Sevgul Uludag
caramel_cy@yahoo.com
Tel: 99 966518
I receive an important message from one of my Greek Cypriot readers that might shed some light on one or more `missing` Turkish Cypriots from 1964 I believe… He writes:
`Dear Sevgul,
Let me tell you a story that I have heard of from my father's family many years ago.
Around 1964-1965, one morning in the village of Latsia (south of Nicosia – now it is a whole town attached to Nicosia), my uncle (who was around 23-24 years old at the time) was going on his tractor to plough his family's fields. He was a farmer. Suddenly, he saw some boxes of new shoes dispersed in the fields, possibly very near the main road of Limassol-Nicosia (those days there was no highway. The road was passing through Latsia). Initially, he didn't know what these shoes where, so he took them and brought some of them home and gave to his sisters (they were women's shoes).
As it was found out later, the shoes belonged to a Turkish Cypriot (who was a shoemaker). He was an innocent man who was killed by Greek Cypriots who were revenging the killing of Stavros Venizelos, a young family-man from Latsia who was killed by Turkish Cypriot extremists in his shop near Ermou street in Nicosia. As I said, the Turkish Cypriot man was innocent. He was only unlucky because he happened to be passing from Latsia.
Some versions of the story say that my uncle's tractor uncovered the body of the Turkish Cypriot shoemaker, who had been buried in a hurry by his killers, barely covered in dirt. Then, when this happened, other people from Latsia went and collected the body and buried it somewhere else in an unknown location. I also heard versions that the Turkish Cypriot was with his wife. I am not sure if this is true, or this was another incident.
My uncle passed away in 2000, so did my father in 2013. Some other family members are still alive, such as my aunt (my uncle's wife), another uncle (my father's younger brother, etc).
But first of all, are you aware of such incident of a missing Turkish Cypriot who was a shoemaker and disappeared on his way to Nicosia or on his way out of Nicosia? Has this incident/mystery ever been solved?
I assure you that none of my family members were ever involved in such incidents. Quite the contrary, they always condemned these incidents. I remember my father always saying: "Yes, the killing of Stavros Venizelos was tragic, but why did they have to kill an innocent man who had nothing to do with anything?"
I look forward to hearing from you soon."
After a little while, he sends me another message and says:
"I just called my other uncle (his brother). He said the body was found un-buried in the field near the road from Geri to Latsia. Then other people from Latsia went with a digger and buried it in another location. Another incident that my uncle told me was about a bus which was stopped by some Greek Cypriots. The bus was possibly coming from the Kochati (Kotsiatis) area. They took a few and killed them in the area of Macheras & Lythrodontas.
I will try to find more info from older people in Latsia. I reside in Latsia. I will see what I can do.`
There were two pairs of Turkish Cypriots "missing", travelling with new shoes amongst other things at the back of their vehicle…
One of these was Mustafa Osman Akay and he was travelling from Nicosia to Famagusta together with an old man called Mustafa Salih Karamano. He had loaded various goods in the van driven by Mustafa with number plate Y834. Among the things they had loaded was bottles of Coca Cola and some new shoes to be sold or delivered in Famagusta…
Mustafa was from Sinda and in Nicosia we had this famous "bakkalis", Mesut Bakkal who was his uncle.
The Morris van in fact had belonged to Mesut Bakkal and his son Mustafa remembers going from Nicosia to Sinda, all the kids in the van… He also remembers the day Mustafa Osman Akay would "disappear" with Karamano…
When Mesut got a new truck, he had given this car to his cousin to distribute goods from Mesut Bakkal to Famagusta bakkalis… So Mustafa Osman Akay was a distributor of his uncle…
He was taking stuff and distributing in Famagusta… That day, he had loaded some stuff, as well as shoes...
Mesut's son Mustafa was barely 7 or 8 years old then and he remembers that day… He says that his mother tried to stop Mustafa Osman Akay from leaving, telling him not to go, that the roads were not so safe in those days… Mustafa Osman Akay would tell her that ok, he won't go but he had some business to finish and he would leave the Camels' Inn with the car…
He and Karamano would disappear with the car on 29 April 1964.
There were rumours that a van had shoes and the van was found abandoned outside Palekythro and that the villagers took the shoes... That some people from Kythrea had killed them… I do not know if this is true or not… There are so many stories about "missing" persons that it is like a labyrinth where you try to find your way and make sense of what had actually happened.
