Cyprus-Forum.com

[Agios Amvrosios]

'My fiance and six men were shot dead. The Turkish soldiers laughed at me and then I was raped.
GREEK CYPRIOT GIRL AGED 20

'The Turkish soldiers cut off my father's hands and legs. Then they shot him while I watched.
GREEK CYPRIOT WOMAN AGED 32

'They shot the men. My friend's wife said 'Why should I live without my husband?' A soldier shot her in the head.
GREEK CYPRIOT FARMER AGED 51

A HORRIFYING story of atrocities by the Turkish invaders of Cyprus emerged today. It was told by weeping Greek Cypriot villagers rescued by United Nations soldiers.

THEY TOLD of barbaric rape at gunpoint ... and threats of instant execution if they struggled.
THEY TOLD of watching their loved ones tortured and shot.

The villagers are from Trimithi, Karmi and Ayios Georhios, three farming communities west of the holiday town of Kyrenia, directly in the path of the Turkish Army.

Shletered
They had been trapped since the fighting began two weeks ago and were only evacuated to Nicosia by the UN on Saturday. And today at a Nicosia orphanage they told me their tales – simply and without any prompting.

A 20-year old girl in a pretty yellow and white dress sat under a painting of Jesus tending his flock as she described how she was raped.

She had been visiting her fiance who worked in a hotel near Kyrenia when the Turks attacked. For the first 24 hours she sheltered with other villagers in a stable until they were discovered by Turkish soldiers. She then watched as her fiance and six other men were shot dead in cold blood – only a few minutes after they had been promised that they would not be harmed.

She said: ''After the shooting, a Turkish soldier grabbed me and pulled me into a ditch. I struggled and tried to escape but he pushed me to the ground.

''He tore at my clothes and they were ripped up to my waist. Then he started undressing himself.

Baby
"Another Turkish soldier who was watching us had a nine-month-old baby in his arms and, trying to save myself, I shouted that the baby was mine.

''But they laughed at me and threw the baby to the ground. I was then raped and I fainted soon after.

''When I came to my senses I saw 15 other soldiers standing round watching. The first soldier was taking off my watch and engagement ring. Others were going to rape me - when one of them objected and told them not to be animals.

''I will never forget him for saving me. He was quite unlike the rest - more like an Englishman with blond hair and blue eyes. He spoke to me in English.

''He helped me to my feet and said, 'All is OK now.'

''The others tried to stop him, but he pulled out his gun and pushed his way through and gave me back to the other women.

''When I had recovered, after a few hours, I went to where the bushes had been burned by the shelling and rubbed charcoal over my face and hands, so I would be ugly and they would not do that to me again.''

The girl, too ashamed to reveal her name, added: ''I cannot put into words the horror I feel at what happened to me. I think I would have preferred it it they had shot me.''

Mrs Elena Mateidou, aged 28 was awakened by Turkish soldiers at Trimithi.

She said: ''My husband and father were told to take off all their clothes and they walked us down a dry river bed.

''Then the soldiers separated the women and children and ushered us behind some olive trees. I heard a burst of shooting and knew that they had been killed.

''Later they took us back to the village with our hands tied behind our backs. Two soldiers took me into a room in a deserted house where they raped me.

Bodies
"One of them held a gun to my head while it was happening and said if I struggled he would shoot.

''Afterwards, a soldier took off my wedding ring and wore it himself.''

Mrs Mateidou added: ''I saw another woman being pulled into a bathroom where she too was raped.

''Later I went back to the olive groves and found the bodies of my husband and father along with five other men. My father had been stabbed and my husband shot in the belly.''

Later, United Nations soldiers brought the villagers food. ''The Turks took it away and ate it themselves said Mrs Mateidou.

Another woman who had been an intended rape victim was Miss Phrosa Meitani, aged 32.

She said: ''When I saw what was happening, I ran as quickly as I could. I saw the soldiers pointing guns at me, but I was too frightened to care.

''I hid in the olive groves and tried to get back to where I had been separated from my father.

''I watched from the bushes as they cut off his hands and legs below the knee with a double-edged cutting knife.

''At first he screamed, and beat at them with his fists, but then he became quiet and did not utter a word. Then they shot him in the stomach while I watched.

Farmer Christos Savva Drakos, 51, saw his wife and two sons murdered.

''I was watering my orchard when the bombs started to explode,'' he said.

Shooting
''With the rest of the village we tried to run away through the groves and river beds but the Turks caught us and we surrendered.

''They searched us but no one had a gun.

''The the shooting started. It was one by one to start with and I heard my 16-year-old boy Georgios saying in a calm voice 'Daddy, they have shot me.'

''I pulled him down and we fell behind a rock, He died there in my arms. ''An officer had been attracted by the shooting and he ran up to see what was going on.

''He was furious with his men and ordered them to stop.

''My wife and my other boy Nicos, who was only 13, were dead.

