LIKE so many of that generation, the lives of sisters Saziye and Akile Shevket were fundamentally changed by the Second World War.
As members of a small and select group of Cypriot women who joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in the 1940s, they had access to a working and social life that was forbidden to many women of the time.
Now aged 91 and 93, Saziye and Akile sit side by side while one helps the other get comfortable on their living room sofa in northern Nicosia. The Turkish Cypriot sisters never married and have barely spent a day apart in all their lives.
Though frail looking and slightly forgetful, their expressive faces light up with enthusiasm as they reflect on days spent working together in the WAAF. They joined the group with their now deceased older sister in 1943, and served in the force for three years while in their twenties. The sisters were accompanied into the force by six Greek Cypriot women.
Recalling their childhood years in Larnaca, they explain that they joined the WAAF in order to help out their family of eight financially.
“Our father was a judge and that meant he was getting a good 40 pounds a month salary. But he had to take early retirement and so we decided to help out,” explains Saziye.
“We saw an advert in the paper urging girls to join the WAAF and decided to apply,” adds Akile as she nudges her sister to prod her memory.
Having attended the American Academy in their teens, their good English worked in their favour and they were immediately accepted into the force and went to live in the WAAF house in Nicosia. Coming from an educated and forward-thinking family, their father didn’t oppose their move to the capital and decision to begin full time work.
The three girls lived together in one bedroom and were allowed home at weekends to visit their family. Their work was mostly clerical and included plenty of typing and communications. They enjoyed the job and describe the whole experience as some of the very best years of their life.
“We learnt so much; it was like school for us. And we made excellent friends for life as other Greek Cypriot and English girls joined our group in the house a little later on,” Saziye recalls. With the WAAFs also playing a pivotal role in the control of incoming aircraft, the sisters recall times spent at the Lakatamia airfield, just outside Nicosia working as liaison support while planes touched down.
“Then we would go out dancing in the evening with the RAF boys, it was wonderful,” exclaims Akile with a loud laugh. “In those days the Turkish Cypriot community was very strict so what we did was rather controversial.”
They go on explain that back then very few Turkish Cypriot women went out at night, and many still wore a body veil. “Things were so different 70 years ago. Some people frowned on our casual dress because it was quite unusual.”
A major social highlight was a weekend visit to the famous Chanteclair night club where rich Nicosians and foreigners would take their families to see European dancers and other entertainers perform on stage.
The women were only allowed to wear casual dress at the weekends, and any weekday outings meant the girls had venture out in full uniform, and this limited where they could go during the week.
“We were never allowed to go to a night club in uniform,” interjects Saziye. “No, no, that would have caused real trouble.”
The sisters then go on to talk about wonderful weekends spent up at the Troodos air force camp where they could socialise and enjoy nature.
Saziye then suddenly gets a flash back of a fallen plane that had the whole WAAF talking. “I remember the day that a German plane crashed over Nicosia. One pilot died and the other was taken prisoner of war by the British soldiers. I don’t know where they kept the soldier, but everyone was talking about the fact that this man would never eat his food for fear of being poisoned.”
As their time in the WAAF came to an end, the two young ladies moved to the village of Pyrga where the rest of their family had settled. This was then followed by a move to Ankara in 1950.
“At that point it was very hard to find a job in Cyprus, and some of our friends moved to Ankara and found jobs almost immediately so we followed,” says Akile.
When questioned about men and marriage, Akile doesn’t hesitate for a second. “We didn’t find the right one! We decided it was better to be alone and live together than be with someone who didn’t make us happy.”
Throughout their lives in Ankara they worked in a number professions including jobs at the British Embassy, the IKA News Agency and Jusmmat (a US Air Force organisation providing aid to Turkey.) The sisters then moved back to Cyprus last year to live with their niece in north Nicosia who now takes care of them.
Although they are now increasingly weak, with Saziye having undergone several operations in recent years including two hip replacements, they have a remarkable enthusiasm for life and are eagerly awaiting summer so they can spend days by the seaside.
“Did you know I can swim for an hour deep out at sea?” boasts Saziye.
As they pose to have their picture taken, she carefully adjusts a neck scarf neatly tucked into her deep green jumper and applies some lipstick. She then reaches over to check that the cushion supporting her sister’s back is still in place.
“We kept saying we’d be back in Cyprus since the day we retired and now it’s finally happened,” says Saziye. “We just love it here.”
