‘THESE ATROCITIES SHALL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN’ Turkish Cypriot victims of 1974 massacres remembered as TRNC marks 48th anniversary of second phase of Peace Operation
CEREMONIES were held earlier this week to remember the scores of Turkish Cypriot civilians who were killed and dumped in mass graves in August 1974.
Greek and Greek Cypriot Eoka-B gunmen carried out the slaughter of mainly women, children and the elderly as the Turkish Armed Forces launched the second phase of the Peace Operation, which had started on July 20, 1974, and which eventually led to the liberation of places such as Gazimağusa in the east and Lefke in the west, and the current boundaries between North and South Cyprus.
The most notorious of the attacks took place in the Mesaoria plain villages of Muratağa-Sandallar and Atlılar, in the district of Gazimağusa, where 126 people — the youngest just 16 days old — were murdered.
Their bodies were then dumped and buried in a nearby rubbish tip and not discovered until 19 days later, when they were unearthed in the presence of United Nations observers and the world’s media to ensure that there could be no denial of the atrocity, which the UN described as a “further crime against humanity committed by the Greek and Greek Cypriot gunmen”.
An Associated Press report from Muratağa described how Turkish troops “dug up the broken bodies” of “Turkish Cypriot men, women and children” and that the “corpses were so battered and decomposed that they crumbled to pieces when soldiers lifted them from the garbage with shovels”. They included the bodies of at least two women “holding babies in their arms”.
Commemoration ceremonies for the victims were held last Sunday at the Muratağa-Sandallar Cemetery and the Atlılar Cemetery.
President Ersin Tatar, Parliamentary Speaker Zorlu Töre, Cyprus Turkish Peace Forces Commander Major General Sezai Öztürk, and Security Forces Commander Major General Zorlu Topaloğlu were among those who attended, alongside the relatives of the dead.
During the ceremonies wreaths were laid, a moment of silence was observed, followed by a gun salute and the singing of the National Anthem.
Prayers were said and flowers were placed at the victims’ graves. Ayşe Güler Akın, the granddaughter of one of the victims, read out a poem.
TATAR: TURKISH CYPRIOTS SUFFERED A LOT
In a speech at the Muratağa-Sandallar Cemetery, President Tatar said that while Turkish Cypriots “suffered a lot and lost many martyrs”, what happened in Muratağa-Sandallar and Atlılar was “completely different”.
Pointing out that children, women and the elderly were murdered and buried in mass graves, Mr Tatar noted that the atrocities “can never be forgotten and shall never be forgotten”.
Mr Tatar noted that “independence, freedom and our state” emerged from the “struggle of the martyrs” and that the “debt owed” to them is to “uplift the state and to maintain the independence, freedom and sovereignty attained by the Turkish Cypriots”.
Stating that new borders were drawn with the Second Peace Operation and a “new era” began on the island, Mr Tatar said that a cooperative agreement between two institutional structures could be possible “only on the basis of sovereign equality”.
Mr Tatar indicated that Turkey also supports the new policy and that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, whom he met during a recent visit to Konya, Turkey, as previously reported by this newspaper, “believes in and supports the Turkish Cypriots’ struggle”.
Pointing out that news reports with headlines such as “unpunished murders” have been published in the Greek Cypriot media about the massacres of Turkish Cypriots, Mr Tatar said: “The perpetuators of these acts of barbarism are known. The murders in question were committed by Greek and Greek Cypriot military and police in front of the United Nations. Nobody
has, however, ever been brought to justice. They should all be ashamed.”
‘HORRIFIC CRIMES’
In his speech, Muratağa, Atlılar and Sandallar Martyrs Remembrance Association president Ahmet Aşır stated that Muratağa, Sandallar and Atlılar were “always Turkish villages” and that “no Greek Cypriots ever lived there”, but that the villagers did not migrate despite the “attacks and pressures” and tried to defend their villages with hunting rifles.
Pointing out that all three villages were attacked on July 20, 1974, and that the men of the villages were taken prisoner, Mr Aşır explained that the calls made to the UN to ensure the safety of the villagers left behind went “unanswered”.
Mr Asır added: “I did not think that human beings had the capability of committing such horrific crimes and atrocities. It is necessary to explain to the world what took place here and to future generations so that lessons can be learned. These need to be taught as our recent history in our schools.”