Cyprus-Forum.com

[halil]

Hi forum members and forum readers i just started to write memories since my childhood.i knew u can asked many questions and u cac questions yourself and u can come out with somethinks.

İn 1963 i was six years old.İ don’t remember the exact date.However i remember the flood of refugees they came to my village from surrounding areas.These surrounding areas include the villages of :
Yılmazköy(Shillura), Ayvasıl (Korkuteli),Denya, Aymarina, Ayermola (Şirinevler).
We took these people in our homes and share everything we have with them.
İn the surrending Greek villages there was electric,but in the Turkish villages of Fota (Dağyolu),Kırnı (Pınarbaşı), Ağırdağ and Boğaz there was’nt any electric.Of course without electricity life was very hard.There was’nt tv, our only news was news papers Halkın Sesi and Bozkurt.Fortuanetly in my village Fota , there were 3 or 4 battery operated radios we had.These radios were surrounded by us so that we could listen news broadcast from Turkey.There was a CYBC as well but we were not listening the CYBC. CYBC was controled by the Greek Cypriots they were giving the news buletin the way how they wanted.Later on Bayrak Radio started broadcasting .When listening to bayrak radio our people were able to listen to news brodcasts with confidence than these broadcast were unbiased.At the weekends there was a comedy show on the bayrak called ALEKO an CAFER almost everyting was stoping in our village.they were listening the show.
As stated before in my village of Fota there were many refugees,a food shortage started because all the roads had been sealed off by the Greek militia.
Our village commitee decided food should rationed.Our classrooms were too small for the refugee children,we had to sit on the floors and forced to share 3 teachers between 165 studendts. We did not have enough books and pencil. We were reapiting the things that our teachers were saying.Over crowding existed in our homes.Later on all village residance and refuges worked together and we build homes for our refuges.These were called GÖÇMEN EVLERİ.These houses still exist today,some of these refuges eventually returned to there homes after 1974 the villages of Denya, Aymarina, Ayvasıl still have refugees living in these purpose built refugee houses.In villages of Aymarina and Ayvasıl the Turkish army’s soldiers live in these houses.The villages of Denya is now Greek occpied terrority.
Before 1974 our living conditions were very difficult,we suffered from overcrowding and unemplayment.The only work available was to join the Turkish resistantce ( to be MÜCAHİT) as a militia man.The wages were 16 Cyprus pound a month.This money was coming to us from Turkey.
Because of this dispute in Cyprus ,our families were unable to find work or to become businessman.
We were lucky because in those days there was more rain and we could grow our vegatables and feed our animals.Weather also help us from starvation.

We had good teachers and we could easily pass entrance exams to universities in Turkey.This led to a mass exodus of the young who went to Turkey to study after their education these young people either stayed on in Turkey or immigrated to England or Australia.
During my childhood , apples and coke were luxuries.İn my village there was one bus, İn the morning it would take passengers to Nicosia (LEFKOŞA) .My father was Mücahit (Up to 1975) my mother a housewife.My mother would go to Nicosia once a month.My mothers return from Nicosia was awarded by us with great anticpation when the bus arrived we would run to greet my mother and grab the bags of shopping she held.She would bring us helva(Halva) and salted peanuts.Her excursions to Nicosia were like Chiristmas (BAYRAM) for us children.

İn 1970 i finished primary school and started secondary school in Nicosia . This was the first time i left my village.My route from my village to nicosia was like this ; Fota to Gönyeli to Ortaköy and finaly Nicosai.( Also up to 1974 this was the only route i had.)
During this times Nicosia was partioned in to two sides.İt was called the GREEN LİNE .This Green Line drew my curiosity everywhere was closed off bu big walls.(İ was wondering why they were calling it Green Line. İ could not see any lines.you see child mind)
Next to my school there were Finnish soldiers (from Finland),behind them was another barricade.Behind the barricade was a place called KAYMAKLI.This barricade was surrounded by Finnish soldiers,Turkish Mucahit’s and Greek militia men.(Up to 2004 i never seen any Greek Cypriot in my life , from the border post only i could see the some Greek troops)
İn my childhood there was’nt any places to play, my mothers village KIRNI it had a fountain which attracted people from neighboiring villages who would have picnics and play music.The smell of the KEBABS gave me great pleasure and happiness.our only other forum of entertainment was the cinema , once a week we would go to Gönyeli by bus to the only cinema house. From day to day Mücahit organisation started to organised many things in our villages.They build up a minaret to our mosque .Football club to our village they also supplied generating set for our football club that we cuold watch telly from on.Once a month CYBC was showing Turkish film.All the village people were coming to football club to watch the film.İn those nights we were playing bingo.(dombula)

more to come........

