A traditional sideboard (“Seyfol”) waiting for peace…

A traditional sideboard ("Seyfol") waiting for peace…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 99 966518

It is elegant, the traditional sideboard called `Seyfol` in Turkish… It is in Trikomo, in a house, waiting for peace…
I read the story from the article of Canan Sumer who writes in Afrika newspaper… I speak with Semen Yonsel Saygun who is the leader of KTOS, the Turkish Cypriot Teachers' Trade Union… It is her parents who have this `seyfol` and I learn the details of the story…
Canan Sumer, in her article of 30th November 2015, writes:
`They used to live in a house that smelled of the sea before 1974 in Larnaka… They were a happy family with two children…
The father, Yuksel Dervish Ali had been an auxiliary police with the British for some time and then he had begun working at the Cyprus Petroleum Refinery… Throughout his life he would be a `demirci` (ironworks) as well as doing many other jobs… He would be one of the first workers at the `Industrial Holdings` (formed after 1974 in the northern part of Cyprus, consisting of various factories left behind by Greek Cypriots – S.U.) but due to his character of being in opposition, he would be the first to be thrown out of these holdings that had become a `farm` for the ruling National Unity Party UBP at that time… He would emigrate to England with his family, trying to make a living there for some time…
On the 21st of July 1974, he had been taken as a prisoner of war by Greek and Greek Cypriot soldiers.
`They would take the men at the Trabi gymnasium and the women and kids to the Cennet Cinema. We did not know what would happen to us. A day after they would send the women and children to their homes. After being held as prisoners for 65 days, we would cross to the northern part of the island under UN supervision…`
A little while later the whole family would be reunified in the northern part. They would go to the village they are told they would be settled. This would be Trikomo, the village of Grivas, the founder of EOKA.
Mr. Yuksel and his family would settle in an empty Greek Cypriot house.
I was a guest in that house over the weekend…
I was so much impressed from the warmth and sincerity of this family…
We ate kebabs made by Mr. Yuksel among the whispers of the olive trees and the smells of sardinias in the garden.
Among the smoke of the kebab, there was a sun brick house with old wooden door and windows that looked worn out – it looked like a secondary house in the garden and it was as though it was waiting for me to ask about it…
"We lived together for a long time here, with an old Greek Cypriot couple who had not left their house. We shared the same garden. Their names were Stavros and Maria… Stavros was a very quiet, nice gentleman. His wife Maria was afraid of Turks and would not come close. We would chatter in Greek with Stavros quite often. He would tell me of the old times of his village… I would tell him about our old days in Larnaka… The panayiris, the music concerts and even the sea had a different beauty in Larnaka. Our friendly chats must have attracted the attention of one of the Turkish officers that one day as we were chatting in the garden, he would approach me with some rage and said, `What the hell are you talking with him?!` reprising me… And I would say, `I am just poking around to see if he is hiding some guns, commander!` in order to send this Turkish officer away…` explains Mr. Yuksel and we all laugh!
The same officer would sometimes come to Stavros and said to him, `I might kill you and bury you here!`
The chicken that Mr. Stavros had would be often painted to white and red by some Turks around them.
`They were doing this in order to make them uncomfortable so that they would leave… They were not trying to harm them…` Mr. Yuksel explains.
His daughter Semen asks her father, `What about that Turk who had raped that old Greek Cypriot woman?`
Mr. Yuksel in a far and sad voice says, `She had been an old, nervous woman. She was alone who had no one around her… It was a sad affair… I wish such things never happened.`
Semen says, `This was perhaps one of my worst memories, the cries of that woman who had been raped, the policemen coming…`
One day Stavros and his wife would take a few pieces of clothing with them and would go under UN supervision to cross to the southern part of the island…
But something would go wrong so they would not be able to cross and would come back to their village… Until they would be back, those around their village would loot their house, taking all of their furniture…
When the old woman would come and see her house completely empty, she would feel very bad and would start crying… All those who took their furniture, seeing her like that, would bring back all that they had taken…
`Maybe they were ashamed of themselves` I say out loud and the wife of Mr. Yuksel, Ms. Ozgul says, `What shame? In those days there was no shame or anything! There was no humanity left!`
Since they had no peace of mind, Stavros and his wife would decide to go to the southern part. And while they were leaving, they would give to Ms. Ozgul a `Seyfol` (sideboard) as a safekeeping and saying `Let this stay with you, if there is an agreement and our daughter or our angoni come here, you may give it to them…`
And they would leave, never to return to their village…
We eat the `galobureki` made by Ms. Ozgul for us and I think about this sideboard…
And I feel that the motifs of bird over the `seyfol` are singing, waiting for the angoni of Stavros and Maria… Just as I am waiting for peace, without losing heart…`
I call Semen after I read this article and she tells me that in fact, after the checkpoints opened in 2003, the daughter and the angoni had gone to Trikomo to their house and had seen the sideboard. That they live in Larnaka… That Stavros and Maria have both passed away…
One of the angoni would ask Semen's father to sell them the sideboard…
Mr. Yuksel, the father of Semen would say, `What sale? It is yours! Take it please, it is yours already…`
They would promise to come back and take it after a solution in Cyprus and they would leave…
They would also say to Semen's family that both Stavros and Maria was speaking of them fondly…
The sideboard remains in the house in Trikomo, waiting for peace to come… Like so many of us…

26.12.2015

Photo: The sideboard (seyfol) that belonged to Maria and Stavros from Trikomo...

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 24th January, 2016 – Sunday.

