Cyprus-Forum.com

[Get Real!]

My mother spoke many times of the Anglo soldiers that came to our village knocking on doors and asking to search the premises looking for EOKA activists.
Not once did she mention anything about violence, intimidation and torture.

If you *must* read his tales keep a sack of salt next to you!

[excommo]

It is so sad to see this going on to the extent it has at this time. So many were so hatefull over the matter on all sides. To discuss it now will do no one any good.

Never saw anyone really win in a p.....g contest anyway.

I was lucky I was a just a bystander as an American.

[Sotos]

Cyprus belongs to its native people who are also the majority of the population and who have the right to decide democratically what to do with their own island. Those who come to our island with the intention of restricting our freedom are our enemies and we have every right to fight against them until they show respect to our rights. This is true for the British and all the earlier occupiers. Some of those earlier occupiers... e.g. the Latins, are now respectful of the native majority and we consider them as our equal compatriots. Some others, such as the British and the Turks, continue to occupy our lands and try to take away our freedom and therefore they remain enemies of Cyprus.

[repulsewarrior]

It is so sad to see this going on to the extent it has at this time. So many were so hatefull over the matter on all sides. To discuss it now will do no one any good.

Never saw anyone really win in a p.....g contest anyway.

I was lucky I was a just a bystander as an American.

no p.....g contest here, except for a few shots across the bow, you know, boys will be boys, it's said.

...we need these memories, those as children, the lessons we've learned that assure us, that in our lives the people who touched us are not so easily divided "Turkish"/"Greek", although this division of Persons exists today there are many others who represented a broader array of qualities in "us" as Individuals, instead.

@sotos, are you old enough to recount a story?

[Oceanside50]

It is so sad to see this going on to the extent it has at this time. So many were so hatefull over the matter on all sides. To discuss it now will do no one any good.

Never saw anyone really win in a p.....g contest anyway.

I was lucky I was a just a bystander as an American.

no p.....g contest here, except for a few shots across the bow, you know, boys will be boys, it's said.

...we need these memories, those as children, the lessons we've learned that assure us, that in our lives the people who touched us are not so easily divided "Turkish"/"Greek", although this division of Persons exists today there are many others who represented a broader array of qualities in "us" as Individuals, instead.

@sotos, are you old enough to recount a story?

...and memories need to be retold so that the youngness like Soto know and can visualize those memories, that GC existed in Kyrenia, Morphou
VArosha and every other occupied village or town.

[miltiades]

I know that my own children, grandchildren and future great granchildren would be interested in knowing just a little of theit father, grandfather etc. I know very little about my own grandparents and I would wish that I knew more.

The past is as importnat as the future because the past shapes our present and our future.

I recalled my early life in the struggle as I recall, no deceitful lies or made up stories.

Since coming on the forum way back in 2006 I always made it clear that I was involved in a minute way in the struggle. I always clarified that the T/Cs are as much a part of Cyprus if they embrace the island as their homeland , and that I have never nurtured hatred or indifference to their feelings. I only wish that both the G/Cs and the T/Cs adopted Cyprus as their one and ony motherland.

I ask, what has Greece or Turkey ever contributed to our wellbeing, tangible benefits devoid of rhetoric and nationalist nonsense.
LONG LIVE CYPRUS, THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH.

[The subaltern]

Sorry Miltiades intruding in your domain yet again, if I can call it yours.
I have a problem now with my old friends. (Not old really but very alert and educated over 72 years old with good memories of the period you are describing). They were pestering me to translate your comments on my last post and of any other reminiscences from other contributors. I did translate yours as well as the comment posted by Cap about his mother’s memories of “anglo soldiers that came to our village knocking on doors asking to search the premises for EOKA activists”

They were enraged by Cap’s claim. They were wondering if Cap’s mother has been living in same country as they. I do not want to repeat the language they used here. They insisted that I MUST respond to the claim.
Cap’s mother made the search for terrorist sound like a social visit they said!! It was not according to them at all how it has been described. It was not a polite knock on the door asking to enter, but the breaking down of the door by some soldier’s boot in the middle of the night, terrorising the occupants and their children, ransacking the place under the pretext of looking for terrorists. That’s the politest way I can put it.

They also dispute your claim about you knowing that the soldiers at Stroumbi out of boredom were getting drunk resulting in your father and you been beaten up etc.
They said that there were no pubs at Stroumbi at the time for the soldiers to get drank and were neither allowed to fraternise with the GCs. So you could not have known if they were drunk or not, unless they told you so and as far as they can remember there was no military camp at Stroumbi.

My conclusion after reading yours and Cap’s comments regarding the British soldiers’ behaviour as described by both of you is not convincing. I based my doubts on my friends’ reminiscences and the behaviour of British soldiers towards other freedom movements in Ireland, India, Palestine, Cyprus, Kenya etc.

I do not though doubt the sincerity of what you are describing but false memories a soft spot for the British etc may have influenced your descriptions with out even realizing it.

Fortunately, I will not bother you again, and neither my “old” friends will bother me, as I will be away for a while. If I have the time, I’ll read your posts.

[Cap]

I ask, what has Greece or Turkey ever contributed to our wellbeing

Now hang on there Milti. Let's be fair.

The Greeks graced us with the biggest post war massacre the island has ever seen.
5 murdered by Greek national hitmen in Ayia Napa in 2012.
Got to give them credit for this international notoriety don't we? They put us on the map!
Ellas!!

[miltiades]

"They said that there were no pubs at Stroumbi at the time for the soldiers to get drank and were neither allowed to fraternise with the GCs. So you could not have known if they were drunk or not, unless they told you so and as far as they can remember there was no military camp at Stroumbi"

Tell your friends that they are a bunch of fucking Plonkers. Of course there was a camp in Stroumbi, now don't make me mad, there were not pubs but the camp had enough booze to feed a fucking regiment. You do know me by now and you do know that I do not tolerate fucking stupidity from any one including your old mate the Psycho.

How dare you come up with these shit, your imaginary old friends DO NOT EXIST, so just say sorry for being bloody stupid.

I witnessed many British searches of houses, a lot of shouting and intimidating gestures but I never saw physical violence.
#
The soldiers that burst into my house were enticed by the lights and perhaps they thought that it was some kind of a club.

You are an educated man but don't make a bloody fool of your self.

[GreekIslandGirl]

Miltiades, you were a young boy at the time the British soldiers had a "right" to enter our homes and search (and steal and ransack) whilst supposedly looking for evidence of EOKA supporters.

Cap is quite young so I expect his mother was also a young girl at the time.

Most likely the "rosy" experiences Miltiades and Cap's mother had were because they were young and protected from the truth and from the heavy-handedness of the rough squaddies.

My mother was in her mid 30s at the time of the EOKA searches and she had a very different impression - this has been corroborated by some other elders I have spoken to in our village. I have written about this on the forum before, and had this to say:

Amongst the British Army's many "rights" whilst occupying Cyprus in the late 50's, were house-to-house searches. From this I learnt that the English constituents were thieving, hungry, dirty semi-literates (village consensus) whilst the Scottish recruits were polite, and left things pretty much as they found them.

Whilst I am sure there must have been some decent squaddies, the fact they were conscripts from some of the most deprived backgrounds, plunged into a position of power over people they deemed as "terrorists", then it's no surprise they behaved like imperialists and took what they wanted during these searches.

Those were different times and such bad behavior was expected and probably never punished. After all, part of the plan was to terrorise the GCs into submission.