Back in those days, Mustafa remembers that his father Mesut Bakkal would desperately seek his cousin… He would hear that his car had been seen in Palekythro, that the goods and the shoes in the car were dispersed in a field and he would run there to speak with some Greek Cypriots from Palekythro… This would happen a few years later… According to Mustafa, his father would recognize his car… Just the body of the car that was being used somewhere in Palekythro as a shed and inside this makeshift shed, some wireless equipment being used by some Greek Cypriots…
His friends from Palekythro would tell him to go away and not to ask any more questions…
Years later, the son of the "missing" Mustafa Osman Akay, Mesut Akay would go and find some people from Palekythro and they would tell him that they remembered the boxes of shoes and the Coca Cola and the car – that the old man Karamano had been executed in Palekythro but Mustafa Osman Akay had been taken to Tseri to be "questioned"…
In 2008, one of my kind-hearted Greek Cypriot readers would show me a possible burial site in Tseri… And we would show this place to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee – upon digging, they would find the remains of Mustafa Osman Akay… But not Mustafa Salih Karamano… Karamano is still "missing"… He had been 65 years old at that time…
When I write this information to my reader who has written to me, he would tell me this:
"Keep in mind that those days, Palekythro was not so far from Geri and Latsia. There was no dividing line. But this doesn't mean anything of course…"
The other pair of Turkish Cypriots "missing" with the shoes were also travelling from Nicosia to Famagusta… They too would disappear on the way from Nicosia to Famagusta on the 17th of April 1964. They were Kerim Mustafa and Turgut Mehmet…
Turgut had been a young man of 21, married with a daughter of two years old and his wife Serpil was pregnant with their second child… He had a doner shop and when his brother who was settled in Famagusta asked him to bring him some shoes from a shoemaker called Munur whose shop was just across the house of Turgut in Arabahmet, Nicosia, he and his wife had loaded four or five pairs of children's shoes in the front of the truck… She too, was supposed to go with them but because she was four months' pregnant, her husband asked her to stay…
They would travel in a truck and they would "disappear" on the 17th of April 1964 – that is around the same time…
The number plate of the truck was TCB355...
So what my reader from Latsia is talking about could be either Karamano or these two "missing" Turkish Cypriots I guess, since I did not hear of any other case with the shoes...
Kerim Mustafa was actually from Vasilia and he used to work as a truck driver between Nicosia and Famagusta… According to rumours, he had been arrested at Aglandjia on the day he had gone "missing" together with Turgut Mehmet…
When Kerim went "missing" he had four children and he was only 26 years old… And Turgut was actually from Aredhiou and his father Mehmet Ibrahim Demiray, tried desperately to find his son…
First he would go to the Vice President of the Republic of Cyprus, Dr. Kuchuk's Office and demand that they find his "missing" son… Dr. Kuchuk while Mehmet Ibrahim Demiray was there would give the mission to Major Macey to find out the fate of Kerim and Turgut… After a while Major Macey would tell the father of Turgut that Kerim and Turgut had been kept at the Athalassa police station and that the Greek Cypriot police would soon set them free to go back to Famagusta… Macey would also say that he himself, actually met them there.
But when his son Turgut would not come back, a few months later, Mehmet Ibrahim Demiray would go to Omorphita to ask for help from one of his friends there called Bardakkis Mavro… After a year, he would also go to the Presidential Palace to the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios… He would meet the secretary of Makarios, Zindillis… Zindillis would tell him that "there was nothing they could do!"
When I was investigating these ten years ago, that is back in 2009 I had spoken with the son of Kerim Mustafa, Ilker Beshok… He had been eight and a half years old when his father had gone "missing" – he remembers hearing on the radio that his father had been arrested together with someone with him and were taken to the Athalassa police station…
When I call him after ten years, his daughter answers the phone and tells me that Ilker Beshok, the son of Kerim has passed away two and a half years ago… I feel shocked and very sad… Waiting for his father's remains to be found for more than half a century, the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee could not deliver and he passed away without knowing what happened to his father, without getting back his remains…
What can be more painful than this for the relatives of "missing persons"?
I thank my Greek Cypriot reader from Latsia who has given me detailed information and I will continue my investigations on this… If you know something or heard something that you think might help, you can call me with or without your name on my CYTA mobile number at 99 966518. Thank you…
And I ask the officials of the CMP to evaluate all of this…
28.9.2019
Photos:
1. Turgut Mehmet
2. Mustafa Salih Karamano
3. Mustafa Osman Akay
4. Kerim Mustafa
(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 27th of October 2019, Sunday. A series of similar articles were published in the YENİDUZEN newspaper on the 28th of September 2019 and the 2nd of October 2019 and here are the links:
http://www.yeniduzen.com/bazi-kibrisliturkler-ermu-yakinlarinda-latcali-stavros-venizelosu-oldurunce-bazi-lat-14551yy.htm
http://www.yeniduzen.com/turgut-mehmet-kunduraci-degil-donerciydi-14569yy.htm
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