[Get Real!]

Before 1974 our living conditions were very difficult,we suffered from overcrowding and unemplayment.The only work available was to join the Turkish resistantce ( to be MÜCAHİT) as a militia man.The wages were 16 Cyprus pound a month.This money was coming to us from Turkey..

So according to your memoirs Turkey was encouraging and funding resistance against the RoC towards partition.

Those TC's who had government or private industry jobs were prevented from going, and some even paid with their lives by other TC's fanatics for resisting Turkey's demands, so that Turkey would instead "employ" them to fight against the RoC! How patriotic!

Am I the only person who sees a serious problem here?

How on earth was the constitution of the RoC supposed to work under these circumstances???

[miltiades]

Halil I'm touched by your recollection of events that as a young child you experienced in our country .
I'm one of the lucky ones having not lived the events of 1963 and having had extensive interaction with my fellow T / Cypriots here in London I understand and feel their pain just as I'm sure they too feel the pain of the 200 thousand of their compatriots who were forced to abandon their homelands , and the many that were killed following the Turkish invasion.This is why we must NEVER allow the fanatics to gain the upper hand , the voices of reason from both sides must echo the same message .Cyprus belongs to it's people the G/Cs and the T/Cs and with negotiation rather than confrontation we must seek a solution that will bring to our tormented island peace stability and prosperity for all. I'm sure you will join me in saying that our island belongs to us , the Cypriots , not to Greece or to Turkey.

[halil]

Halil I'm touched by your recollection of events that as a young child you experienced in our country .
I'm one of the lucky ones having not lived the events of 1963 and having had extensive interaction with my fellow T / Cypriots here in London I understand and feel their pain just as I'm sure they too feel the pain of the 200 thousand of their compatriots who were forced to abandon their homelands , and the many that were killed following the Turkish invasion.This is why we must NEVER allow the fanatics to gain the upper hand , the voices of reason from both sides must echo the same message .Cyprus belongs to it's people the G/Cs and the T/Cs and with negotiation rather than confrontation we must seek a solution that will bring to our tormented island peace stability and prosperity for all. I'm sure you will join me in saying that our island belongs to us , the Cypriots , not to Greece or to Turkey.

thanks for the comments.i will write more.(Militiades and G_R)

[cypezokyli]

personal stories are always welcome.
keep writing halil

[paliometoxo]

thank you for the comments its nice to hear from the other side how it was... i grew up thinking there was just one unified cyprus with no turks i forgot how i lernt but my family do not like to talk about it its a very painfull memory i guess but i never ask.. my grandad told me a lot of stories though that when the turkish came in the planes we all had to have the lights off and he was saying how my mum and uncle as not scared but auntie was... its a lot different being told and being alive being there... i was born in 1983 in england a smy perants left cyprus not sure which year or why but my mum was given a visa forever and everyone was suprised i am told lol that all her friends or relatives that moved from cyprus had to go keep re newing.. i think they left after thee war... in the north did you ever see any EOKA or come close to trouble from them?

[halil]

here is the greek names for the villages that i am talking about:
Ayia Marina, Gürpınar (Aymarina)
Ayios Vasilios, Türkeli (Ayvasıl)
Geunyeli, Gönyeli
Orta Keuy, Ortaköy
Skylloura, Yılmazköy( Sillura)
Ayios Ermolaos, Şirinevler
Aghirda, Ağirdağ
Phota, Dağyolu (Fota)
Krini, Pınarbaşı (Kırnı)

[mehmet]

Hi Halil,

your post caught my eye because of the headline. Hope you don't mind if I share my own different experience.


I grew up in London. I wasn't aware of problems in Cyprus, but in 1974 suddenly it all changed. Most of my Cypriot neighbours were Turkish although there was also at least one Greek Cypriot family in my road also. I was 9 years old and suddenly all the adults could do was tune into their short wave radios for news. I was being sent to the local Cypriot grocers daily to fetch the papers (Hurriyet, Milliyet) for the adults who were eager to know what was happening. I remember a Turkish boy who's grandfather commited suicide in Cyprus rather than allow the Greeks to kill him. When we went back to school in September there were some new faces, Greek Cypriots boys who had arrived in London that summer. Still, the issue of Cyprus was far from my mind. There was a noticable confidence and assertiveness in my community at that time. We had shown that we couldn't be pushed around by the Greeks and that to be a Turk was to be a source of pride.

