July 20, 1974… Cyprus is living the ultimate nightmare.
05:20 in the morning…
War sirens sound throughout the island. Cyprus is living the ultimate nightmare. The Turkish armed forces are invading the island. Thousands dead, wounded, injured, missing, trapped and uprooted. Images that burn our souls, that changed our lives. Wounds that still bleed and testimonies that always shock…
The shocking testimony of Mrs. Chrystalla Kyriakou (ant1ıwo 2017):
"When the war started in 1974, my husband went to Kyrenia as a reserve. His parents lived in Agios Memnon but because they were afraid to leave me alone with 3 children, they came to Kato Deryneia to pick us up and let us all go to Liopetri together.
My father-in-law had a van driven by my brother-in-law and there were 15 of us inside. At one point, my father-in-law heard on the radio that people could return to Famagusta. So we decided to go back to my house…
As soon as we reached the village, we were stopped by Turkish soldiers. Because my brother-in-law was wearing khaki hunting clothes, he was arrested and no one has seen him since.
The rest of us were forced to walk to the gardens of Perdjana. There were 300 people there. At one point, they asked me where we were going by car. I told them at my house because we wanted to get some clothes for the kids.
There were about 20 Turkish soldiers and 6 Turkish Cypriots, who were obviously there to translate. Then they escorted us to my house and told us: “We let you stay and we will watch you. "If anyone tries to escape, we will come back and kill you all." We stayed at my house from the 17th to the 19th of August. With me were: My father-in-law, my mother-in-law, a neighbor, a couple with their 2 daughters, my sister-in-law with her 3 children, a friend of my brother-in-law and my brother Alkis.
On August 19…
My twin daughters had a birthday, they were 3 years old. Unfortunately, in the afternoon of the same day, the Turks came home again…
They insulted us and shouted. They came in and asked to be followed by everyone except me and the 2 daughters of Androniki and Savvi. I tried to hold my children, to save them from their hands but one of the soldiers hit me. My sister-in-law wanted to reassure me and said: "Do not worry, I will take care of them". Leaving, a soldier told us: "You stay at home, we will take them and we will come back to take you too".
I have not seen my children since ξανά
I, along with the other 2 girls, managed to leave the back of the house and walk to the village of Sotira. I had a brother married there and we went to his house.
My brother Alkis managed to escape from them. When he came back, I was overjoyed, I thought I would soon see my children too, I would see them all but unfortunately…
Alkis told us that first they went to a house, the last one in the village and then to an orchard with oranges. My father-in-law, who spoke Turkish, told them that it was a great injustice to kill young children. They were angry and my sister-in-law, who was listening to them, started crying and shouting, she had a nervous breakdown. The Turkish soldiers shot her in the shoulder and when Alkis saw her in the blood, he was so scared that he started running. He heard gunshots but did not look back. Along with Alkis, Christina, my brother-in-law's friend, also managed to escape. She went to Paralimni and after a long time, I managed to see her. He told me that they had not killed my children.
Missing are…
My twin daughters Kika and Maria. Oh my god!!! I can not believe that their birthday was lost…
My son Andreas who was 5 years old. My little boy…
My mother-in-law Adriani and my father-in-law Kyriakos
My sister-in-law Sotira with her children, 12-year-old Tasos, 10-year-old Koula and 8-year-old Christos
My brother-in-law George
The couple who lived in our house, Androniki and Savvis.
"Our neighbor Maritsa."
Testimony of a Turkish officer (Eleftherotypia 2009):
"I saw many dead. And civilians. The fields were full of dead civilians. Very bad story. In Cyprus I learned that the dead are also moving. The heat was such that the corpses swelled and changed sides. Unbearable stench. Many officers were against the savagery. But what to prevent? Everyone did what they wanted.
From what I saw, a story was the most inhuman. It happened in the village of Tympos, where we had gone for clearing operations. All the inhabitants had left…. I ran inside the house and saw her. She was lying on the floor. It was obvious that she was a late girl who had been left alone.
He had small hands and was a Mongol. The soldiers put the barrels of their weapons in her womb and fired two bursts. When I approached her she was still alive. He was beaten and bleeding from below. After a while it went out. "Our commander shouted at the two soldiers who killed the little girl and congratulated them."
The testimony of the veteran Hanioti warrior, Sergeant Mr. Evangelos Braoudakis (Haniotika news 2016):
"On August 14, 1974, 84 Greek warriors of ELDYK died heroically. Turkish tanks enter the Greek camp and there are hand-to-hand battles.
Captain Stavrianakos is killed as he aims at the head of the chariot with his revolver. The shot from the tank cannon beheads him. Next to him, the people of Chania, Sergeant Michalis Hairetakis of the Syntagma Command Battalion and the soldier Marios Volakakis of the Engineer Squad are killed fighting heroically. The camp commander gives an order to leave the area. This saves the rest from an unequal battle.
According to a British journalist, the Turks cut off the heads of 10 dead Greeks and exhibited them for photography at the ELDYK Gate! "
The Testimony of Mrs. Eleni from Avgorou (ant1ıwo 2016)
"I will never forget that afternoon we went to see my cousin and my son's godmother…
I was standing with her outside their bag and we were talking. Next door lived a family that had a 14-year-old daughter. At one point the girl approached me and without knowing me said: "Aunt, did she come with me to the toilet?" I was terribly impressed by the fact that, while he was talking to me, he was shaking. I told her that she is very close and I did not have to go with her, to go alone and I would see her. She insisted. I asked her why she was so scared and she replied: "We have affected the Turks and we are afraid". At that moment I wanted the earth to open up to swallow me, my heart became a thousand pieces.
As we walked, I asked her why she was not wearing old clothes like most manades did. She told me that she was wearing it but they understood it, they were Turkish Cypriots who knew. He told me so much that I will never forget…
Forty-two years have passed and it is as if I can still hear her voice: "I suffered a lot of atheism". I have never seen her again, I did not know where they went after, where she lives now. Today she will be 56 years old and she would definitely have her own family, her own children. I wish her well, that she managed to forget, that her soul does not hurt at all anymore ".
In 2011 the exhumations for the missing brought to light another heinous crime…
The missing Christodoulos Kouris and the priest of Agastina Ioannis Papaepifaniou were beheaded.
According to testimonies, the priest was arrested in his village and transferred to Mia Milia. After torturing him, they forced him to open his grave. He was then shot and thrown into the grave, which was opened. But the priest, because he was tall and could not fit in the tomb, had his lower limbs and head cut off in order to fit.
Although 44 whole years have passed, the wounds still heal. Certainly some have "left", some are tired, some do not care, but it does not mean that the rest of us must stop dreaming of a free Cyprus.
Source: ant1iwo.com