A young boy of 18 from Lythrodontas…

A young boy of 18 from Lythrodontas…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 99 966518

I had first written in 2007 about a young Greek Cypriot soldier who had gone to Kampilli and kept there for some days as a prisoner of war and then killed and buried somewhere in the village… My Turkish Cypriot readers would continue to share their information and I would publish more details about this young man in 2008 – that he had gone to the village not knowing that it was a Turkish Cypriot village and was taken as a prisoner of war and then killed and buried in a well… My readers had provided the name of the owner of the house where the well was and they were insistent that if there was digging by the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee, his remains would be found in the well…
My readers would continue to call and tell me about this young man so I would publish more details about this `missing` Greek Cypriot back in 2011… In April 2011, I would publish one of my reader's stories on the `missing` Greek Cypriot in Kampilli… He would share the following information:
`A `missing` Greek Cypriot is buried in Kampilli… This Greek Cypriot had come to the village during the bombing of the Turkish planes of Kontemenos and Asomatos… He was barely 18 or 19 years old… When he was asked why he had come to a Turkish Cypriot village, it would be clear that he did not know this area at all… They would put him in a house and would stay there for a day or so… Then the Greek Cypriots started bombing Kampilli from Myrtou and some of the leaders of the village got afraid and said, `What if the Greek Cypriots come to our village and see that we are keeping a Greek Cypriot as a prisoner of war` and they shot him. They buried him in a well… I can describe and also show you the exact location of this well… They would demolish the well over him…`
I was sharing this information with the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee since 2008 and in June 2011 I would go with them to show them the exact location of this well. We would go together with Xenophon Kallis, Murat Soysal and Okan Oktay from the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee to the village and thanks to the insistence and the information provided by my readers, we would find the well, as well as the house where he had been kept, this `missing` Greek Cypriot. One of my woman readers would offer us coffee and would assure us that `he is still there if you dig – no one has ever touched that well since he had been buried there…`
After about two years from the time I had shown the well to the CMP, exhumations would begin in 2013 and the remains of this `missing` Greek Cypriot young man would be found in the well, just as my readers had described to us… I would help the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee to get the necessary consent from the family from Kampilli who owned the well… From 2007 when we began searching for information about him, finally digging would begin after six years and his remains would be found in the well that we showed… I would stand next to the well watching the exhumations and feel relieved that finally he would reach his family, if you can call this a sort of `consolation`… Because they had sent him alive but now he would return to his loved ones in a small coffin to be buried which is a tragedy – a tragedy shared by both communities… Still I would have no idea about who he is and would wonder whether I would find out who he had been and whether I would ever be able to meet his family…
Two years would go by and then one day I would find out the identity of this `missing` Greek Cypriot… It was Panayiotis Karaolis from Lythrodontas and he had only been 18 years old… I would find out with the help of a relative of a Greek Cypriot `missing person` who would share with me the announcement of the funeral of Panayiotis Karaolis.
He would be buried at Lythrodontas on the 29th of November 2015 but because his family has no idea what sort of effort my readers has shown and how insistent they had been about opening up the well, I would not be able to go to his funeral. I would never go to the funeral of a `missing` Greek Cypriot if I am not invited by the family… But I would share the information about his funeral with my readers and would also print some photographs from his funeral that Katerina Antona had shared on her wonderful Facebook page on `missing` Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots from 1963 and 1974… And I would thank all my readers who had helped to find his remains and let them know who this young boy was… Some had thought he had been from Psimolofou village, some had thought he was from Lakatamia, some had thought he was from Paphos but finally we know he was from Lythrodontas…
Perhaps one day I would have the opportunity to go and visit his village and lay some flowers on his grave – that is if his relatives does not oppose such a visit… I would share the pain of their loss – such a young boy, another victim like all the victims of the bloody wars that have been waged on this island…
Another life cut so short – he did not have time to even finish his growing up and becoming an adult – he could not embrace life because death would embrace him and he would be killed in cold blood – an execution like so many others that took place on this island… May he rest in peace now…
I want to end this article with some wise words from Dalai Lama… Dalai Lama, recently wrote an article called `The Reality of War` and he said:
"Of course, war and the large military establishments are the greatest sources of violence in the world. Whether their purpose is defensive or offensive, these vast powerful organizations exist solely to kill human beings. We should think carefully about the reality of war. Most of us have been conditioned to regard military combat as exciting and glamorous – an opportunity for men to prove their competence and courage. Since armies are legal, we feel that war is acceptable; in general, nobody feels that war is criminal or that accepting it is criminal attitude. In fact, we have been brainwashed. War is neither glamorous nor attractive. It is monstrous. Its very nature is one of tragedy and suffering.
War is like a fire in the human community, one whose fuel is living beings. I find this analogy especially appropriate and useful. Modern warfare waged primarily with different forms of fire, but we are so conditioned to see it as thrilling that we talk about this or that marvellous weapon as a remarkable piece of technology without remembering that, if it is actually used, it will burn living people. War also strongly resembles a fire in the way it spreads. If one area gets weak, the commanding officer sends in reinforcements. This is throwing live people onto a fire. But because we have been brainwashed to think this way, we do not consider the suffering of individual soldiers. No soldiers want to be wounded or die. None of his loved ones wants any harm to come to him. If one soldier is killed, or maimed for life, at least another five or ten people – his relatives and friends – suffer as well. We should all be horrified by the extent of this tragedy, but we are too confused.
Frankly as a child, I too was attracted to the military. Their uniform looked so smart and beautiful. But that is exactly how the seduction begins. Children start playing games that will one day lead them in trouble. There are plenty of exciting games to play and costumes to wear other than those based on the killing of human beings. Again, if we as adults were not so fascinated by war, we would clearly see that to allow our children to become habituated to war games is extremely unfortunate. Some former soldiers have told me that when they shot their first person they felt uncomfortable but as they continued to kill it began to feel quite normal. In time, we can get used to anything.
It is not only during times of war that military establishments are destructive. By their very design, they were the single greatest violators of human rights, and it is the soldiers themselves who suffer most consistently from their abuse. After the officer in charge have given beautiful explanations about the importance of the army, its discipline and the need to conquer the enemy, the rights of the great mass of soldiers are most entirely taken away. They are then compelled to forfeit their individual will, and, in the end, to sacrifice their lives. Moreover, once an army has become a powerful force, there is every risk that it will destroy the happiness of its own country.
There are people with destructive intentions in every society, and the temptation to gain command over an organisation capable of fulfilling their desires can become overwhelming. But no matter how malevolent or evil are the many murderous dictators who can currently oppress their nations and cause international problems, it is obvious that they cannot harm others or destroy countless human lives if they don't have a military organisation accepted and condoned by society. As long as there are powerful armies there will always be danger of dictatorship. If we really believe dictatorship to be a despicable and destructive form of government, then we must recognize that the existence of a powerful military establishment is one of its main causes.
Militarism is also very expensive. Pursuing peace through military strength places a tremendously wasteful burden on society. Governments spend vast sums on increasingly intricate weapons when, in fact, nobody really wants to use them. Not only money but also valuable energy and human intelligence are squandered, while all that increases is fear.
I want to make it clear, however, that although I am deeply opposed to war, I am not advocating appeasement. It is often necessary to take a strong stand to counter unjust aggression. For instance, it is plain to all of us that the Second World War was entirely justified. It "saved civilization" from the tyranny of Nazi Germany, as Winston Churchill so aptly put it. War is violence and violence is unpredictable. Therefore, it is better to avoid it if possible, and never to presume that we know beforehand whether the outcome of a particular war will be beneficial or not.
For instance, in the case of the Cold War, through deterrence may have helped promote stability, it did not create genuine peace. The last forty years in Europe have seen merely the absence of war, which has not been real peace but a facsimile founded dear. At best, building arms to maintain peace serves only as a temporary measure. As long as adversaries do not trust each other, any number of factors can upset the balance of power. Lasting peace can assure secured only on the basis of genuine trust."

