THE BODIES of 13 Turkish Cypriot men killed in 1974 were finally laid to rest at a full military funeral in the north yesterday.
All 13 men were from the village of Alaminos, near Larnaca, and their remains were among the first to be returned to relatives by the UN-sponsored, bicommunal Committee for Missing Persons (CMP).
The CMP, formed in 1984, is charged with finding the remains of approximately 2,000 Greek and Turkish Cypriots who went missing on the island during intercommunal conflict between 1963 and 1974.
The bodies of 15 Greek Cypriots were also recently returned to their families after being unearthed in the north.
“We buried them in our hearts 33 years ago, but today we can exercise one of the most fundamental human rights by burying them according to our religion and traditions,” said Kudret Ozersay in a speech at the mass funeral yesterday. Ozersay lost his father and three uncles.
Although the 13 had been referred to as “missing”, Ozersay said families had known since 1974 that the men had been executed after being captured by Greek and Greek Cypriot militia while trying to defend their village. After their execution, the bodies were bulldozed into a single mass grave near the village, witnesses have said.
“There were witnesses, including my grandfather, who saw them lined up against a wall. Later he heard machine-gun fire,” Ozersay said.
Ozersay also described how his late uncle had been taken to his wife, who was among civilians being held prisoner by the militia, and was told to say goodbye.
“They told him he had five minutes to say goodbye to his wife forever.”
It was because of the way the 13 died that yesterday’s funeral was carried out with full military honours.
“For us they were soldiers, part of the Turkish Cypriot resistance, and they were defending the village. That is why we came to the agreement among all the relatives here that a military funeral would be most appropriate.”
Despite the military honours, politicians in attendance – including Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and his predecessor Rauf Denktash – were not invited to make speeches.
As soldiers carried the tiny coffins draped in ‘TRNC’ and Turkish flags to the burial site, cries rang out from several of the now-elderly mothers and wives.
“My child! My Ali! How will we bear this pain?” an old woman wailed, unable to be consoled by her daughter. Uninformed onlookers could easily have imagined her son had died just days before.
Meanwhile, the work of the CMP goes on, with the remains of almost 300 Cypriots so far unearthed. It seems Cyprus has many more funerals in store.
