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It is with feelings of emotion and deep sorrow that we are here today to commemorate the fallen and missing of Transparency. To honour 16 Afantites who exactly half a century ago fell victims of the barbaric Turkish invasion of our homeland and composed, together with the rest of our heroes, the long list of the fallen and missing of the Turkish invasion.
This place, this monument, the Church of St. Artemios, is a sacred place for Afantites.
This place, this monument, the Church of St. Artemios, is for Afantites a sacred place. A place that brings them to the heart of their village even though they are miles away. A place that is a refuge and soothes pain. It reminds the older ones of their village, and is a source of lessons and acquaintance with Aphania for all younger generations.
It is also a sacred place that every summer and as long as the illegal occupation continues, it gathers around it relatives, friends and fellow countrymen of the sixteen fallen and missing Afantis, who come here to pay their due tribute and pay their gratitude to their fellow countrymen who were either murdered cowardly, or fell during battles, or whose fate is still unknown. And at the same time to renew the promise, which should be a promise not only of the Aphanites, but of the entire Cypriot people, that fifty years was enough.
Aphania, like the rest of the occupied communities of Mesaoria, was asked to pay a heavy blood tax in August 1974. The long list includes 16 Aphanites who under different but equally tragic circumstances were either arrested or murdered by Turks or Turkish Cypriots.
Of the sixteen Aphanites missing after the Turkish invasion, most have been identified. In particular, the fate of Christofi Giannis, Nikola Michael, Yakoomi Hadjinicola and Kakoullou Kostas remains unknown.
Aphania, like the other villages of Mesaoria, was occupied by Turkish forces on the first day of the second phase of the Turkish invasion on 14 August. Most of the inhabitants, in fear of the Turkish attack, managed to leave and move south to safer areas. However, there were several who did not make it and were trapped, so they had to seek a place to hide in order to escape from the swarms of invaders.
Among them was Panagiotis Aspris, who, together with other Afantites, found shelter in the area of Mankia, between Afia and Assia. For two days, the Afantites hid there until, on 16 August, Turkish Cypriot compatriots spotted them and led them to the Turkish Cypriot school of Aphania, where other Greek Cypriot Afantites who had been trapped were already there.
There, inside the school, they remained for five whole days until 21 August, when the Turks put the next part of their plan into action. It was then, on August 21, that the eight men whom the Turks separated from the women and children were last seen alive. Panagiotis Aspris, father of four children, Savvas Giorgallis, father of two children, Andreas Orfanou, father of two children, Gabriel Ioannou, father of six children, were found in a mass grave outside Aphania and their remains were identified on December 20, 2012.
The above eight of the murdered men found in the mass grave include Sotiris Pamboulos and Kyriakos Karantokis, who on August 14, in a desperate attempt to save themselves, but also to save their families, boarded a pick up truck with about 20 other people, relatives and neighbours, and attempted to escape. However, a Turkish tank intercepted their course, causing them to abandon it and end up in an adjacent house. There, after ten minutes, they were surrounded by Turkish soldiers, who arrested them. They were taken to the Turkish Cypriot school of Aphania and on 16 August, after their fellow villagers who were hiding in the area of Mankia had the same fate.
The octet was completed by two residents of neighbouring villages who had been taken to the same primary school.
I would like to make special mention of the Ioannou family.
I would like to make special mention of the Ioannou family. A family that in 2013 after the discovery of the remains of Gabriel Ioannou, who was 69 years old in 1974, buried him in the Gerion Cemetery, and was among the eight men found in the mass grave. In 2017, the family buried Gabriel's son, Yannis Gabriel, whose wife in 1974 was pregnant with their first child, and is still seeking the fate of Gabriel's brother, Christofi Yannis, who was 74 years old in 1974, a father of six children, and whose fate has since been unknown.
Yannis Gabriel, son of Gabriel Ioannou, lived with his wife in Palaikythro. He was born in Aphania in 1937 and worked as a secretary at the Cooperative Credit Society of Aphania.