19.12.2015

Photo: The funeral of Panagiotis Karaolis…

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 17th of January 2016, Sunday.

A `missing` cigarette distributor in Cyprus: George Bernard Gibbins…

A `missing` cigarette distributor in Cyprus: George Bernard Gibbins…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 99 966518

On October 18th, 2015, I receive an e-mail from a close relative of a British `missing` person which is like a `miracle` for me… George Bernard Gibbins had been taken from Knodhara village – a small village in Mesaoria – on the 22nd of April 1964 by some Turkish Cypriots and killed and has been `missing` since then… I had done a lot of research about George Bernard Gibbins back in 2006 and had published my findings… I had found information from my Turkish Cypriot readers, as well as a British reader David Carter (who passed away some years ago)…
Gibbins was a `missing` person who used to distribute cigarettes for the `Ardath` company who went `missing` in 1964… I had even found a possible burial site around Goufez-Knodhara road, a well in which one of my readers had claimed he had been buried and had shown this possible burial site to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee in 2011. George Bernard Gibbins had been 32 years old when he had gone `missing` - he was married to Penelope and was distributing cigarettes. He had been going in and out of `ghettos` of Turkish Cypriots, distributing cigarettes and every fifteen days, he would go to Knodhara, where eventually he would go `missing`. Knodhara was a pure Turkish Cypriot village which is close to Chatoz. He was killed in Knodhara and the money on him, the cheques, as well as cigarettes worth 700 Cypriot pounds were taken by those who killed him. His car was found abandoned around Yenaghra village. Soon after he had gone `missing` the Ministry of Interior had asked for information about his whereabouts and had offered a thousand Cypriot pounds as reward money. His wife Penelope – they had only been married for 17 months – had gone on RIK radio and TV to publish a message asking for the release of her husband. According to David Carter (may he rest in peace), the brother of Gibbins, the 41 year old Edward would come to the island and do his own investigations. After some time, Major Macey who had been the liaison officer between the UN and the Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Kuchuk would go `missing` and so would his driver Platt… They would go `missing` around Agios Theodoros when they were trying to come from Karpaz area to Nicosia…
According to my readers from Knodhara, after Gibbins was killed, his money and the cheques he had were taken by those who killed him and they even went to the Turkish Ish Bank in Nicosia to cash the checks! Major Macey would start searching for information about the `missing` Gibbins and he would check the cigarette boxes sold in the Turkish Cypriot enclaves with their serial numbers to see what he would find. Major Macey and his driver Platt would go `missing in June 1964…
In her e-mail of October 18, 2015, Amelia Gibbins-McBride says:
"Dear Sevgul,
I hope this is you, if not then I am sorry for bothering you.
I noticed you wrote an article, last year I think it was, about Major Macey and George Bernard Gibbins.
George was my Grandpas brother, and in your article one of the men said he was buried in the place you wrote about. I was just wondering if you could tell me where that was? It's a mystery to us all what happened to him and my Grandpa spent years trying to find out. Unfortunately, he passed away last November, so if there's anything you could tell me I would greatly appreciate it.
Regards,
Amelia Gibbins-McBride"
I immediately write back to her and say:
"Dear Amelia
Thanks so much for writing to me! This is like a miracle...
I have done so much investigation about your grandfather's brother but never had the chance to contact anyone from the family since I did not know how...
I did investigations about him years ago and wrote about him years ago...
We also went with the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee officials where a reader showed us an area where in a well, he claimed was buried your grandfather's brother... This well's exact place we do not know but we know the area...
Perhaps the problem is this - that he is not `officially` on the `missing persons' list` in Cyprus - currently the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee is only doing excavations and exhumations of those on the list - Turkish Cypriot, Greek Cypriot and Greek `missing persons`. As far as I know, there is no British `missing person` on this official list. (Neither Gibbins, nor Major Macey and his driver Platt have ever been put on the official "missing persons" list in Cyprus by the British officials as far as I know. S.U.)
What does this mean? It means that even if they would find his remains `accidentally`, he would not be identified through DNA since his family as far as I know, has not given DNA...
But if you are willing and ready to work on this, we can speak about it and see how we can go about it for at least the family members - those who are close family - can provide DNA and make an official application etc. I have some ideas if you would like to speak about it...
The essence of the story, that I have found out, has two aspects - he was killed and the money and the cheques he carried and the cigarettes were taken.
The more `political` implication of the killing I suspect and I heard rumours is that at that time, while Turkish Cypriots were gathering in `ghettos` due to the intercommunal fighting that began in December 1963, the distribution of cigarettes to these `ghettos` (`pure` Turkish Cypriot villages where no Greek Cypriot or foreigner could enter) was done by your grandfather's brother and the ruling elite at that time wanted to give this `distribution` to a Turkish Cypriot. I do not know if your grandfather's brother, Gibbins was the only distributor to these areas but I know for sure that he was one... So eventually the distribution job went to a Turkish Cypriot after Gibbins was killed.
He was killed as far as I could gather around Knodhara and buried in a well outside Khonadra-Goufez road... I have a reader who has shown us the area where the well might be, his possible burial site... There are a few wells in that area but we can work to narrow down to which well he might have been buried in...
Again I thank you so much for contacting me and I would appreciate if you have any photos of him or any details of his life - we know nothing of him - where he was born, how many brothers, why he was in Cyprus and so on... What did your grandfather do to find him and what happened to the wife of Gibbins, did they have any children - as far as I know they did not have any children - and so on...
Last but not least let me express my sorrow and share the pain of your family for his disappearance like that... He was an innocent person, like so many, who went `missing` and after half a century we are still looking for their remains...
Many regards from Cyprus,
Sevgul Uludag
Investigative Journalist"
Amelia Gibbins-McBride writes back to me and says:
"Dear Sevgul,
Thank you for your reply, I'm happy to have found someone who knows a little more about what happened to Bernard.
Unfortunately, I can't tell you what happened to his wife, after Bernard's disappearance she cut herself off from the family, nobody heard from her after. So we assume that she started a new life and remarried. Although I did hear that she may have been pregnant at the time of his disappearance, but I'm not completely sure this is true.
I think I would like to take things further with this, I feel that as a family we should know what happened to him. I just don't know where to start.
It's very strange to me that he isn't on the missing persons list, I don't understand why that would be. If you think you could be of help in this, I would appreciate it.
Regards,
Amelia."
Then I write back to her and say:
"Dear Amelia
What I recommend is this:
You can write a letter to the British High Commission in Cyprus and ask them to bring the case of your "missing" relative to the attention of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee.
You may say in this letter that as an investigative journalist, I have investigated the disappearance of George Bernard Gibbins and even found some information about his POSSIBLE burial site and have shown this to the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee. I am available to help in any way I can to both the British Embassy in Cyprus and to the CMP, voluntarily, as a humanitarian task.
I will write something on my page about the whole thing so that we can put it on record that the family of Gibbins is searching for information and the burial site.
I know someone who works at the embassy (British High Commission in Cyprus) and her e-mail is:
……..
You can write to her and copy me as well and you may tell her that you got her mail from me - she can then send your letter to the appropriate person - whoever that might be - at the British Embassy in Cyprus.
I hope that we can get some results like that...
You would also need to give DNA - yourself or the close relatives who are alive - so that if there is digging and if the remains are found, they can be matched.
Again thanks so much and I look forward to hearing from you...
Regards,
Sevgul Uludag."
After some time, I receive an e-mail from one of the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee, asking me if I would go to an informal meeting with an official from the British High Commissioner about `missing` Gibbins. I tell him I would of course any time and that I am ready to help voluntarily…
This means that Amelia Gibbins-McBride has in fact written to the British High Commission in Cyprus and that they have contacted the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee about the case of `missing` George Bernard Gibbins…
Then the CMP official writes to me and informs me that the person whom we are supposed to meet is out of the country and when he gets back to Cyprus we would arrange this meeting.
I look forward to that meeting and see if we can in any way help Amelia in her search for her `missing` relative…

