Cyprus-Forum.com

[sadik]

`Dear Sevgul Uludag,
Thank you for the copy of the book INCISINI KAYBEDEN
ISTIRIDYELER (Oysters with the missing pearls).
Please allow me to thank you and to say that this book
is an excellent
record for the recent historical annals of Cyprus.
Cyprus, such a small Island, yet for its size, too
many inhumane acts have taken place and to put all
these on paper, it requires people of your
professional status and personal courage.. I
sincerely hope that you would give some more of your
time and life to write the rest of the dastardly acts
that have taken place on this island, and in years to
come the next generations will wonder as to how men
could do these acts to their own country men. These
two communities living together and believing to the
same God, but praying in their own respective
language, could do these acts.
However, having read your book in its entirety,
somehow, I have not seen a specific Multiple Crime,
which took place during the years 1963..This is one
group of people who could not be classified as Missing
..but possibly Murdered.
One bus, driven by a Turkish Cypriot Driver from
Limassol, working for the late Ramadan Djemil, also
from Limassol, took in his bus, some 18 Turkish
Cypriot Auxiliary Policemen, working for the Ministry
of Defense in Dhekelia, (who had just come off duty)
and had to return back to Limassol.
Somehow, neither the Bus, Nor the Driver and also
none of those 18
Passengers got to their homes in Limassol.
The then investigations as such, brought no results,
and ever since, no one has been able to find out where
thus specific Bus with those 18 Turkish Cypriot
Passengers ended up. Rumours had it, that the Bus was
at some spot intercepted, but by Whom? Was diverted to
an Isolated place and both the Driver and its
Passengers were executed and their bodies were thrown
in a deep dry well and covered up. The bus was never
found nor has the well has been located, but some
people, if still alive, ought to know what actually
happened.
NB: The list of names of all those 18 Turkish
Cypriot War Department Auxiliary Policemen should be
in an Office in Episkopi. It is the Records Office of
Civilians who have been working for the MOD since 1950
or 1951.
However, there is One other office in Episkopi, known
as CEPO (Civilian Staff and Pay Office) who should
have a record—because it is this specific Office, who
must have paid to the Relatives or Dependents salaries
or gratuities due to those 18 Turkish Cypriot MOD
Auxiliary Policemen. Auxiliary Policemen working for
the Royal Air Force, had a different designation, so
there cannot be any mix up.
Dear Sevgul, if you are going to write Volume
II, on this same
subject, may be you would collect enough factual
information on these 18 Victims, as well as the driver
and devote a special chapter. One of those 18, was a
personal friend of mine.
His name was Ibrahim Ali Halil, and a relative of his,
used to operate the Turkish Cinema in The Turkish
Quarters in Limassol not far from the then Tessera
Fanaria.
Sincerely,
Vartan MALIAN`

I receive this letter from Vartan Malian and remember
the information I had received about the village G.,
which is close to Dali...
According to one of my friends, someone in the village
G. owns a plot of land together with his cousin..
One day his cousin comes up to him and says,
`You know what? I don’t want this piece of land
anymore... You take my share...`
`Why?` he asks...
`Because in our plot of land, I found out, there is a
busload of people buried... And even the bus is buried
there...`
I try to contact the owner of the land – perhaps
that’s the bus with the 18 people... It is very rare
but sometimes it did happen that they also buried the
bus with the people in it...
`Why don’t we make an interview?` I ask the owner of
the land in Geri, but he is unwilling...
`I need the support of political groups in order to do
anything... I could not do it alone` he says...
I wait some time and contact him again...
`Allow us, as Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot women
to come and dig publicly your plot of land and try to
uncover what lays there` I tell him...
Again he is unwilling to do so...
Fate of the missing is strange: people know but people
don’t speak. People are afraid of being a target from
extreme groups or extreme newspapers. People bury
their secrets in the mass graves and don’t speak...
Those 18 victims have families who are waiting to find
out what happened to their loved ones...
When we hide the graves, we hide the crimes...
When we hide the crimes, we hide the criminals...
This is an open call to Cypriots to speak up – I will
give my phone and my e-mail here so if anyone knows
what happened to the 18 victims, please contact me so
that we can follow it up:
My phone is 99-966518
My e-mail is [email protected]

------------

This is an article published in Alithia newspaper on Nov 13th, 2005. Sevgul Uludag is a well know Turkish Cypriot journalist and a pro-solution political activist. Her latest book "Incisini Kaybenen Istridyeler" (Oysters with the Missing Pearls) includes stories of missing persons on both sides.

[cypezokyli]

in cases like that its a shame to live in this country. if that guy indeed knows, its such a pity that he doesnt tell. even worse is that nobody cares even to check if he is right.
the goverment for example? our goverment?
actually the first who should have shown interest in this case should have been the organisation of gc missing persons. missing persons are a tragedy and shouldnt be any difference between gc and tc missing persons.
its just sad.