During the first phase of the Turkish invasion and during the period between then and the beginning of the second phase, he continued to stay at his home in Palaikythro with his wife.
On 14 August, the date of the start of the second phase of the invasion, Gabriel and his wife went to Assia for more security. When informed that Turkish troops were also moving towards Assia, they tried to go outside the village, but the Turkish troops had already cut off the village from the free areas. They then returned to a house in Assia where other trapped people had gathered.
On 19 August two armed Turkish Cypriots arrived at the house and arrested him and his brother-in-law Petros Tarpukkas and led them to the Turkish Cypriot Primary School of Aphania, which had been turned into a prisoner assembly area.
On 19 August two armed Turkish Cypriots arrived at the house and arrested him and his brother-in-law Petros Tarpukkas and led them to the Turkish Cypriot Primary School of Aphania, which had been turned into a prisoner assembly area.
Later that day, armed Turkish Cypriots ordered Gabriel and his brother-in-law Tarpukkas to board a vehicle and then drove them towards the Turkish Cypriot village of Ayia. Since then, neither of them gave any signs of life, while their remains were found in a mass grave in Aphania and identified in September 2017.
His uncle, Christofis Yiannis, was among the Aphantites who rushed to Assiya on the day of the second phase of the invasion to save themselves. One of his six children resided there. However, Assia was also occupied, with the result that the approximately 1,000 Greek Cypriots were trapped in the village. At noon on 14 August, a group of armed Turkish soldiers arrested all the men, including Giannis, and took them to a house and the women and children to the village square. After a short time, a Turkish officer ordered the women and children to return to their homes.
The men remained in the house under confinement until 17.8.74 and were guarded by armed Turkish soldiers assisted by armed Turkish Cypriots from Aphania.
Around noon on 17 August the Turks transferred all the men to Pavlidis' garage in Nicosia. There they separated the young from the old. Those under 50 years of age were kept in a booth. Those who were over 50 years old, including Yiannis, were taken back to Assia in the same trucks and dismissed. Since then his traces have been lost and his fate is unknown to this day.
The youngest of the missing persons of Aphania was George Georgiou of Demetrios. Only 17 years old, Georgiou was a fifth grade student at the Pancyprian Gymnasium of Nicosia. On the day of August 14, his father took his entire family and hid them in a river, which is located between Aphania and Assia. When they approached Assia and within the river Skatouliari they found themselves in close proximity with about 300 armed Turkish soldiers, who raised their guns as soon as they perceived George's family.
George's father immediately told everyone to lie down to avoid bullets and he shouted loudly that they were surrendering. He spoke both Greek and Turkish because he knew the Turkish language. Indeed, everyone took cover except George, who was holding his little sister and preferred to protect her. He laid her on the ground and covered her with his body.
Although they were all unarmed, the Turks opened fire on them, resulting in George being wounded in the thigh. Then about 15 Turkish soldiers approached the Georgiou family and carried them all under a bridge, except George.
In about five minutes they moved them to a short distance and carried the wounded George close to them. They then loaded all those arrested into vehicles and asked his father to transport his injured son as well. Unfortunately, however, due to his condition, it was not possible to carry him alone and without any deterioration of his injury.
An unknown Turkish Cypriot in civilian clothes ordered George's father to follow the others into the vehicles and he himself would see to it that his son was taken to the hospital for treatment.
While George's family was being taken away, a Turkish soldier shot him, but they did not realize if he was again wounded by the bullets. Since then George had given no signs of life. His remains were found in a grave in the area of Assia and were identified in January 2013.
An eyewitness to the tragic events for the Georgiou family was Yakoomis Hadjinicolas, who was also moving through the fields from Aphania to Assia and was found together with the Georgiou family.
After what happened to 17-year-old George, Hatzinikolas was taken with other male prisoners to a factory located on the edge of Assia. There they were held until the morning of 15.8.74 with their hands tied. Later those who were over 50 years of age, including H" Nikolas, were released from the factory in which they were being held. Since then his traces have been lost and his fate is unknown to this day.