12.12.2015

Photo: The mandra where there are some wells...

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 10th of January 2016, Sunday.

From Parissinos to Mia Milia…

From Parissinos to Mia Milia…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436

It is after the presentation I make about `missing persons` a few weeks ago at the Home for Cooperation that a young man comes to speak to me, as soon as my speech is over…
`We live in Parissinos` he explains to me… `The place where some Turkish Cypriot `missing persons` were found in two wells… My grandmother is very old now and she can't remember much but when she had been healthy, she used to tell us about the events of 1963-64 in this area… In those days some Greek Cypriots who took some Turkish Cypriots and killed and buried them there would be boasting about this. So much so that once, my grandmother would throw her coffee cup at one of them when they were drinking coffee in a neighbour's house and this guy was boasting how he had killed some Turkish Cypriots there…
According to my grandmother, Turkish Cypriots were not only buried in those two wells where remains were found but that there were also other places where they were buried and that a house was built over them… In the same area I mean… Maybe if you do some more research, you can find out more about other burial sites in Parissinos…`
I thank this young man for what he has shared with us… In fact, there has been many insistent calls from my readers that there must be more burial sites at Parissinos. Some of my readers pointed out a particular house where there had been burials of some `missing` Turkish Cypriots and that this house was built over them… Yet another reader had told us of the story of some executions that he witnessed by coincidence and he showed us the place – I had arranged for the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee to come and meet him on the spot and he showed them the area… He had gone to eat some oranges in an orange garden in this area with his friends from school – he had been a student and they had skipped school or left school to go to this orange grove when they all witnessed the killing of some Turkish Cypriots by some Greek Cypriots just outside the orange grove and they were all shocked. He believed that two Turkish Cypriots killed that day in 1964 might have been buried in a well at that point but he was not hundred per cent sure. Had they been buried in a well there or had they been carried to be buried in the two wells that later, CMP would find the remains of the `missing` Turkish Cypriots? In two wells, the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee had found the remains of a total of 11 `missing` Turkish Cypriots. There have been no excavations in the place we showed with this reader perhaps because there was no further information found whether there had been an actual burial or whether it was the place for execution… I call on my readers to help if they know anything further concerning the Parissinos area… You can call me with or without your name on my CYTA mobile: 99 966518 to share what you know…
Another reader calls me about Mia Milia, a Turkish Cypriot reader who met an old man recently…
`See, I met this old man` he explains to me, giving his name and the place where I can find him…
`If you can find someone to convince him to talk to you, it would be good because as I understand from the things he told me, he knows of a possible burial site in Mia Milia… As I understand they used to call this place `The garden with pears`… There had been fighting in 1974 in this area and this old man was there and he told me that they had buried the dead bodies at `The Garden with Pears`… As I understand, this garden of pears is now within the military zone in Mia Milia… If you manage to speak with him, perhaps he can give you more details…`
I thank this reader and start investigating… I find out that this place might be an area – gardens – that might have belonged to a Greek Cypriot called A. Theoharides but I am not hundred per cent sure if it is the same area that the old man is talking about… I will try to visit the old man and see if he will speak with me… Meanwhile, if you know of anything about `The Garden with Pears` please call me with or without your name on my CYTA mobile: 99 966518 to share what you know…
Another reader writes me a note about the Morphou area…
`Dear Sevgul, I wanted to tell you something for a long time… I was a teacher in 1985 in the village ….. and our headmaster was Mr. ……. He is alive now and lives in the village ……
One day as we were speaking this man started crying and telling me something about 1974 war… During the war, he had been a guide to the Turkish soldiers. At an orange grove in Morphou they had seen a Greek Cypriot child, around 12 years old and the child was so frightened… He was crying… As soon as the child turned his back, some soldiers had shot him from behind, killing him. I don't know how true this story is but the guy who told me was crying when he was telling me these… Since he is alive and living in the village ….., perhaps you can go and speak with him… And ask him…`
I thank this reader from my heart for sharing this and will start investigating to see if there is a Greek Cypriot boy `missing` during that time in 1974 from the Morphou area… If you know of such a tragic incident please call me on my CYTA mobile, with or without your name to tell me about it. My number is 99 966518.
And there is of course always more work to be done… As I sit at Alfamega for lunch with my husband, one of his very old friends comes and finds us… We finish lunch and sit down to speak with him…
`While they were building the Ercan Airport at Timbou` he says, `where there were the makeshift buildings in the beginning, I heard that there, they had found 5-6 Greek Cypriots buried and then removed the remains… One of my friends was working there and he was a witness to this…`
Perhaps we can convince him to convince his friend to speak to us…
I thank all my readers for the information they share with me – in this way we can continue our investigations to find out the truth and the fate of `missing persons`…
Information is everywhere – it all depends whether you want to find out, whether you go after it or not… And what my readers tell me is priceless – very valuable clues to follow… They relate what they know, they tell me what they heard – it comes from their hearts and they do it because they are human and they want to help in this humanitarian effort voluntarily that we are all involved in… There aren't enough words to thank them…

