Νέα μαρτυρία για σφαγή Ελληνοκυπρίων κατά την τουρκική εισβολή

(H ΝΑΥΤΕΜΠΟΡΙΚΗ) - Μια νέα συγκλονιστική μαρτυρία Τουρκοκυπρίου για εν ψυχρώ σφαγή 320 Ελληνοκυπρίων αιχμαλώτων κατά την εισβολή του 1974 δημοσιεύει σήμερα η τουρκοκυπριακή εφημερίδα «Αφρίκα».

Σύμφωνα με την εφημερίδα, ο Τουρκοκύπριος δήλωσε ότι ήταν ένας από τους συνοδούς των αιχμαλώτων που μεταφέρθηκαν με οκτώ λεωφορεία -40 αιχμάλωτοι στο κάθε λεωφορείο- στο σημείο όπου είχε γίνει η απόβαση, δυτικά της Κερύνειας, προκειμένου να μεταφερθούν με πλοία σε φυλακές της Τουρκίας.

Όταν έφθασαν εκεί, είχε καταπλεύσει ένα πλοίο με Τούρκους στρατιώτες, οι οποίοι μόλις αποβιβάστηκαν και πληροφορήθηκαν ότι στα λεωφορεία βρίσκονταν Ελληνοκύπριοι αιχμάλωτοι, τους επιτέθηκαν με ξιφολόγχες και τους σκότωσαν με αγριότητα, μέχρι και τον τελευταίο. Ο Τουρκοκύπριος δήλωσε ότι η θάλασσα βάφτηκε κόκκινη από το αίμα των αιχμαλώτων. Όπως χαρακτηριστικά ανέφερε, και ο ίδιος φοβήθηκε για τη ζωή του γιατί η μανία των Τούρκων στρατιωτών ήταν τόση που υπήρχε κίνδυνος να σφάξουν και τους Τουρκοκύπριους που συνόδευαν τους Ελληνοκύπριους αιχμάλωτους.

Ο αυτόπτης μάρτυρας, που δεν θέλησε να αποκαλυφθεί το όνομά του, δήλωσε ότι οι 320 Ελληνοκύπριοι αιχμάλωτοι ίσως να τάφηκαν σε κάποιο χώρο κοντά στο ξενοδοχείο Μάρε Μόντε, το οποίο είχε λειτουργήσει λίγους μόνο μήνες πριν από την εισβολή.

Στη μαρτυρία του ο Τουρκοκύπριος ανέφερε ότι η σφαγή έγινε στα τέλη Αυγούστου του 1974, δηλαδή λίγες μέρες μετά την ολοκλήρωση της δεύτερης φάσης της τουρκικής εισβολής.

Πρόκειται για το μεγαλύτερο αριθμό εν ψυχρώ δολοφονηθέντων Ελληνοκυπρίων αιχμαλώτων, που έχει καταγραφεί με μαρτυρία.

ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ

320 Greek Cypriot prisoners of war were killed with a sword bayonet

New mass execution revealed

(Cyprus Weekly) - NICOSIA - Another mass execution of Greek Cypriot POWs by the Turkish army comes to light 35 years after it took place during the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974.

The Turkish Cypriot daily “Afrika” quotes an eye witness, who kept his anonymity, that eight busloads of POWs were bayoneted and hacked to death as they waited to be shipped to Turkey.

The massacre took place towards the end of August 1974 when about 320 Greek Cypriot POWs were driven in buses to the Kyrenia coast to board a ship for their transport to Turkey.

According to the eye witness, as they waited new Turkish recruitments that had just landed attacked them and killed them all using their fixed bayonets or knives.

The eyewitness said the massacred Greek Cypriot may have been buried near the Mare Monte Hotel, not far from where they were killed.

War crimes 'were committed in Cyprus'

(CNA) - War crimes were committed during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, Roger Gale, Conservative Member of the British Parliament has said in an interview with London Greek Radio.

Gale spoke about the remains of five Greek Cypriot prisoners of war, identified 35 years after they were killed, and thrown down a well, and stressed: “I think that the news that has come through confirms simply what most of us have always believed, which is that in the course of the Turkish invasion of Northern Cyprus war crimes were committed. That is a fact that needs to be fully and properly investigated by the appropriate authorities and the appropriate action taken. I would be saddened however if any such investigation were to delay the process of the retrieval of remains that can be identified because the most important thing I think is that families who have been waiting for news, have the news and are able to obtain at least some kind of closure”, he noted.

Asked what Britain can do to help solve this problem, Gale said he does not think “this is particularly a problem that Britain can involve itself in other way than as one of the guarantor powers. The process is one that is probably going to be hastened, if at all by the United Nations and the International Red Cross”, he added.

Cyprus soldier buried 35 years on

(BBC) - The funeral has taken place in Cyprus of one of five Greek Cypriot prisoners of war killed during the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974.

Ioannis Papayiannis was one of five soldiers photographed surrendering to Turkish forces during the invasion.

The soldiers' bodies were identified this week, 35 years after they were killed and thrown down a well.

The remains were recovered from a well in Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus in 2006 along with 14 other bodies.

Greece and Cyprus have called on Turkey to clear up all the cases of people who went missing during the invasion.

Limited remains

Draped in a Cypriot flag, the coffin of Ioannis Papayiannis was escorted into church by a military guard of honour, reports the BBC's Tabitha Morgan from Cyprus.

The coffin itself was very small, suggesting that forensic anthropologists had been able to retrieve only limited skeletal remains, says our correspondent.

At the front of the church members of the Papayiannis family stood to receive respects from the hundreds of mourners present.

Nicos Theodosiou, head of the Committee for the Relatives of Missing Persons, said he had has been to many funerals like this.

"I observed the parents going through pain of losing a son like the person died in a car accident the day before," he said.

"It doesn't make any difference that you were waiting and hoping and you knew at the back of your mind that maybe he's dead.

"It's a whole different thing to be given the remains and told these are the remains of your son - it's like he died yesterday."

For some families services such as this will enable them to move on, says our correspondent.

Others feel that while forensic science may provide answers to how their relatives died, they still want to see the killers brought to justice.