Among the heroic Afadites fallen and missing in the Turkish invasion are the people who, at the call of the homeland to defend it, declared a thunderous presence. One of them was Emilios Evdokiou, 31 years old, a builder and father of a minor child. On the day of the first phase of the Turkish invasion on 20 July, Evdokiou enlisted as a reservist in the 305 Infantry Battalion in Dali.
After the ceasefire, Evdokiou and his battalion were transferred to the area of Mias Milia, where at dawn on 14 August Turkish troops attacked National Guard positions with tanks, heavy weapons and air support.
The soldiers of the Battalion were ordered to disengage and Evdokiou moved towards the Madres area in Kaimakli. There, like other soldiers, they took shelter in a cave, where they were soon afterwards surrounded by Turkish soldiers. Immediately Evdokiou and the other reservist, apparently because of their military uniforms, were led at gunpoint some 350 metres away into a small ravine, after which shots were heard. Since then both Eudokiou and the second reserve soldier have given no sign of life. His remains were found in a mass grave in the area and identified in November 2016, and he was buried with honours at the Macedonitissa Tomb in May 2017.
26 years old was Nicholas Michael when in July 1974, at the call of his country, he enlisted as a reservist in the 70 Battalion of Engineers in the BMH area. After fighting in the first phase of the invasion on 4 August, he returned to Aphania for a few hours to visit his family, and returned to his unit the same day. The next day, 5 August, he received instructions and together with other reserve soldiers of the 70th Engineer Battalion moved to the Lapithos area to mine areas.
When they completed the mining in the afternoon of the same day, on the orders of the division officer they spent the night in Lapithos with the intention of continuing the mining of the Karava heights the next morning.
At dawn on 6 August, and while the truce was in force, the Turkish troops attacked by surprise and after fierce fighting captured the two towns, trapping a number of men of the 70th Engineer Battalion. The trapped men of the Engineer were divided into three groups and moved towards Vasileia.
Michael belonged to the group which intended to move towards the sea side. Initially they arrived on the main Nicosia-Kyrenia road near the Airkotissa centre. After resting, they heard voices and the platoon leader sent Michael and another soldier to scout. Since then his traces have disappeared and his fate is unknown.
There were many Afantites who, hearing that the invaders were a stone's throw from their village, thought it would be safe for them to move to Assia. Among them was Theodolos Solomou, a father of seven children and a special constable.
The Turkish troops, after surrounding Assia on 15 August, began patrolling and committing acts of violence, including the murder of those trapped inside the village.
At noon, a group of Turkish soldiers, accompanied by two armed Turkish Cypriots, arrived at the house where Solomou was and, after arresting those inside, led the men to a house at the edge of the village and the women and children to another house.
Solomou and the rest of the men remained inside the house under confinement for two or three days and on 17/8/1974, Turkish soldiers and armed Turkish Cypriots loaded them into two trucks and drove them to Pavlidis' garage, where they detained those who were about 50 years old and under and the rest, including Solomou, were taken back to Assia. On the following day, 18 August, they were released and reunited with their families.
On 21 August a group of Turkish soldiers, again together with armed Turkish Cypriots, arrived at the house where Solomou was and arrested all those inside. The women and children were taken to the lower parish of the village, while the men, including Solomou, were taken in trucks to the Turkish Cypriot village of Ayia and after being taken down from the trucks they were ordered to sit on the ground in fields with their hands tied. Shortly afterwards, a civilian vehicle arrived at the site and armed Turkish Cypriots began to check the detainees one by one.
Then, after loading Solomou into the vehicle, they departed towards the area of Aphania and since then he has given no signs of life. His remains were found in a mass grave in the area of the Turkish Cypriot village of Ayia, identified in December 2023, and the burial took place last May.