5.12.2015

Photo: At Parisinos where one of our readers had shown us the execution ground...

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 3rd of January 2016, Sunday.

From Kokkinotrimitia to Nicosia: The stolen life of a young man…

From Kokkinotrimitia to Nicosia: The stolen life of a young man…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 99 966518

I go to the cemetery in Nicosia, to attend the funeral of a young man of 25 years old, so young, so fresh at the time he was killed: back in December 1963… He had been a young policeman, his first job, his first post in Kokkinotrimitia where Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot policemen served together. Hasan Nural Cevdet had a brand new Volkswagen to go back and forth to his job and to his fiancee in Malia village and to his family who were at Ayianni, Paphos… When his father passed away with a heart attack and his family was in difficult conditions financially, he had decided to become a policeman to bring income to the family…
His mother had said, `No, my son… Don't be a policeman…`
But he decided otherwise…
It was his first post that would be his last post… Due to the 1963 intercommunal conflict…
Although he was not involved in any way in the conflict, an innocent person who only thought of his fiancee and his family, he would become a victim of the beasts of Kokkinotrimithia – the `nationalist` beasts who would take him in Kokkinotrimithia, put him together with other Turkish Cypriots whom they `caught` elsewhere and after some days, they would execute them in cold blood and bury them in the `laoumi` just outside Kokkinotrimithia…
Tall, handsome, innocent, thoughtful and clean, that's how his little sister Meral would remember him. She had been 15 years old when her brother, Hasan Nural Cevdet `disappeared` from Kokkinotrimithia – he had been only 25 years old! A young man who was planning to be married with his fiancee from Malia…
He remained young because dead people don't grow up…
He would have been 77 years old now, if his life had not been stolen from him…
His fiancee would wait for him for 10 years to return… Then his fiancee's father would find out that he had been killed. His fiancee's family would force her to marry again… She would marry…
But the memory of Hasan Nural Cevdet would live on among his family…
`One day he had come with his new Volkswagen and he told me that we would go for a trip… The Volkswagen was a light green… We would go… In those times, you remember, everywhere there was streams and water… He would stop somewhere and tell me to get out of the car… He would put a pillow for me near a stream and tell me to sit down and enjoy the view… `I want to wash my car here` he would tell me, `because it got dusty in Kokkinotrimithia…` And he would wash his car… He was so neat, so clean…
When I went to the viewing of his remains, they insisted I go to the next room to look at his remains. I did not want to go in but I was sort of pushed to go in... As soon as I went in and I saw the big hole on his skull, I started crying and wailing… I could not stop… I will never forget that… I will never forget the pain we have gone through…`
The father of Hasan Nural Cevdet was from Avdimou – Mr. Cevdet had been a policeman… He would get married with Ms. Emetullah from Ayianni… They would have five kids: Kamuran who would later become the head of customs in Famagusta, Sevim, Hasan Nural, Chetin who would become a doctor and Meral…
Mr. Cevdet would pass away with a heart attack in 1957… Hasan Nural Cevdet would `disappear` from Kokkinotrimithia in 1963… Kamuran would pass away in 1996… Chetin would pass away some years ago and the mother would pass away too…
Only Sevim and Meral, the two daughters would remain alive from the family to take back his remains to bury him…
Sevim is now 80 years old and she was very sad at the funeral… So was Meral, the youngest of the five brothers and sisters…
Their pain would revive itself on this day of the funeral and they would say `There is no medicine to cure this pain…`
I had gone many times to Kokkinotrimithia due to a Greek Cypriot reader who had told me the story of what happened in the village and with the help of my dear friend Maria Georgiadou from Kythrea whose mother, father, sister and brother are still `missing` from 1974, we would go and see him and speak with him… He would show us the burial site of the `missing` Turkish Cypriots – the `laoumi` just outside Kokkinotrimithia… He would introduce us to a person who knew the chain of wells and he would give us a map of the wells… I would share this information with the officials of the Cyprus Missing Persons' Committee… This was back in 2009 I think…
There would be exhumations of the chain of wells in this area and in 2012, in one well they would find the remains of five `missing` Turkish Cypriots from 1963 – one of them being Hasan Nural Cevdet… In another well, they would find the remains of two `missing` Turkish Cypriots who are waiting for DNA identification…
The `gang` in Kokkinotrimithia had killed them as they killed some Turkish Cypriots in Agios Vasilios village and a teacher from Gonyeli who was teaching at the elementary school of Agia Marina… They would also loot the animals and even the `gandjelli` of the houses of Turkish Cypriots whom they had killed from Agios Vasilios village.
This `gang` must have had `protection` since it would not be easy to `arrest` and kill and make people `disappear` - you would need some sort of `infrastructure`, as well as `protection` from `higher authorities` to hide these crimes…
We would bury Hasan Nural Cevdet and I would share photos from the funeral on my FACEBOOK page and in the evening I would get a call from a Greek Cypriot reader from a village close to Kokkinotrimithia…
`Now that you published something about his missing Volkswagen, I remember something` he would say…
`Tell me…`
`I was in a coffee shop some years ago and they were discussing the Turkish Cypriot `missing persons` from the area and I remember an old man in the coffee shop, more than 70 years old, telling us that they had actually buried the Volkswagen in order to hide evidence… He had told us that there was a small church called Mana ton Paidon between Meniko and Paliometocho villages – this was the Acheras area… There was nothing there in those days, it was completely empty, save for this little church. This little church was for those who wanted to have children and who could not have children and they would go and light a candle there and pray… The old man told us that people in the Volkswagen were killed and then the Volkswagen was buried somewhere in this area…`
I thank my reader for telling me this but I have grave doubts about this since a Volkswagen in those times was something very valuable – either they would use it or break it into parts and use or sell the parts… So perhaps if anyone from the area of Kokkinotrimithia who remembers a new Volkswagen – it was light green when it was taken, with the number plate BA214 – can tell us, we can also find out what happened to the car of Hasan Nural Cevdet in those days…
In this village, I was told that a Turkish Cypriot who was taking oranges with his truck to Nicosia from Lefka was `arrested` and killed and his oranges were distributed to the villagers. The truck remained where it was for some days… The Turkish Cypriot who was taking oranges to Nicosia also had a young Turkish Cypriot boy with him to help him. Both are still `missing`… But the truck? The truck was not `missing` as I found out – it was changed and used and I would see this truck, in the middle of the village with my own eyes! We were with Maria Georgiadou and we were both so shocked that we could not speak at the site of this truck who my reader said, belonged to a `missing` Turkish Cypriot from 1963!
So the `gang` was so arrogant that I don't believe they would bury the Volkswagen – if my readers remember something, please call me and tell me so we can learn more details of this tragic story… My number is 99 966518 and I do not need to know your name if you don't want to say it… You may remain anonymous… What's important is for the truth to come out so that we know what happened in our tragic past in both sides of the dividing line…
Last but not least I want to thank wholeheartedly my reader from Kokkinotrimithia who told us the stories and who showed us the `laumi` where `missing` Turkish Cypriots were buried… And I thank my dear friend Maria Georgiadou for all her help in our investigations on this humanitarian task…
May Hasan Nural Cevdet and all other innocent victims – both Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots – rest in peace… I share the pain of their relatives…

