Cyprus-Forum.com

[zan]

HOW DID THE WORLD PRESS ORGANS REFLECT THE GREEK CYPRIOTS' MASSACRE OF TURKISH CYPRIOTS?


Voice of Germany Radio: (30.7.1974)

"Mind of the humankind cannot accept the execution made by Greece in Cyprus. Greek and Greek Cypriot Guards were breaking into the houses inhabited by Turks and firing on women and children, strangling adults and raping all the women they seized..."

The US UPI News Agency's Correspondent in Cyprus, Witness: (24.07.1974)

"Greeks killed many women and children in Limasol. I saw 20 corpses of children on the road. Greek soldiers are waiting like a vulture to break into houses and kill women."

France Soir Paper's Correspondent in Cyprus, Witness: (24.07.1974)

"I witnessed extreme acts of violence. Greek Cypriots set Turkish mosques on fire, and those in the villages near Famagusta as well. Turkish villages not having arms or any other defense mechanism are living in the brutal atmosphere created by Greek Cypriot pillagers... Greek Cypriots having bazookas cause great chaos in Turkish villages. These acts of Greek Cypriots are disgraceful on behalf of humanity."

Washington Post Paper's Correspondent, Witness: (30.07.1974)

"In Alaminos village near Lamaka, 15 Turks, whose ages ranged from 25 to 55, were killed and their corpses were poured into a hollow with bulldozers. As a result of the raid performed by Greek Cypriots on a small Turkish village near Limasol, 36 out of 200 residents were killed. Greek Cypriots say that they are instructed to kill all the Turks until the arrival of Turkish Forces."

Voice of Germany: (30.07.1974)

"Human mind cannot understand the massacre of Greek Cypriots. Greek Cypriot National Guard soldiers committed incredible acts of violence in the villages near Famagusta region. They broke into Turkish villages, shot women and children mercilessly. They cut the throat of a Turk."

London Times: (22.07.1974)

"Thousands of Turks are held as a hostage. Turkish women were raped and Turkish children were killed on roads. Turkish side was set on fire in Leymosun. Events were confirmed by Greek Cypriots."

John Akass, The Sunday Paper's Correspondent, Witness: (30.09.1974)

"Turkish residents in the Murağata Village were massacred. They were mostly old persons, women and children. They were killed by civilian Greek Cypriots from neighboring villages. While Turks were digging out these 1 meter deep death holes , Greek Cypriots killed them. This is certainly not a war but a clear act of horrendous atrocity. "

Hans Janitscher, Secretary General of The Socialist International Organization, Witness: (25.07.1974)

"The Guard force commanded by the pro-Greece Nikos Sampson killed more than 2000 pro-Makarios Turkish Cypriots during the coup clashes and after the coup they executed some Turkish Cypriots."

Lars Harkanson, the UN Peace Keeping Force's Representative in Cyprus: (October 1974)

"I have never witnessed such acts of barbarism and calamity during my lifetime. I never saw such things in my lifetime. I am pleased that we have been assigned to investigate the case. The whole world will have learned this brutality from the Peace-Keeping Force."

BAD, the UPI News Agency's Correspondent, Witness: (23.07.1974)

"Greek Cypriot soldiers were opening fire on the surroundings. I entered a house. They were raping a woman there. I closed my eyes and ran away."

Warsaw Radio: (23.07.1974)

"The whole world curses this bloody and violent attack perpetrated in Lefke and Baf under the command of Greek officers."

The New York Times' Correspondent, Witness: (01.08.1974)

[Tim Drayton]

The following is a description published in a Turkish publication named the "Diplomatic Observer" of a visit (by a Bayrak TV team I think) to the villages in Paphos mentioned above by samarkeolog . If these observations are true, they provide food for thought.