Two years later, in 1976 I visit Cyprus for the first time. My grandparents village was in the Karpas and was a mixed village. There were some elderly Greeks living next door to my grandparents but they never showed themselves too much. That was the only time I see Greek Cypriots in Cyprus.

Back at school in London we carried on in north London all of us together, West Indians, English, Irish, Italians, Greeks and Turks, some Chinese and some African. We had friends in all communities. By the age of 14 things started to change, the black and white kids started to separate and mix less. Still, there was no trouble on a racial level, even when two boys from different backgrounds fight.

I next went to Cyprus in 1981, there were some newcomers from Turkey in the village now, no more Greek Cypriots. I would see people check to see who was around before expressing an opinion about some of the behaviour of the new neighbours. They looked very different with their traditional clothing. I had disagreements with my cousin about Cyprus because I think I said that the people from the mainland shouldn't be in Cyprus. I also remember how if I pointed out how a church was a beautiful building he would disapprove. Only mosques were bautiful, even if most of them in the Karpas were formerly churches. I noticed then how many houses in the village had a letter and two numbers painted onto to them. It was only later I realise that the house my grandparents occupied previously belonged to one of their neighbours and that their house was the much poorer, old fashioned building down the road. My grandfathers cafe was only rented from the state also. My grandfathers fields were also rented. For them, partition meant the opportunity to live in a nicer house and to try and make money from growing things. Not that the price they could get for their produce was much anyway.

Two years later when I went back (in 1983) they unveiled a bust of Ataturk. A lot of soldiers came to the village and Denktas too. People put on their best clothes for the ceremony to unveil the statue.

This was how it was, me going back every so often and never quite agreeing with my cousin on Cyprus politices. He did his National Service, never did he complain about anything to do with north Cyprus. My grandfather died and then my grandmother not long after. I was there for the funeral. It was the only time I set foot in the church that was being used for the service. When they buried her I took a walk to the Greek Cypriot graveyard next to it. I was shocked and ashamed by the headstones being smashed and all the nationalist slogans painted onto them. No one knew who was responsible, perhaps no one wanted to tell me. I remember visiting some family in Grivas's village and his family home being subject to vandalism also, there was no shame about that.

I was developing an interest in the border. In particular the views of Varosha. There were all these signs prohibiting photographs but I managed to get some anyway.

The last time I visit Cyprus was in 1993. By now my cousin like me was 28 years old and had started to talk about the failings of TRNC. By now his oldest sister had married a Londoner and moved. Years later his other sister married and they moved to Turkey to work. I think of him and my aunt and uncle, now living alone in Cyprus with all the rest of their family in England, Turkey and Austrailia. They moved out of the village in the Karpas to live in new housing being built in the suburbs of Famagusta. the Cypriots were now a minority in that village.

My fathers parents came from Louroujina. Because my parents split up I never had too much to do with them. My mother wouldn't encourage me to maintain contact with my fathers family. I never saw Louroujina, I understand it is in a military zone and the villagers were relocated. I remember people making derogatory comments about my fathers village. As he wasn't part of our lives everything to do with him could be made to be negative. I later read that Louroujina was one of the last places to be occupied by Turkish army before ceasefire. I also remember when i was older and met other Greek Cypriots them telling me that the people of my fathers village were originally Greeks that adopted Islam and Turkish culture. I remember when my father's mother was in her last years how she suffered dementia and completely forgot her Turkish, she could only speak in Greek. I also remember later reading that TMT one time imposed fines on villagers of Louroujina for speaking Greek. It was always noticeable to me how rare it was for Turkish people to have fair hair and blue or green eyes. Yet my blue eyes always were commented on, and thinking about it I now realise the reason why I didn't have typical Turkish features.

[paliometoxo]

nice story

[halil]

Hİ Mehmet,
thanks for the story.i will write more it will take some time for a while. here is the page for u to read:
http://arifler.mycyprus.net/turkish/lur ... yaret1.htm