''My friend's wife was terribly badly injured and she told the officer: 'Why should I live without my husband? Shoot me'.

''The officer shrugged his shoulders and walked off and a soldier shot her in the head.''

Face
If the Turkish authorities deny these allegations I will remember the drawn face of that old man cowering in a corner, his body racked with tears.

This elderly man was no actor, or a man ordered to lie for political propaganda.

He was a poor man who had lost everything he ever possessed or loved in the world.

Hotel manager Vassalious Efthimiou was the only survivor in a party of men seized by the Turks.

He said: ''They separated the men from the women and shot the 12 men.

''Those killed ranged from a 12-year-old boy to an old man in his 90's.''

His brother-in-law was shot dead while holding Efthimiou's four year-old daughter, Estella, in his arms.

Bullet
Today, Estella showed where a bullet had hit her thigh.

Efthimiou saved his own life by snatching his other daughter, Charian, aged two, and running.

He said:''I ran until my legs would carry me no longer, and I fell.

''I managed to make my way back later to a village where all the women were trembling with fear and shock.

''I handed my daughter to my wife and said I must save myself.

''I hid in a deep well in my sister's farm for seven days and nights, sitting on a little bar with my feet in the water.

''When I could not take any more I came up.''

Efthimiou and his 37-year-old wife, Helen, run the Mermaid Hotel at Six Mile Beach, Kyrenia, a popular hotel with British tourists.

PRESIDENT Glafkkos Clerides of Cyprus flew into Athens today and accused Turkish troops of mass murders and rape.

Denial
He also claimed about 20,000 Greeks had been forced out of their homes around Kyrenia.

THE TURKS issued a denial.

A spokesman said: ''The Turkish military authorities deny reports of killings and any other atrocities by Turkish troops in any area under Turkish occupation.''

THE SUN SAYS Shame on them
AS THE POLITICIANS vie to take credit for bringing a ''ceasefire'' to Cyprus, reports of appalling atrocities are filtering through from that tragic island. For, while the peace talks went on, Turkish soldiers were killing and terrorising innocent civilians. The behaviour of these troops will shock the world. As they are in Cyprus in the name of Turkey, that nation must immediately take action against the animals that wear its uniform...''

[insan]

On Dec. 31, 1963, The Guardian reported: "It is nonsense to claim, as the Greek Cypriots do, that all casualties were caused by fighting between armed men of both sides. On Christmas Eve many Turkish Cypriot people were brutally attacked and murdered in their suburban homes, including the wife and children of a doctor-allegedly by a group of 40 men, many in army boots and greatcoats." Although the Turkish Cypriots fought back as best they could and killed some militia, there were no massacres of Greek Cypriot civilians.

[insan]

On Jan. 14, 1964, the Daily Telegraph reported that the Turkish Cypriot inhabitants of Ayios Vassilios had been massacred on Dec. 26, 1963 and reported their exhumation from a mass grave in the presence of the Red Cross. A further massacre of Turkish Cypriots, at Limassol, was reported by The Observer on Feb. 16, 1964; and there were many more.

On Feb. 6, 1964, a British patrol found armed Greek Cypriot police attacking the Turkish Cypriots of Ayios Sozomenos. They were unable to stop the attack.

On Feb. 13, 1964, the Greeks and Greek Cypriots attacked the Turkish Cypriot quarter of Limassol with tanks, killing 16 and injuring 35.


On Feb. 15, 1964, the Daily Telegraph reported: "It is a real military operation which the Greek Cypriots launched against the 6,000 inhabitants of the Turkish Cypriot quarter yesterday morning. A spokesman for the Greek Cypriot government has recognized this officially. It is hard to conceive how Greek and Turkish Cypriots may seriously contemplate working together after all that has happened."

[insan]

On Sept. 10, 1964, the U.N. Secretary-General reported that "UNFICYP" carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances... It shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting. In Ktima 38 houses and shops have been destroyed totally and 122 partially. In the Orphomita suburb of Nicosia, 50 houses have been totally destroyed while a further 240 have been partially destroyed there and in adjacent suburbs."

The U.K. House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs reviewed the Cyprus question in 1987 and reported unanimously on July 2 of that year that "although the Cyprus Government now claims to have been merely seeking to 'operate the 1960 Constitution modified to the extent dictated by the necessities of the situation,' this claim ignores the fact that both before and after the events o#, December 1963 the Makarios Government continued to advocate the cause of ENOSIS and actively pursued the amendment of the Constitution and the related treaties to facilitate this ultimate objective."

The committee continued: "Moreover, in June 1967 the Greek Cypriot legislature unanimously passed a resolution in favor of enosis, in blatant contravention of the 1960 Treaties and Constitution." (Art. I of the Treaty of Guarantee prohibited any action likely to directly or indirectly promote union with any other state or partition of the island, and Art. 185(2) of the Constitution is to similar effect.)