[sadik]

in cases like that its a shame to live in this country. if that guy indeed knows, its such a pity that he doesnt tell. even worse is that nobody cares even to check if he is right.
the goverment for example? our goverment?
actually the first who should have shown interest in this case should have been the organisation of gc missing persons. missing persons are a tragedy and shouldnt be any difference between gc and tc missing persons.
its just sad.

It indeed is very depressing. This is a country where murderers still walk freely, on both sides.

[Kifeas]

in cases like that its a shame to live in this country. if that guy indeed knows, its such a pity that he doesnt tell. even worse is that nobody cares even to check if he is right.
the goverment for example? our goverment?
actually the first who should have shown interest in this case should have been the organisation of gc missing persons. missing persons are a tragedy and shouldnt be any difference between gc and tc missing persons.
its just sad.

It indeed is very depressing. This is a country where murderers still walk freely, on both sides.

I think the best way for this issue to get moving somewhere is for anyone of the relatives /descendants to file an official complain with the police and give all the information that is available so far. According to the constitution /laws, a murder is a crime that doesn't become waved after a certain number of years and the police is still obliged to open up the case and investigate any such complain.

[Viewpoint]

in cases like that its a shame to live in this country. if that guy indeed knows, its such a pity that he doesnt tell. even worse is that nobody cares even to check if he is right.
the goverment for example? our goverment?
actually the first who should have shown interest in this case should have been the organisation of gc missing persons. missing persons are a tragedy and shouldnt be any difference between gc and tc missing persons.
its just sad.

It indeed is very depressing. This is a country where murderers still walk freely, on both sides.

I think the best way for this issue to get moving somewhere is for anyone of the relatives /descendants to file an official complain with the police and give all the information that is available so far. According to the constitution /laws, a murder is a crime that doesn't become waved after a certain number of years and the police is still obliged to open up the case and investigate any such complain.

Who would they lodge the compliant to?? GC authorities?? didnt the Lawyer Emine Erk lodge a complaint last summer about a whole village, what has happened there?? any news?

[Kifeas]

in cases like that its a shame to live in this country. if that guy indeed knows, its such a pity that he doesnt tell. even worse is that nobody cares even to check if he is right.
the goverment for example? our goverment?
actually the first who should have shown interest in this case should have been the organisation of gc missing persons. missing persons are a tragedy and shouldnt be any difference between gc and tc missing persons.
its just sad.

It indeed is very depressing. This is a country where murderers still walk freely, on both sides.

I think the best way for this issue to get moving somewhere is for anyone of the relatives /descendants to file an official complain with the police and give all the information that is available so far. According to the constitution /laws, a murder is a crime that doesn't become waved after a certain number of years and the police is still obliged to open up the case and investigate any such complain.

Who would they lodge the compliant to?? GC authorities?? didnt the Lawyer Emine Erk lodge a complaint last summer about a whole village, what has happened there?? any news?

If the police doesn't do their job properly, there is the ombudsman to report them, and then there is the EU ombudsman and the ECHR to complain, report and or take legal action against them, like Ahmet Tjiavit and Adali's widow did against Turkey and they won their cases.

[cypezokyli]

If the police doesn't do their job properly, there is the ombudsman to report them, and then there is the EU ombudsman and the ECHR to complain, report and or take legal action against them, like Ahmet Tjiavit and Adali's widow did against Turkey and they won their cases.

thats i guess one of our biggest problems. to legalise everything when this is a real political, historical, humanitarian problem and the goverment should alone take responsibility and solve it, without the need of running from the one court to the next.

[carleen]

sorry to hear about what happened but can u now understand how the greek cypriots feel who have missing persons and dont know where they are, or have heard roumours but no one willing to help them, its such a sad situation here in cyprus with all these missing people the two sides need to get together and really sort something out that will please both gc and tc

[iceman]

Between 15-20 July 1974, hundreds of Greek Cypriots were murdered by their fellow countrymen during the coup...Has there ever been an investigation as to identify and punish these criminals? Or is it simpler to blame the Turks for these killings also and call the murdered "missing persons"?
Cyprus is a small island and surely it shouldn't have been a problem to identify the people responsible for these killings.
When i mention this to my GC friends and ask why?? they prefer to keep silent...like the authorities..

So i dont have any faith that the GC people withholding information about the faith of missing TC's will ever come forward,they wont even do it for the missing GC's....very sad but thats the fact..

[andri_cy]

Iceman as far as the missing persons issue is concerned, I believe both sides are dragging their feet. You are blaming us, we are blaming you and that's how both sides get away with it...