This is a story from the past, of those terrible days of 1974 that marked us and our place. You shudder once again, in the memories, in the events…
Mrs. Chrystalla Kyriakou reports to ant1iwo:
"I was born on 16/5/1952 in Kato Deryneia and I had 5 brothers. Unfortunately my parents died very young. My mother was 45 years old and my father was 47. My younger brother, Alkis, was only 8 years old and I took him with me to my own house, I adopted him.
Christos, my husband, is from Marathovounos. We got married in 1969 and together we had 4 children, Andreas who was born in 1969 and our twin daughters, Kika and Maria in 1971. After many sufferings, we managed in 1983 to have another child, Panagiotis.
The missing son of Mrs. Chrystalla, Andreas
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 the children, they came to Kato Deryneia to take us and all together to go to Liopetri.
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 everyone except me and the couple's 2 daughters, Androniki and Savvi, to follow them. 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 on their birthday, they were 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.
My husband did not know what happened, he found out when he came back after 8 days…
He prayed he was dead, he lost his whole family, I lost my whole family. At one point, we decided to have another baby in the hope that our pain would be relieved somewhat. After a thousand sufferings, we managed to have a baby boy. I got pregnant as soon as Alkis got married.
Thousands of paper glues are not enough to describe our pain. Many told me to write a book about my life. I tried but I did not succeed, I drown in tears and I stop.
They keep asking me how I feel, what I think about my children, whether they are alive or dead. I do not know what to think, what to say όμως But as long as there is the slightest hope that they are alive, I will not do memorials. I want to see them, even for a while and let me die…
I wish that day never came, that everything was like when we had strength and joy in our souls. I wish we went back and everything was as before…
I pray for my children and I pray that there will be peace in the world, that we will all be loved among ourselves, only that… ".