Professor Ernst Forsthoff, the neutral president of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Cyprus, told Die Welt on Dec. 27, 1963: "Makarios bears on his shoulders the sole responsibility for the recent tragic events. His aim is to deprive the Turkish community of their rights". In an interview with the UPI press agency on Dec. 30, 1963 he said, "All this happened because Makarios wanted to take away all constitutional rights from the Turkish Cypriots

[insan]

In a speech on Sept. 4, 1962 at Panayia, Makarios said, "Until this Turkish community forming part of the Turkish race that has been the terrible enemy of Hellenism is expelled, the duty of the heroes of EOKA can never be considered terminated."

In November 1963 the Greek Cypriots demanded the abolition of no less than eight of the basic articles that had been included in the 1960 agreement for the protection of the Turkish Cypriots. The Turkish Cypriots, naturally, refused to agree. The aim of the Greek Cypriots was to reduce the Turkish Cypriot people to the status of a mere minority, wholly subject to the control of the Greek Cypriots, pending ultimate destruction or expulsion of the Turkish Cypriots from the island.

"When the Turkish Cypriots objected to the amendment of the Constitution, Makarios put his plan into effect, and the Greek Cypriot attack began in December 1963," wrote Lt. Gen. George Karayiannis of the Greek Cypriot militia ("Ethnikos Kiryx" 15.6.65). The general was referring to the notorious "Akritas" plan, which was the blueprint for the annihilation of the Turkish Cypriots and the annexation of the island to Greece. On Christmas Eve 1963 the Greek Cypriot militia attacked Turkish Cypriot communities across the island. Large numbers of men, women, and children were killed and 270 mosques, shrines and other places of worship were desecrated. On Dec. 28, 1963, the Daily Express carried the following report from Cyprus: "We went tonight into the sealed-off Turkish Cypriot quarter of Nicosia in which 200 to 300 people had been slaughtered in the last five days. We were the first Western reporters there, and we have seen sights too frightful to be described in print. Horror so extreme that the people seemed stunned beyond tears."

On Dec. 31, 1963, The Guardian reported: "It is nonsense to claim, as the Greek Cypriots do, that all casualties were caused by fighting between armed men of both sides. On Christmas Eve many Turkish Cypriot people were brutally attacked and murdered in their suburban homes, including the wife and children of a doctor -- allegedly by a group of 40 men, many in army boots and great coats."

Although the Turkish Cypriots fought back as best they could and killed some militia, there were no massacres of Greek Cypriot civilians.

On Jan. 1, 1964, the Daily Herald reported: "When I came across the Turkish Cypriot homes they were an appalling sight. Apart from the walls they just did not exist. I doubt if a napalm attack could have created more devastation. Under roofs which had caved in I found a twisted mass of bed springs, children's cots, and grey ashes of what had once been tables, chairs and wardrobes. In the neighboring village of Ayios Vassilios I counted 16 wrecked and burned out homes. They were all Turkish Cypriot. In neither village did I find a scrap of damage to any Greek Cypriot house."

[brother]

This guy likes posting greek propoganda, but that is the actions of someone trying to tear the forum up by pouring this poison all over the forum.

[-mikkie2-]

And what about Insans propaganda?

This is leading to knowhwere.

You justify what the Turks did to the greeks in 1974 to what happened to TC's in 1963.

Fine, an eye for a dozen eyes! That is the Turkish way.

[insan]

Posting similar things in respond to someone does not put me in the same place of agios something whatever.... My aim was to complete the one-sided picture he was trying to draw. But you'll never realize the essentials of the facts, mikkie.

[insan]

You justify what the Turks did to the greeks in 1974 to what happened to TC's in 1963.

I only justified what Turks did to GCs in 1975 and afterwards were similar to what GCs did TCs in 1963-67 and 74. The only difference is what Turks did in 1975 and afterwards was retaliatory but what GCs did between 1963-67 and 74 were for destroying all obstacles in front of the road to Enosis. I'm sure you'll never realize the difference between theese.

[Piratis]

Insan, nobody said that TCs were not murdered or that they didn't suffer.
The fact though remains:

During our history, 100 times more GCs got killed, and GCs suffered 100 times more.

Sure, during a decade TC suffered. But compare that with the centuries of the brutal Ottoman rule, + the Turkish invasion that left 6000 GCs dead in just days, + 30 years of occupation.

Nobody said we were angels, we are not. Still you can not compare GCs with Turks. There is simply no comparison. The Turks caused 100 times more suffering, both in duration and in magnitude. You can fool yourselves by saying the opposite, but everybody knows you are not saying the truth because Cyprus was not the only country that was invaded by the Ottomans and everybody knows what "Turk" means (this is why many other EU countries were so skeptical about allowing Turkey in the EU). One would hope that today you would be different, apparently you are not.