http://www.diplomaticobserver.com/news_read.asp?id=838

Once upon a time, Malatya (Meladya), Beşiktepe (Melandra), Tatlıca (Zaharga), Tabanlı (Istinco) and Yakacık were beautiful Turkish Cypriot villages. They were Turkish Cypriot villages which portrayed all the beautiful features of a Turkish village and its people, and a perfect example of a place where human values and sharing was experienced.
Their common feature was that all these villages were surrounded by almond, fig carob and walnut trees. We don’t want to forget to mention the desire of hardworking people, who clearly valued their lands and were eager to work their productive lands. The village had brooks and fountains... Some of them were created as a result of the geographic conditions and others were built throughout history. The hardworking and sacrificing people of this village, after 1974 also willingly joined in the migration for freedom to the North. They also brought with them to the North memories of their stone houses and trees, which they had left behind. Memories of their houses, fig, almond, walnut and olive trees, which they had kept alive in their mind, became stronger and stronger each day. For years, they didn’t forget the memory of their houses and villages. They hoped that one day when they returned to their village they would find someone who had looked after their houses.
However, the situation in this lovely village was no different from all the others. Infact it was even worse, because, today, in the place where Tatlıca once used to be, the wind blows and, in all sense of the word, the village is a ghost village... The running tap in the middle of Tabanlı had been made dirty by the pigs and a few of the remaining houses here were now being used by pigs and their breeder. Houses in Beşiktepe had been demolished with bulldozers and graves in the village cemetery had also been demolished... Most of the primary schools had been turned into straw houses. These are our observations of the beautiful villages of Paphos.
MALATYA (MELADYA)
We continued with our investigations of Turkish Cypriot villages in Paphos. On 30 July, 2003, accompanied by our guides Mehmet Gökkuşak and Mehmet Hoca we set off on our journey towards Poli and its surrounding five villages, Malatya (Melodya), Beşiktepe (Melandra), Tatlıca (Zaharga), Tabanlı (Istinro) and Yakacık, which were all Turkish Cypriot villages.
It took us three hours to reach Malatya. Malatya, which is 35 km North of Poli is situated on a high peak. When you look to the North there is the sea and the green mountains of Paphos on the South.
At the village entrance we saw bulldozers carrying out infrastructural work. They were digging roads. On our right we found the village primary school, where there was a date of 1910 indicating the date that the school was built. We found the mosque next to the school. Both the school and the mosque were badly neglected. The doors and windows of the primary school were all broken and it was obvious that it had been used as an animal stable for some time. Inside it was full of animal faeces. The door of the mosque was locked, so we couldn’t go inside. We managed to take some photos through the broken window.
Because Greek Cypriots had settled into a large majority of the houses in Malatya, they were well preserved. The remaining houses were all razed to the ground. Some houses which were not demolished and made out of stone had a beautiful architectural structure. Malatya cemetery was razed to the ground.
We wouldn’t able to find the place of the cemetery had it not been for the grave surrounded with iron railings. In the cemetery, there was no single tombstone.
BEŞIKTEPE (MELANDRA)
After leaving Malatya, we headed east towards Beşiktepe (Melandra). The village of Beşiktepe is on a large area of land, stretching from the peak towards the valley. When we looked from the top, we saw various fruit trees, such as almond and carob trees, giving a nice view and richness to the village. The first house we saw in Beşiktepe was demolished. Whilst moving along the village we were, once more, faced with the awful realities. Almost 100 per cent of the houses were knocked down and razed to the ground by bulldozers. The village was in ruins. Three to five houses which had survived were turned into stables by a shepherd living in Beşiktepe. There were hundreds of goats inside the village primary school, where children once used to be educated. It was impossible to go inside the school because of the dirt. We carried on moving inside the village, which was completely in ruins.
We went to a house, which was the only remaining house in the area. Before we reached the house, there was a potent smell in the air. Then we realised that that house had been turned into a pig sty and we even saw lots of pigs, both in the house and in the garden. While they were roaming in their mess, the smell became even worse.
We were approached by the Greek Cypriot shepherd in the village, when he noticed that we were journalists. We asked him why the village was in such a mess. He said that when he came to the village, it was as it is now and that everyone should go back to their houses. We asked him how people would go back to their houses, since there were no houses left and they had all been destroyed. He couldn’t answer us.
We found the village Mosque with a small minaret. We can say that the mosque was the only building that had managed to survive in the village. There was a church next to the mosque. The church was in a much better condition than the mosque. The mosque was surrounded with weeds and thorns. Beşiktepe was an environmental disaster. Everywhere was very dirty and full of rubbish. This was the first village we saw which had been so badly destroyed and polluted. We headed towards the valley on the village’s dirt roads. After we got out of the village we carried on for 300 metres before we found the village cemetery. Actually, what we found was not the cemetery, but its walls. The Beşiktepe cemetery had also been razed to the ground. We saw two graves, one had been completely destroyed and the other was surrounded with metal railings. The rest of the graves had disappeared.
