Cyprus-Forum.com

[kafenes]

The village which amazes me most is 'Souskiou'. It looks like it would have been a very large village. Maybe Iceman can tell us of the population.

[iceman]

The village which amazes me most is 'Souskiou'. It looks like it would have been a very large village. Maybe Iceman can tell us of the population.

Souskio (Suzuz) was one of the largest Turkish villages destroyed after Turkish inhabitans left in 1974....According to records the population was 445..

http://www.yeniduzengazetesi.com/print.php?news=12070

[kafenes]

The village which amazes me most is 'Souskiou'. It looks like it would have been a very large village. Maybe Iceman can tell us of the population.

Souskio (Suzuz) was one of the largest Turkish villages destroyed after Turkish inhabitans left in 1974....According to records the population was 445..

http://www.yeniduzengazetesi.com/print.php?news=12070

Thanks Iceman. Sorry about the link, can't read Turkish.
Can you translate what the figures are at the bottom of the page?
I see Yerovasa mentioned there. Been there many times, it's a beautiful part of Cyprus. In the winter there is a beautiful waterfall through a hole in the rocky mountain side and there is an old steel and wooden bridge still standing there.

[74LB]

The village which amazes me most is 'Souskiou'. It looks like it would have been a very large village. Maybe Iceman can tell us of the population.

Souskio (Suzuz) was one of the largest Turkish villages destroyed after Turkish inhabitans left in 1974....According to records the population was 445..

http://www.yeniduzengazetesi.com/print.php?news=12070

Thanks Iceman. Sorry about the link, can't read Turkish.
Can you translate what the figures are at the bottom of the page?
I see Yerovasa mentioned there. Been there many times, it's a beautiful part of Cyprus. In the winter there is a beautiful waterfall through a hole in the rocky mountain side and there is an old steel and wooden bridge still standing there.

Kafenes, if I may help.............apologies for 'butting in Iceman'

The 3 columns are titled : Region - Vacated Date - Population

So for Yerovasa - it is in the Limassol region, vacated in 1963, and had a population of 83.

[halil]

Following the TRNC Council of Ministers decision on 23 April 2003 to open the borders, the Turkish Cypriot News Agency (TAK) organized visits to former Turkish villages in South Cyprus. Within the framework of these visits, special investigations were carried out in the former Turkish schools, mosques, cemeteries, houses and properties by the Turkish Cypriot journalists.

In the following series of articles, we will convey TAK correspondent Hasan Karaokçu’s observations and feelings of the Turkish Cypriot people who after 29 years found the opportunity to visit their former villages.

Note: Following are the translations of articles completed so far about the villages that have been visited in the south. The translations of articles on the remaining villages in the South will be added once they are completed.

İSTİNCO (TABANLI)

Mehmet Güçlü

Under these conditions, it is impossible return to South Cyprus.

It has been 15 days since I visited my village Instinco (Tabanlı) in South Cyprus. I was so badly affected by the ruins I saw there that, I have still not recovered and because I cannot forget this dreadful sight, last night, I dreamt that I was in my village.

In my dream, my late mother, who was buried in the village, was angrily asking me "why don’t you write that these dirty Greek Cypriots are letting their animals graze on the soil that is on us? The Halassa spring which used to flow just beside us, is no longer flowing. Why don’t you write these?". On the other side, my late grandfather Hasan also turned his blue eyes to me and said "Those bad Greek Cypriots have cut my big walnut trees and loaded them on lorries and taken them away. I saw them. They were the grandchildren of Haralambi, who I used to feed . If you don’t ask for your rights, I will not forgive you". After telling me these words, my grandfather left by gloriously riding away on his white horse.

When I woke up with excitement, I realized that it was only 03:00 a.m. I took a bath and wrote this article. It is difficult to explain the raid that was carried out in my village, but I should try to explain because I promised. Hundreds of walnut trees which were grown by our grandfathers or by our generation were all cut and taken away. Now you can’t even find their traces. Of course, the Greek Cypriots benefited from the timbers of the walnut trees, which are quite expensive. They used these timbers both for carving and making furniture. This was a short way for the Greek Cypriots to make a profit.