Also recently, just two weeks ago, the remains of Dimitris Tsiausis, who was the father of three children, were buried in Mosfiloti. Tsiousis, like the Solomos family, travelled from Aphania to Assia. On 21 August the Turks ordered the men to gather in the village square, where the cafes were located. At around four in the afternoon of the same day, armed Turkish Cypriots arrested Tsiousis, together with Sotiris Thalassinos and Andreas Diarkou and, after putting them in a civilian vehicle, drove them to an unknown place and since then they have not shown any signs of life.
Among the dead and missing in Aphania are two women. Two women symbols of the tragedy of what happened in the heroic village in August 1974.
Kakoullou Kosta, 45 years old, mother of five children, on hearing that the Turks were arriving in Aphania, like other villagers, rushed to hide in reed fields to protect her daughters.
Around 02:00 on 14 August, Kakoullou and her daughters, along with other villagers who were hiding in the reed fields, rushed towards Assia to save themselves because Turkish soldiers spotted them and started shooting at them. Kakoullou stayed further behind the rest of her fellow villagers to help an old woman. At one point she was wounded by the Turkish soldiers' gunfire and fell to the ground. Her daughter went to help her, but Turkish soldiers arrived at the place as well as a Turkish Cypriot from Aphania, who ordered everyone to move and gather at the village primary school. Kakoullou remained wounded and helpless on the ground and her fate has been unknown ever since.
The story of Christina Savva is also tragic. Christina, born in 1924, had the misfortune at the age of fourteen to be blinded due to a serious illness that permanently confined her to her bed and as a result she remained confined throughout the invasion.
On 15 August the Turkish troops entered the village and anyone they found was taken to the Turkish Cypriot primary school of Aphania.
However, it was impossible to transport Christina to the school because of her health problems and so, with the permission of the Turkish troops, her relatives visited her accompanied by Turkish soldiers and provided her with food and water.
In the following days, however, the Turkish troops moved all the prisoners from Aphania to other detention centres for prisoners, but did not allow the movement of Christina, who remained alone and helpless.
According to testimony, Christina was murdered in cold blood by Turkish soldiers when they found her in her bed. Her remains were found in an individual grave in Aphania and identified in March 2020. Christina Savva was buried in August 2020 at the Kouklia Cemetery, writing the epilogue to her tragic story, which demonstrates to the fullest extent the brutality displayed by the occupation troops during the invasion.
I could not fail to mention the just 16-year-old Iakovos Pitta from Agastina, who, for his father's business reasons, the second phase of the invasion found him in the community of Aphania. On the same day, Turkish soldiers arrested him and took him to the Turkish Cypriot school in the village, which had been turned into a prisoner of war camp. On 21 August, the Turks separated the prisoners. The women and children were moved elsewhere, while eight men, including Pittas, remained at the school. Since then no one has seen them again. Pitta's remains were found in a mass grave in the area of Aphania and subsequently buried in the Cemetery of Lakatameia.
These men are a beacon for younger generations. People of toil who chose the difficult route. They are the heroes from whom we are called upon to draw strength, to learn lessons, to learn and above all not to forget. Lessons that, through the ashes of the devastation and destruction scattered by the Turkish invaders in Cyprus in 1974, make us stronger, more mature and more determined.
In front of the fallen and missing of Transparency, we reverently bow our heads, with emotion and pride we pay a minimum tribute to them and promise that we will continue to work tirelessly and consistently until the fate of the last of our missing and the fate of our fallen is identified and determined.
At the same time, we pledge to them that we will not forget their sacrifice, we will honor and commemorate them, so that older generations will remember and new generations will learn, who are called upon to keep the memory of their community unquenched until the day of their return.
At the same time, the sacrifice of the Afantis, the Assyrians and all the other victims of the Turkish invasion steel the will of all of us for the liberation and reunification of our homeland. Aphania and the church of Agios Artemios look forward to the day when the memorial of our fallen will be held there.
May their memory be eternal.
(AF/AS)
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs to PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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