We completed our research in Beşiktepe with these observations.
TATLICA (ZAHARGA)
We left Beşiktepe and after driving for 10 minutes on a dirt road we saw Tatlıca (Zaharga), which used to be a small and lovely Turkish Cypriot village before 1974.
Tatlıca is 46 km Northwest of Paphos and is situated on the highest peaks in the region and is a village which has a beautiful and wide scenery.
When we entered the village, the first thing we saw was the primary school with only one classroom. The school’s garden with a huge carob tree and a fountain, was fenced off. Tatlıca primary school was, like all the other schools in other Turkish Cypriot villages, destroyed, vandalised and pillaged. The classroom was full of pigeon nests and feaces. A large part of the wooden floor had been vandalised and broken windows were scattered everywhere. The only thing that was in good condition was the blackboard. When we saw the condition that the school was in, we began to wonder just what condition the houses might be in Tatlıca. We didn’t see anything different than what we saw at Beşiktepe and Malatya. We had also been faced with the same painful reality in Tatlıca. Approximately, 100 percent of all the houses there, had been knocked down with dozers and were completely destroyed. It was hard for us to accept the mentality behind this. We were confronted with a much more devastating picture in all the houses that we took photos of. It was impossible to see any evidence to suggest that people used to live there not so long ago. The village looked as if it had been abandoned ages ago. The destruction in Tatlıca was very serious. It was ruthless and cruel and we had felt the same emotions in Arpalık.
We headed south and found the cemetery that was jointly used by the inhabitants of both Tatlıca and Tabanlı. What we found, however, was not a cemetery, but just its place. Even the fences around the cemetery had been taken away. The graves had been razed to the ground and vandalised. The only grave that was left belonged to a woman, named Dervişe İzzet, who died in 1971. There was no other graves or tombstones.
The lovely village of Tatlıca, in Paphos had turned into a ghost village.
TABANLI
After leaving Tatlıca with these painful observations, we started driving towards Tabanlı (İstinco) village, which was also the village of our guide Mehmet Gökkuşak. Tabanlı, used to be a sole Turkish Cypriot village before 1974, and is situated amongst the beauty of the Paphos mountains, and is surrounded by hundreds of almond, fig and carrob trees. This was proof of just how much the Turkish Cypriot people of Tabanlı used to protect their territory and how productive they were. Before we entered the village we saw a grave on a high place. Our guide told us that the grave belonged to an 18-year old boy, named Hasan Kasım, who had drowned in the sea. We went up and took some photos of the grave. The framed picture of Hasan Kasım on his tombstone was still in good condition.
Not wishing such pain upon anyone, we started our work in Tabanlı. While entering the village we saw a primary school. The primary school of the lovely village of Tabanlı had been turned into a straw house. It was full of straw. We could hardly see the blackboard amongst the straw. It was almost impossible to go inside the building. The doors were pulled out and all the panes of the iron windows were broken. Our guide, Mehmet Gökkuşak was shocked. He was deeply hurt at seeing the place where he went as a child in such a terrible condition. After Malatya, Beşiktepe and Tatlıca, we started moving, step by step, inside the village of Tabanlı, in the hope of finding a village that had survived. However, we were greatly disappointed again. All the villages in the region shared the same destiny. The villages, which the Turkish Cypriots had to leave behind after the Population Exchange Agreement of 1975, upon the orders of the Greek Cypriot administration, had all been mercilessly destroyed with dozers almost as if they were taking revenge.
Only a few houses remained in Tabanlı and these were occupied by a shepherd. Sheep, goats and pigs were being raised in these few remaining houses. The animal faeces were taken outside by the shepherd in question and gathered at the village square. The strong smell lingered everywhere, the place was in a mess. Our guide could barely find his house in Tabanlı, where he used to live before 1974. Mehmet Gökkuşak couldn’t believe that his former village, where he grew up and had perhaps spent the best times of his life, was in such a terrible condition. He couldn’t stop himself from asking: “ Is this the Greek Cypriot administration’s understanding of humanity, who call upon everyone to go back to their homes?”. He moved towards the gardens where he and his ancestors used to grow almond, carob and fig trees. His pain doubled when he saw that all the trees were dry. We continued with our observations in Tabanlı and found the Mosque. The Mosque was also a victim of neglect. Its doors and windows were all broken and inside was full of pigeon nests and faeces. We could hardly walk around the Mosque because it was surrounded by overgrown weeds and thorns.
After the mosque, we went to a place called Appiyaca, which was located at the lower end of the Tabanlı village, and where approximately 10 families used to live before 1974. There, the situation was no different. All the houses had been razed to the ground and the place was in ruins.
We completed our observations in this Turkish Cypriot village, which was ruined to the extent of being wiped out all together from the map. Our guide, Mehmet Gökkuşak was very sad to leave the village. After we got out of the village, he wanted to take a photo of us as a memory. We took our last shot with Tabanlı in the background.