28.11.2015

Photo: The pain of all relatives of "missing persons" is the same…

(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper on the 20th of December 2015, Sunday.

Waiting for Godot…

Waiting for Godot…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 99 966518

One of my dear friends, Fatma Azgin, in an article entitled `The hopes for a solution are decreasing` in YENIDUZEN newspaper analyses the current atmosphere and points out that the `hopes for a solution are eroded…`
For those of you who do not know Fatma Azgin, she is a peace activist, a political columnist, a feminist active in politics and throughout her activism, she has always tried to create alternative ways towards the solution of problems…
Throughout her life, she has particularly supported young women… As a peace activist she has always tried to open paths for alternatives that the politicians would not see or would rather not see…
Having known and worked with her in various bi-communal peace and women groups, she has always been an `idol` for me, someone who speaks up and tells the truth long before others would throw away their fears to say it!
A pharmacist by profession, she had been the leader of the Turkish Cypriot Pharmacists Union and she is one of those rare Cypriots who is practicing what she preaches…
As a woman of this country she enjoys `both sides` of our island, she has close friends from `both sides` and currently does a TV programme on current affairs but again trying to raise alternative voices…
Last week in YENIDUZEN newspaper where she has a weekly column, she wrote:
`As Cypriots we know quite well that excitements for a solution have quite short lives and that each time not using our old experiences, we try to put old points of antagonism on the negotiating table and we knock down the `negotiating table`. Despite this each time we are `surprised` and disappointed.
We have become such `maestros` in this that we try to convince those who do not believe that there would be a solution and finding thousands of pretexts we become successful.
It is true that candidates and political parties in both sides during elections believe that stressing `the solution of the Cyprus conflict` would bring in more votes.
The deceased Turkish Cypriot leader Mr. Denktash would use posters saying `A solution without Denktash is impossible!` during elections.
The deceased Greek Cypriot leader Mr. Clerides too did the same: What he could not achieve during his presidency, he asked from others to fulfil and in the next elections, again he had promised a solution.
AKEL had said `No` to the Annan Plan. In the next elections Christofias had won the presidency and those who believed that he would find a solution with his counterpart Talat would get tensions ending up with `blame`…
First Talat was gone and then Christofias. Now AKEL is supporting Anastasiadis but we heard that they have `red lines`. If a solution is signed perhaps AKEL might say `No` again. Because in May 2016, there are parliamentary elections. They might want to strike a balance of those who would say `yes`, as well as those who would say `no`….
`Leaders` and political parties take stands during election times, according to the anger and disappointments of their communities. `The solution` would be remembered only after the elections!
The positive atmosphere created by Akinci and Anastasiades six months ago are quickly becoming cloudy. They could not even get a clear solution on the Confidence Building Measures. They could not agree on even one of the subjects they have been discussing like property, territory, population, guarantees and governance. Unfortunately there is nothing concrete apart from the lukewarm and respectable impression they have created!
If from the way they work and the way they meet not so often has not brought any compromise to the problems they are responsible for solving, at this tempo and `apathy`, we cannot get a solution neither by next March, nor in a few years…
Recently the Turkish Cypriot side is pushing forward at the negotiating table the demands they had before 2000, before Cyprus had become a member of EU. There started an effort to make the two zones `ethnically clean` within the context of property and population. Proposals are being made for creating `a two nation states` instead of building a federation.
Knowing that such demands are not in line with international or EU law and principles, they are trying to service `derogations`.
Ali Erel who is a specialist on issues of EU is explaining in today's newspapers, what it would mean and what it would cost these `old proposals` developed by the Turkish Cypriot side that can destroy the possibility of a solution.
I want to draw to your attention the last paragraph of the statement of Ali Erel – here he explains what cannot be part of a solution of the Cyprus conflict – the Cyprus that is a member of EU:
`Now it is time for making a choice. The truth is to work for an early solution within the EU values without dragging one's feet and without pushing for impossible things. Either to choose a life with EU values of respect for democracy, human rights and freedoms or instead of hiding behind a finger to come out openly and declare to Turkish Cypriots and to the world that the northern part of Cyprus would like to stay outside the EU rules, that it is good like that. This is what needs to be done!`
I would also like to say this: It is time to create the internal dynamics of the community that has not been felt so far… There is a very urgent need for the civil society to show the energetic and impressive activities it did in the past defending EU norms and standards and for demanding to live the democracy, for asking to become (to live in) a state within international law, for defending peace and reconciliation…`
Picking up on this last sentence of the article of Fatma Azgin, I want to share something I witnessed last week: Last week having the chance to meet with experts from South Africa who had been part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and who had been part of the whole process of reconciliation 20 years ago, having known Nelson Mandela, they would be shocked to find out that the civil society was completely out of the picture of the current negotiations for a solution.
For couple of days these experts were in Cyprus and met with different sections of civil society – from political parties to trade unions to NGOs of all colours…
Explaining to us what sort of process they went through 20 years ago in South Africa, we learnt that they refused any outside help be it from America or the UN or anywhere else. They wanted to do this process by themselves. So there was `ownership` of the process.
28 political parties would sit around a table to discuss 33 principles of what sort of a South Africa they wanted for the future… This would take a couple of years and then the new constitution would be in line with these principles. The new constitution would be widely discussed and more than 1 million proposals for the constitution would be taken from citizens before it would be finalized…
They too were shocked that the civil society was not involved in the peace negotiations in Cyprus…
Perhaps we as Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots prefer to wait for Godot, rather than do it ourselves…
Or perhaps we as the Cypriots of this land prefer to `play it safe` rather than stick our necks and get hurt in the process!
Perhaps we are so busy `saving the day` that we lose our prospects for our common future…
Actually there is no real infrastructure to support the reunification – all those efforts by civil society who sincerely work for reconciliation and peace on this land is not sufficient because there is no support from the mainstream politics and mainstream structures in the `two sides`…
Despite this those of us who want to create a peaceful future in this country we work knowing that our voices, our hearts, our souls would make a difference…
It takes five minutes to destroy something but it takes years of hard work to build something…

