Sevgul Uludag
caramel_cy@yahoo.com
Tel: 99 966518
We have been trying to trace the possible burial sites and the stories of the two shepherds from Lysi for many years, with the help of our readers from Lysi and Sinda… Five Greek Cypriot shepherds, together with their flocks were trying to go from the northern part of our island to the southern part. They were stopped by some Turkish Cypriots, a total of 900 animals – sheep – were stolen from them, two of the shepherds were killed and went "missing" and three shepherds somehow managed to stay alive…
The two "missing" shepherds are Christofis (Ttofis) Siafkos and Christodoulos (Ttooulis) Xenaros…
With the help of my readers years ago, we had shown some possible burial sites to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee… Some of these possible burial sites were excavated and some were not excavated…
Now this time, Kyriacos Andreou, our dear friend from Lysi who had helped to find many "missing" Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots had found some people from Lysi who would help us find the location of the well of "Moustaphos" where it is claimed the two "missing" shepherds had been buried in 1974.
Two years ago again with Kyriacos Andreou we had gone to Sinda – he had found at that time a Greek Cypriot who would try to help us find the well of Moustaphos. We had gone in July 2017 to the area and we were looking for the "Field of Yiangoulli" and had taken coordinates and given these coordinates to the officials of the CMP. Moustaphos' well as he had remembered, was behind this field.
The Greek Cypriot who came to show us this field tells us that a Turkish Cypriot who had kept his father safe during those days in 1974, keeping him secretly in his house had told him that the two shepherds were killed and buried in the well of Moustaphos. That Turkish Cypriot is no longer alive but he had kept the father of this Greek Cypriot in his house for eight days and helped him to escape safe and sound…
Years ago, I had written the story of the five shepherds who were arrested by some people from Sinda and two were killed and three remained alive and their flocks stolen and shared among those who arrested the shepherds. Dimitris Anzoulis, Kallis Hadjitofis and Yiangos Grigori Matheou were kept for eight days in Sinda and then they were set free. But Ttofis Siafkos and Ttooulis Xenaros were killed and went "missing".
We had given the information we had gathered in July 2017 to the officials of the CMP but since there was no visible movement, we would decide to go again to the area together with Kyriacos Andreou and the investigators of the CMP.
This time, on the 16th of November 2018, we go with Romanos Lyritsas and Sila Murat who are the investigators of the CMP. We meet with Kyriacos Andreou and a group of his friends from Lysi at the Kontea junction.
Kyriacos' friends from Lysi came all the way from Limassol to meet with us… Among them is also Kokos Geropapas whose two brothers had been "missing" but with the help of my readers we had found their burial site… Six "missing" Greek Cypriots from Lysi were buried in the spot we had shown to the CMP and among them were the two brothers of Kokos. The remains of these six "missing" Greek Cypriots were exhumed and after DNA testing were returned to their relatives for burials…
According to one story that Kyriacos Andreou tells us, a Turkish Cypriot from Sinda had told those around them that he had killed for "revenge" – that he had some people killed from his family back in 1963-64 and since some Greek Cypriots had killed two from his family, now he would kill two Greek Cypriots as "revenge". But according to my investigations, those who arrested and killed the two Greek Cypriot shepherds were five Turkish Cypriots, not just one… These two innocent Greek Cypriot shepherds were killed next to a mandra I was told… The story that Kyriacos Andreou was told that they were killed in "revenge" is I believe is half-truth since many innocent Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots have been killed with the pretext of "patriotism" or "nationalism" or "revenge" but in fact they were killed because of their money or their animals or their land – they were killed by thieves who wanted to loot what these innocent people had. It was the same in the Agios Vassilios village when some innocent Turkish Cypriots were killed back in 1963 and the killers would take the animals of those Turkish Cypriots and start a brand-new farm for themselves in Kokkinotrimitia! They would even steal the ironworks and the gandjelli of those they killed and put it around their own houses… I saw one such gandjelli around the house of a Greek Cypriot killer from Kokkinotrimitia with my own eyes and it is a very strange feeling to see that even today – the gandjelli tells the story of looting, stealing, killing innocent people for greed and hiding behind "patriotism" or "revenge"…
Of course a thousand animals of the five Greek Cypriot shepherds in 1974 meant big wealth in those days… And it was "easy" to steal these and kill the two shepherds in those days…
Back in 1974, some Turkish Cypriots from Sinda were moving around like "cowboys" as though they were in a film set of the Wild West in America… I have written what they have done more than ten years ago on these pages as well as in our newspaper YENIDUZEN… They would go around in their cars with guns in hands, looking for people to kill and this was called "war", but it had nothing to do with "war" just as what happened in Agios Vassilios or Tochni or Maratha had nothing to do with "war". These people – both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots – were only reflecting their own evil, their own "greed", their own stealing and rapes and were killing in order to cover these evil acts and would call it "revenge" or "patriotism".
So on the 16th of November 2018, together with the investigators of CMP and Kyriacos Andreou and his friends, once again we go on the road Kontea-Sinda… The friends from Lysi roam the fields in order to try to locate the well of Moustaphos. The investigators take photos and coordinates… We find a well next to a mandra and take photos…
Together with Romanos and Sila from CMP, we need to go and visit another witness so we say goodbye to them and Kyriacos Andreou would continue his efforts with the people of Lysi.
So Kyriacos in the end finds another Greek Cypriot from Lysi – an old woman who knows the area like the back of her hand and together with her and her daughter goes to the area once more after a week from when we went there…
Kallou Simeou Pourgouri (Atzia) finally finds the well of Moustaphos… Kyriacos takes photos and coordinates and sends to Chris Christophorou, another investigator from CMP so they can have the exact location…
After I publish this story in YENIDUZEN, one of my readers who has been helping us in the area calls me and tells me that the two shepherds might not be buried in the well of Moustaphos but in a well next to a mandra and he claims that perhaps this information had been a "diversion" since it was given by someone who had been involved in the killings in the area. That is why, he says, he does not trust this information. He promises to make more investigations in Sinda and call us back…
Let us hope that after half a century, CMP can finally find the burial site of the two shepherds...
I thank Kyriacos Andreou, his friends from Lysi, our friends from Sinda who help us to find possible burial sites in the area of Lysi and Sinda…
I thank the CMP investigators for coming with us so we can show them our findings…
2.2.2019
Photo1: The two shepherds from Lyssi who are still "missing" today...
Photo 2: together with Kyriacos Andreou and his friends from Lyssi investigating at Sinda...
(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper in Greek on the 24th of February 2019, Sunday. Similar series of articles were published in the YENİDÜZEN newspaper in Turkish on the 23rd and 24th of January 2019 and here are their links:
http://www.yeniduzen.com/sindeden-kayip-edilmis-iki-cobanin-ve-voniden-kayip-edilenlerin-izinde3-13532yy.htm
http://www.yeniduzen.com/sindeden-kayip-edilmis-iki-cobanin-ve-voniden-kayip-edilenlerin-izinde-4-13535yy.htm
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