[samarkeolog]

The following is a description published in a Turkish publication named the "Diplomatic Observer" of a visit (by a Bayrak TV team I think) to the villages in Paphos mentioned above by samarkeolog . If these observations are true, they provide food for thought.

http://www.diplomaticobserver.com/news_read.asp?id=838

....

I have photos from all of those villages. It's just that it takes a lot of time to post them all to my research blog, and I don't have much at the moment.

[BirKibrisli]

Istinjo (Tabanli) was my place of birth too,Tim...
I lived there for the first 5 years of my life....My maternal grandfather was one the major landholders there...Because my father was a primary school teacher we moved around a lot,but my mother would take us back to the village for the summer holidays every year...We didn't manage to go there in the summer of 67 and 68 because it was deemed too dangerous for the TCs to travel to those remote parts then...In 69 we left Cyprus....My memories are exactly as it was described in this report...The area was like a green heaven,and I spent the happiest years of my life there...I returned to visit Istinjo last year,but the place I found was unrecognisable....

I wrote a thread on my visit to Cyprus for anyone who is interested..

http://www.cyprus-forum.com/viewtopic.p ... prus+dairy

[halil]

The following is a description published in a Turkish publication named the "Diplomatic Observer" of a visit (by a Bayrak TV team I think) to the villages in Paphos mentioned above by samarkeolog . If these observations are true, they provide food for thought.

http://www.diplomaticobserver.com/news_read.asp?id=838

....

I have photos from all of those villages. It's just that it takes a lot of time to post them all to my research blog, and I don't have much at the moment.

Bayrak Tv has made documentary about TC's villages left in South Cyprus called ''Fotoğrafın Göz Yaşları ''

based from photos and videoes from those villages also gives details information about villages before 1974.

[Tim Drayton]

Halil,

If I may quote a sentence from the article about these villages:

"The hardworking and sacrificing people of this village, after 1974 also willingly joined in the migration for freedom to the North."

It seems to point to a fundamental contradiction in the official Turkish Cypriot line. After all, the so called "ITEM" law was passed, by means of which people renounced ownership of the property they had left behind in the south and, in exchange, were awarded property left behind by Greek Cypriots in the north. The RoC does not recognise the legitmacy of this, but from the official Turkish Cypriot perspective these people abandoned all claims to this property. Does this leave the Turkish Cypriot side with any right to criticise what happened to this property? I mean, if I enter into a legally binding contract to exchange my house with another person's house, then the new owner may do what he wishes with my old house, including bulldozing it to the ground, may he not?

Of course this consideration does not apply to people like BirKibrisli who never acquired exchange properties and have never renounced ownership of their homes in the south. But you must admit that there is something of a contradiction between the situation created under the exchange property legislation and screening a television series inviting people to shed a tear for the abandoned villages.

[samarkeolog]

I saw Peristerona mentioned in the list of destroyed villages above.... The assertion that Peristerona houses were looted etc is not accurate.

Peristerona was one of four villages in a pilot project for peace, reconciliation and resettlement. The Cyprus Resettlement Project - supported by the UN and both the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot leadership - aimed to 'repair' and 'rebuild' Turkish Cypriot homes in four villages, one of which was Peristerona; the other three were Diorios, Nisou and Pano Lefkara (Hare, 1974). (As I understand it, intercommunal negotiations broke down, then the coup and invasion happened before the project could be completed.)