15.11.2015

Photo: Fatma Azgin at a peace demonstration (on the right) back in 2001…

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 13th of December 2015, Sunday.

Searching for stories of friendship…

Searching for stories of friendship…

Sevgul Uludag

caramel_cy@yahoo.com

Tel: 00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436

I discover the lovely stories of Stephanie Jacobs on Facebook shared by `Tales of Cyprus` and through a friend, Zoe Piponides and today I want to share with you part of her fantastic research on our island… She says:
`I am currently a PhD candidate in the School of History and International Relations at Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
My PhD journey began in April 2013; I was motivated to write the hidden chapter of Cypriot history: that of inter-communality, cooperation and friendship between Greek- and Turkish-Cypriots.
My topic was inspired by the loving friendship between my Greek Cypriot pappou (grandfather), Costas, and his Turkish Cypriot best friend, Mehmet. Pappou Costas continues to provide me with inspiration through his love and thirst for knowledge.
Title: Memories of a Cypriot Belle Époque from Cyprus and Australia; intercommunality from the 1930s to 1950s.
My grandfather moved to Australia in 1947 but before then, he lived in Agia Irini, a harmonious, multi-ethnic village in the Kyrenia District in the north of Cyprus. He told me stories of how he and his brothers would play with Turkish-Cypriot children, that it was common to speak both Greek and Turkish, embrace each other's cultural and religious customs and attend each other's events. This was normal life in Agia Irini, and many parts of Cyprus, until civil unrest broke out in the mid-1950s.
The aim of my interdisciplinary dissertation is to record and examine, first hand, oral history accounts of the relationships between Greek and Turkish Cypriots in several former mixed villages of Cyprus, before civil unrest broke out on the island. My study uses interviews conducted by myself, of elderly Greek and Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus and in Australia, which capture their childhood and early adulthood stories from several mixed villages, to explore Christian-Muslim relations in Cyprus from the 1930s-1950s. So far, I have conducted 24 interviews in Australia, spanning 6 different states and territories, and 40 interviews in Cyprus, spanning the north and south.
The four central research objectives are:
1. To capture and explore the childhood and early adulthood stories of friendship and intercommunality of those Greek and Turkish Cypriots who lived in mixed villages of Cyprus during the 1930s-1950s;
2. To investigate the experiences of the Cypriot diaspora in Australia, how each group settled and with which communities they engaged;
3. To examine how the memories of the 1930s-1950s differ between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, between those who migrated to Australia and those who stayed, and between those who migrated to Australia before civil unrest erupted in Cyprus, and those who lived through the civil unrest and migrated later;
4. To understand how religious, ethnic and national identities formed and evolved amongst Greek and Turkish Cypriots in both Cyprus and Australia.
On May 20th 2015, I flew to Cyprus to spend two months conducting interviews of Greek and Turkish Cypriots from three formerly mixed villages, spanning the north and the south of the island. One village (Akdeniz, formerly Agia Irini) had a Turkish Cypriot majority; another (Polis Chrysochous) had a Greek Cypriot majority, and the third, Alaminos, had close to a 50/50 split throughout the 1920s-1960s…`

And here is one of her stories that was shared on FACEBOOK that I want to share entitled "A loving encounter in Northern Cyprus":