Whereas, would it have been so bad for them to benefit from the fruits of those trees and for those trees to still be here today? The walnut tree is the king of all trees and can live more than a hundred year. For a walnut tree to be productive it must be at least 20 years old.

The 25 year old walnut trees in our village were cut down, when they were in their most productive stages and about to bear fruit and all the other plum, almond, citrus and olive trees, which generated huge incomes, dried and died from neglect. The Greek Cypriots did all this intentionally, so that the Turks would not want to return to their former places.

While the Greek Cypriots are planning to return to their former places in the north, on the other hand, they are also trying to acquire Turkish Cypriot properties in the south by buying those properties for extremely low prices. It is so sad that our authorities, who as a result of settling property issues though wrong implementations, have prepared the necessary ground for the Greek Cypriots’ ill intentions. In the implementations carried out, Turkish properties in the south were always given very low scores whereas, Greek Cypriot properties in the north were marked much higher. The scores given for the trees left in the south are unbelievably low. People who don’t have a deep love for trees and who don’t know and appreciate their value cannot perform this duty. From my point of view, the value of trees should be much higher than the value of buildings.

A building can be built in three months or even much earlier, but you need years to grow a tree. In order to bear fruit a tree should be carefully looked after for years and the Greek Cypriots, who cut down our trees in their most productive period, did the worst harm to us. Moreover, those poor people who settled the property issue of the Turkish Cypriot people coming from the south through an ignorant system of marking (giving scores) did an even bigger harm.

Despite all these injustices, it is still impossible to return to the south. I believe that going back means losing our just cause. It is in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus that we have our dignity and honor. We might lose our properties but we still have our honor and dignity.

[miltiades]

Following the TRNC Council of Ministers decision on 23 April 2003 to open the borders, the Turkish Cypriot News Agency (TAK) organized visits to former Turkish villages in South Cyprus. Within the framework of these visits, special investigations were carried out in the former Turkish schools, mosques, cemeteries, houses and properties by the Turkish Cypriot journalists.

In the following series of articles, we will convey TAK correspondent Hasan Karaokçu’s observations and feelings of the Turkish Cypriot people who after 29 years found the opportunity to visit their former villages.

Note: Following are the translations of articles completed so far about the villages that have been visited in the south. The translations of articles on the remaining villages in the South will be added once they are completed.

İSTİNCO (TABANLI)

Mehmet Güçlü

Under these conditions, it is impossible return to South Cyprus.

It has been 15 days since I visited my village Instinco (Tabanlı) in South Cyprus. I was so badly affected by the ruins I saw there that, I have still not recovered and because I cannot forget this dreadful sight, last night, I dreamt that I was in my village.

In my dream, my late mother, who was buried in the village, was angrily asking me "why don’t you write that these dirty Greek Cypriots are letting their animals graze on the soil that is on us? The Halassa spring which used to flow just beside us, is no longer flowing. Why don’t you write these?". On the other side, my late grandfather Hasan also turned his blue eyes to me and said "Those bad Greek Cypriots have cut my big walnut trees and loaded them on lorries and taken them away. I saw them. They were the grandchildren of Haralambi, who I used to feed . If you don’t ask for your rights, I will not forgive you". After telling me these words, my grandfather left by gloriously riding away on his white horse.

When I woke up with excitement, I realized that it was only 03:00 a.m. I took a bath and wrote this article. It is difficult to explain the raid that was carried out in my village, but I should try to explain because I promised. Hundreds of walnut trees which were grown by our grandfathers or by our generation were all cut and taken away. Now you can’t even find their traces. Of course, the Greek Cypriots benefited from the timbers of the walnut trees, which are quite expensive. They used these timbers both for carving and making furniture. This was a short way for the Greek Cypriots to make a profit.

