him in prison in Nicosia at the police headquarters. When `the ghost` saw Ismail's son in his cell, he would have the fright of his life since the son of Ismail looks exactly like his father:
`I did not kill your father!` he would say to the son, trying to catch his breath… The son of Ismail would only look at him and leave… But he would be so frightened he would become very sick and would be hospitalized in the Turkish side of Nicosia. But soon the Greek Cypriot leadership of the time would intervene and ask the Turkish Cypriot leadership to `release` him. The Turkish Cypriot authorities would release him… His health would continue to deteriorate and he would die, some years ago, this `ghost` who had killed both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, who made so many lives miserable, who left behind so many children without a father and without an income… He would lead a campaign after 64 in order to destroy the houses of the Turkish Cypriots in Lefkonico in order to make sure that they would not return so the houses of Turkish Cypriots would be demolished in 1965-66 – even if they wanted to return, there would be no place to return…
Now I must go and visit the road between Lefkonico and Akanthou, the area called `Mersinlik` - I have heard from friends that this is a big forest area so perhaps with the help of other witnesses, we might be able to locate where the three Turkish Cypriots from Komikebir had been buried… I thank my Greek Cypriot friend who has spoken with the witness, for providing me with all these details…
24.7.2011
Photo: Savvas Menikou and İsmail Djelal, both killed by the same killer in Lefkonico…
(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 7th of August 2011, Sunday.
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