"This is how we used to live", my Pappou (grandfather) said to me, wiping tears from his eyes, "Greeks and Turks together". We had just eaten some freshly-made haloumi cheese, standing outside Pappou's old house in Agia Irini, Cyprus. Pappou (Costas) migrated to Australia in 1947 as a 21-year old and had not visited his village in the north of Cyprus since 1972. His two brothers, who remained in Cyprus, both live in the south since the Turkish military intervention in 1974 displaced them and, although the border between the Turkish Cypriot north and Greek Cypriot south was opened in 2003, neither had visited their village since the day they fled from the Turkish military in 1974.
It was very significant that Costas was in Cyprus in July 2013. It had been twenty years since he last visited and he had not expected that he would return to his homeland in his old age. At 87, Costas wanted to make the most of his visit. He was determined to make the journey to visit his old village. Much to our surprise, Costas's brother Andreas decided to come, too. Their younger brother Iordanis was adamant that he would not travel north, as, like many Cypriots, he feels that the experience would be too traumatic and heart-breaking; we understood and respected his decision. Two of his children, however, decided to join us. Costas made the trip accompanied by his two sons, three grandchildren, his brother, a nephew and niece, a daughter-in-law and a sister-in-law. We were a party of eleven (seven from Australia) sharing the two old men's journey back in time.
On Saturday 13 July 2013 we travelled from Polis (in the South of Cyprus) to Agia Irini (Saint Irene), now known as Akdeniz (the white Sea). The village looked very old and worn – underdeveloped. At first, Costas and his brother Andreas were rediscovering their village like two excited little boys; they reminisced about their childhood and giggled with delight. Soon they decided to go down to the old church, where their own Pappou had been the priest. Pappou and his two brothers had felt deeply connected to that church. We followed them as they led us to the small church of Agia Irini, at the edge of the village. It looked quite neglected and as we entered the mood changed very quickly. We realised that the church had been ransacked decades earlier. All of the icons had been ripped from the walls; everything was gone except for the beautiful floor tiles, which were covered in a thick layer of dust. After inspecting the church for a few minutes, Costas broke down sobbing; he was very distraught. His brother Andreas was also shocked and devastated but he reacted positively, defiantly, saying, "I am going to restore this church!" We left the church in a sombre mood.
We saw a car driving towards us in the distance and as it came closer we saw my mother, who had become separated from the rest of us shortly after we arrived in the village, sitting in the passenger seat. My mother got out of the car and announced, "I have found Mehmet!" The sombre mood was broken. While we went to the church, my mother had walked towards the mosque, asked for help from some workmen she met, and been directed to, "Go to coffee shop – good English!" She had been trying for a few days to contact Costas's oldest friend, Mehmet. My family all knew that a reunion of the two men would be the fulfilment of a dream. The kafenion (café) owner, Erol, had responded to her query about an old man who used to live in the village, saying, "Mehmet is my wife's mother's brother!" He showered her with hospitality and then went to fetch Mehmet. When mum encountered difficulty in locating the rest of us, Erol drove her around the village searching for us. "I have found Mehmet!" Costas's expression shifted from pain and fatigue to happy excitement, and he started swiftly up the hill, eager to reunite with his childhood friend.
I grew up hearing stories from Costas of how Mehmet and he were closer than brothers. My Pappou would have tears in his eyes and say to me, "I would trust a Turkish-Cypriot over a Greek-Cypriot any day; they are the best friends you could ever have". He told me that he and his brothers would play with Turkish Cypriot children, that most of the villagers spoke both Greek and Turkish, and that they embraced each other's cultural and religious customs and events. At Easter time, the Greek Cypriots would prepare special pastries (flaounes) and coloured eggs and would share these with not only their Greek Cypriot neighbours, but with their Turkish Cypriot neighbours too. After Ramadan, Eid was a Turkish Cypriot feast shared with their Greek-Cypriot friends. They were invited to each other's weddings and other celebrations, and people were judged on their character ahead of their ethnicity or religion. This was normal life in Agia Irini, a once harmonious, multi-ethnic village.
The love and friendship between Costas and Mehmet has lasted throughout the decades and overcome ethnic conflict and separation. Witnessing their reunion in the kafenion was an extraordinary surprise, a deeply emotional experience and a privilege for all of us. We drank lots of water and coffee, discovered mastica ice-cream and rejoiced in watching the old friends sitting and talking together, reconnecting after all these years. Amazingly, Erol, the owner of the kafenion, was the author of a book on the 2000-year history of the village; he sold quite a few copies that day. Eventually we left and walked back towards our cars. Suddenly, an older lady called out to us – in Greek! Emina had recognised my uncle (my dad's brother) from his visit to the village in 2011. She remembered Costas and Andreas from decades before and embraced them with much warmth. She called her sister Serpil, who joined the reunion and they told us many stories of the old days of the mixed village, and of how my great-grandfather, Pappou's father, had died. They introduced us to their children and grandchildren, some of whom now live in the house that had once belonged to Pappou and his brothers. Costas reminisced: "That room is where we used to store the hay…" Serpil opened the room to show us its current use: they make cheese there. She cut up some freshly-made goat's cheese and sprinkled it with locally collected sea salt; we all sampled it with relish. Then we all had to try the haloumi… and Serpil made up several parcels of cheese for us to take away with us.
Iordanis's two children grew up in the south of Cyprus. They had never met a Turkish Cypriot before. My aunty said to me, "They look like us, and they speak like us!" Her "knowledge", learned from school and the media, that Turkish Cypriots were very different to the Greek Cypriots, was deeply challenged. I observed her responding to the hugs, kisses and smiles of the Turkish Cypriots with warmth and affection. She told me that she was drawn to them and felt a natural connection to them.
So there we stood, outside the house in which my Pappou and his two brothers grew up, listening to stories of when Pappou was a child and enjoying our time with the lovely Turkish Cypriots living in the house today. When we left, my mum kissed Serpil and said, "Efharisto poli" ("Thank you very much") and she replied, "Tipota" ("It's nothing") and then "Kopiaste" (a Cypriot, rather than a Greek or Turkish word, relating to hospitality; "Come and share my food"). We left Agia Irini with Erol's book in one hand, bags full of cheeses in the other, and deep happiness in our hearts. We all shared a sense of amazement at the day we had experienced. We will go back. And we might even restore that church…
Stephanie Jacobs, September 2013
(You can read more of her stories at stephaniejacobs.com)

21.11.2015

Photo: Costas and Mehmet…

(*) Article published in POLITIS newspaper on the 6th of December 2015, Sunday.