Whereas, would it have been so bad for them to benefit from the fruits of those trees and for those trees to still be here today? The walnut tree is the king of all trees and can live more than a hundred year. For a walnut tree to be productive it must be at least 20 years old.

The 25 year old walnut trees in our village were cut down, when they were in their most productive stages and about to bear fruit and all the other plum, almond, citrus and olive trees, which generated huge incomes, dried and died from neglect. The Greek Cypriots did all this intentionally, so that the Turks would not want to return to their former places.

While the Greek Cypriots are planning to return to their former places in the north, on the other hand, they are also trying to acquire Turkish Cypriot properties in the south by buying those properties for extremely low prices. It is so sad that our authorities, who as a result of settling property issues though wrong implementations, have prepared the necessary ground for the Greek Cypriots’ ill intentions. In the implementations carried out, Turkish properties in the south were always given very low scores whereas, Greek Cypriot properties in the north were marked much higher. The scores given for the trees left in the south are unbelievably low. People who don’t have a deep love for trees and who don’t know and appreciate their value cannot perform this duty. From my point of view, the value of trees should be much higher than the value of buildings.

A building can be built in three months or even much earlier, but you need years to grow a tree. In order to bear fruit a tree should be carefully looked after for years and the Greek Cypriots, who cut down our trees in their most productive period, did the worst harm to us. Moreover, those poor people who settled the property issue of the Turkish Cypriot people coming from the south through an ignorant system of marking (giving scores) did an even bigger harm.

Despite all these injustices, it is still impossible to return to the south. I believe that going back means losing our just cause. It is in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus that we have our dignity and honor. We might lose our properties but we still have our honor and dignity.

This thread on Istinjo was started in relation to an earlier one in which one Cypriot , as a mark of respect for another Cypriot , paid a visit and honoured not only Bir who as a young man had to be taken to the safety of a T/C "safe " area , it was a visit devout of any political propaganda , a visit filled with human emotions and one that brought tears to the eyes of some of us. I kindly request that you REFRAIN FORWITH from exploiting this thread for propaganda , there are many other threads that you can do your propaganda bit as you already do. Leave this thread to those humans who dont wish to post anything other than human experiences regardless of the divide. I do hope you will respect this request.

[kafenes]

Thank you Miltiades. Exactly my thoughts.

[BirKibrisli]

This thread on Istinjo was started in relation to an earlier one in which one Cypriot , as a mark of respect for another Cypriot , paid a visit and honoured not only Bir who as a young man had to be taken to the safety of a T/C "safe " area , it was a visit devout of any political propaganda , a visit filled with human emotions and one that brought tears to the eyes of some of us. I kindly request that you REFRAIN FORWITH from exploiting this thread for propaganda , there are many other threads that you can do your propaganda bit as you already do. Leave this thread to those humans who dont wish to post anything other than human experiences regardless of the divide. I do hope you will respect this request.

And I second this request...with gratitute and thanks from the bottom of my heart to miltiades and kafenes,and two other people from this forum who have similarly honoured me in the past...

[halil]

İ did'nt post this article for the propaganda...... i posted to show u what the majority of the refuges are feeling about the valuables that they left behind them......
Birkibrisli , i wonder what is your family members are thinking about their destroyed houses ?
lot's of histories about turkish cypriots villages at southern cyprus. like YAGMURALAN ......... we must know all about it...... it is not a propaganda........ it is our common history....... we have to inform everybody....... than we can understand each other........
when i was travelling with our greek cypriots friends on the motorway. he showed from the car windove .....LOOK here is my village it is only 5 munites away from here he said.you should see the bitter from his eyes.it was very sad for me. i will never ever forget the way he was looking........
i was one of the lucky cypriots i never been moved away from my land..... now i am 50 years old..... my be it is difficult for me to understand some of u.......

[humanist]

WOW! Kafenes Thank you for the beautiful photos .............. aaaaahhhhhhhh God I forgot how beautiful Cyprus is. Come on people lets get it together ................... Lets UNITE our country ....... those of you who care