If none of Peristerona's Turkish Cypriots' homes were looted/damaged/destroyed, how could the Government agree to their reconstruction?

Hare, A P. 1974: Cyprus - conflict and its resolution. Cape Town: University of Cape Town.

[Get Real!]

Halil,

If I may quote a sentence from the article about these villages:

"The hardworking and sacrificing people of this village, after 1974 also willingly joined in the migration for freedom to the North."

It seems to point to a fundamental contradiction in the official Turkish Cypriot line. After all, the so called "ITEM" law was passed, by means of which people renounced ownership of the property they had left behind in the south and, in exchange, were awarded property left behind by Greek Cypriots in the north. The RoC does not recognise the legitmacy of this, but from the official Turkish Cypriot perspective these people abandoned all claims to this property. Does this leave the Turkish Cypriot side with any right to criticise what happened to this property? I mean, if I enter into a legally binding contract to exchange my house with another person's house, then the new owner may do what he wishes with my old house, including bulldozing it to the ground, may he not?

Of course this consideration does not apply to people like BirKibrisli who never acquired exchange properties and have never renounced ownership of their homes in the south. But you must admit that there is something of a contradiction between the situation created under the exchange property legislation and screening a television series inviting people to shed a tear for the abandoned villages.

Another excellent observation and post by Timbo that will no doubt be silently ignored...

[zan]

Halil,

If I may quote a sentence from the article about these villages:

"The hardworking and sacrificing people of this village, after 1974 also willingly joined in the migration for freedom to the North."

It seems to point to a fundamental contradiction in the official Turkish Cypriot line. After all, the so called "ITEM" law was passed, by means of which people renounced ownership of the property they had left behind in the south and, in exchange, were awarded property left behind by Greek Cypriots in the north. The RoC does not recognise the legitmacy of this, but from the official Turkish Cypriot perspective these people abandoned all claims to this property. Does this leave the Turkish Cypriot side with any right to criticise what happened to this property? I mean, if I enter into a legally binding contract to exchange my house with another person's house, then the new owner may do what he wishes with my old house, including bulldozing it to the ground, may he not?

Of course this consideration does not apply to people like BirKibrisli who never acquired exchange properties and have never renounced ownership of their homes in the south. But you must admit that there is something of a contradiction between the situation created under the exchange property legislation and screening a television series inviting people to shed a tear for the abandoned villages.

If the "RoC: doesn't recognise something then it cannot act on it...Bulldozing something to the ground that is not theirs by their own laws is illegal.....Their actions then might be seen as endorsing the TC law

[Tim Drayton]

Halil,

If I may quote a sentence from the article about these villages:

"The hardworking and sacrificing people of this village, after 1974 also willingly joined in the migration for freedom to the North."

It seems to point to a fundamental contradiction in the official Turkish Cypriot line. After all, the so called "ITEM" law was passed, by means of which people renounced ownership of the property they had left behind in the south and, in exchange, were awarded property left behind by Greek Cypriots in the north. The RoC does not recognise the legitmacy of this, but from the official Turkish Cypriot perspective these people abandoned all claims to this property. Does this leave the Turkish Cypriot side with any right to criticise what happened to this property? I mean, if I enter into a legally binding contract to exchange my house with another person's house, then the new owner may do what he wishes with my old house, including bulldozing it to the ground, may he not?

Of course this consideration does not apply to people like BirKibrisli who never acquired exchange properties and have never renounced ownership of their homes in the south. But you must admit that there is something of a contradiction between the situation created under the exchange property legislation and screening a television series inviting people to shed a tear for the abandoned villages.

Another excellent observation and post by Timbo that will no doubt be silently ignored...

A columnist in the Afrika newspaper last week made a comment about the Orams case that I think is relevant here:

http://www.afrikagazetesi.net/modules.p ... artid=2246

This may strike a more discordant note with Greek Cypriots, but he claims that in a total of 8,357 instances, there has been construction on Turkish-Cypriot owned property in the south without the permission of the Turkish Cypriot owner. He says that the Turkish Cypriot authorities, rather than trying to defend the Orams, who do not have a leg to stand on under international law, should be defending these Turkish Cypriot rights in similar actions.