Topic: Memories from a time when Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots lived in peace before 1963.

Mrs. Anna's Story

Mrs. Anna was born in Lapithos, a village in Kerynia in which both Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots lived peacefully. From what she recalls, in her small neighborhood there were fifteen to twenty houses of Turkish-Cypriots. The most vivid memory in her mind is that of a girl named Meleki, who used to go to Mrs. Anna’s house with her mother to have coffee. However, even though the Turkish-Cypriots were inviting them to their homes as well, Mrs. Anna says that they did not accept their invitations since her father was afraid of letting both her and her mother go.

Moreover, even though it is difficult for her to remember all the names of her neighbors, she is able to bring to her mind that the Greek-Cypriot women used to call the Turkish-Cypriot women by the name of their husbands although they knew their real names. She particularly remembers that they used to call a friend of hers “Mehmetena”, seeing as the name of her husband was Mehmet.

In addition, Mrs. Anna remembers that Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots attended separate schools, for they had to learn their own language. She also mentions that she was impressed by the fact that Turkish-Cypriot women were mostly giving birth to boys, who were sent either to Nicosia or to Kerynia in order to study in collages; but in case they wanted to study at the University their parents sent them to Turkey. Mrs. Anna adds that although she is not sure whether Greek-Cypriots went to universities or collages, she is certain that Turkish-Cypriots did. She also points out that Turkish-Cypriot girls were also sent to private schools since their parents had the economic ability to pay for their education.   Added to this, Mrs. Anna remembers that there were two minarets in her neighborhood and that the Greek- Cypriots used to go to one of them.

Mrs. Anna also recalls that both Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots owned goats because at that time there was no milk for sale in the markets; so each family that had children had to own a goat in order to feed them.  When they were taking the milk from all the goats in the neighborhood, they were mingling it so as for all inhabitants to have a portion of it.

Moreover, Mrs. Anna starts bringing to her mind several people, including one Greek-Cypriot woman, who was giving birth to children of both Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot women. Then she also remembers the Turkish-Cypriot woman that now inhabits her house and she says that their fathers used to be good friends; they were working together in the health department, where they used to hire one Greek-Cypriot and one Turkish-Cypriot. These two men used to spend a lot of time together since they had to visit a lot of places and check whether they were clean or not. Additionally, they used to meet at the coffee shop, a place where both Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots were getting together. What is more, when the sister of the woman who inhabits Mrs. Anna’s house got married, Mrs. Anna’s whole family was invited, since it was common for Turkish-Cypriots to invite Greek-Cypriots to their weddings and vice versa.

However, Mrs. Anna notes that her father did not allow them to attend any weddings without him being present, because he was afraid of the fact that there, there were going to be a lot of men, independently of their nationality. Therefore, as Mrs. Anna says, it was not the case that her father did not allow them to go because there were going to be Turkish-Cypriot men, but men in general. She remembers though that she did attend one of her Turkish-Cypriot friend’s wedding with her entire family. This occurred because she was a good friend of that girl, who often went to their house with her mother in order to get milk. However, this girl never went to their house on her own, like all children did, who only went to other peoples’ houses with their parents.

Furthermore, Mrs. Anna refers to her marriage by mentioning that a lot of Turkish-Cypriots went both to the church for the ceremony and to their house so as to wish them the best. At this point, she starts remembering several Turkish-Cypriot women by their name and she additionally says that they, as well as their husbands, were very good people.

Mrs. Anna adds that almost all her Turkish-Cypriots neighbors spoke Greek. This was not the case with the Greek-Cypriots though, since they did not speak Turkish. Mrs. Anna also recalls that her grandmother used to be friends with an old Turkish-Cypriot woman, who used to come at their house. She particularly remembers that one day, when they were all talking in Greek, Mrs. Anna asked the old woman to teach her a few words in Turkish. Although the Turkish-Cypriot woman was surprised by Mrs. Anna’s request, she finally agreed to teach her some words; for example she told her that the Turkish word for breadis “ekmek”.

Mrs. Anna also remembers another Turkish-Cypriot, called Hadjibraimis, who used to be a member of Lapithos’ municipal council, seeing as among the 10 to 12 Greek-Cypriot representatives there had to be a Turkish-Cypriot representative as well. When Hadjibraimis’ children got married, Mrs. Anna’s family attended their weddings and bought presents for them as well. This brings to her mind that the weddings of the Turkish–Cypriots were taking place at their families’ house. She adds that the Turkish–Cypriot women were wearing modern, impressive dresses that appealed to her as very expensive, as well as the entire wedding.  She also points out that she had never seen such weddings in her entire life since the Greek-Cypriot weddings were simpler.

Moreover, Mrs. Anna points out that Hadjibraimis’ daughters were very beautiful, just as many other Turkish-Cypriot women. She also states that Hadjibraimis was very rich as well as most of the Turkish-Cypriots, who were farmers and owned many fields, in which their wives used to work. However, the Turkish-Cypriots did not only work at the fields since some of them worked for the municipally and they actually demanded their place there; in fact, some of them were important members of it, since they occupied significant positions. As Mrs. Anna says, generally almost all Turkish-Cypriots were rich, something evident in that a lot of them owned country houses near the beach.  

Another person she brings to her mind is Mehmetis, a Turkish-Cypriot who was working for the electric company. This man once helped Mrs. Anna’ s family, when they needed to be supplied with electric power, since he used his authority in order for them to be assisted sooner.  Also, she recalls that Mehmetis’ sons, instead of studying away from home, they stayed in Lapithos and worked as farmers. They also managed to become cattle-breeders and got married to Turkish-Cypriot girls from other villages. Mrs. Anna also points out that their wives were even more beautiful than the Greek-Cypriot women.

Additionally, she recalls that when she no longer needed some clothes she used to give them to a poor Turkish-Cypriot woman, whose husband was working with her father. She also says that this woman was very nice and kind therefore, when she saw the knitted shoes of Mrs. Anna’s son and asked her if she should could knit similar ones for her unborn baby, she could not refuse.  However, she did not only do so but she also gave her some other clothes that her children no longer needed. Nevertheless, Turkish-Cypriots also used to give presents to Mrs. Anna’s family since as she mentions her father was appreciated by the Turkish Cypriots, who were often giving him several products that were growing in their fields. But even though her father was glad that he was a good friend of the Turkish-Cypriots, he also felt the need to reciprocate the gifts, something that he would not do, for he was poor.

In addition, one of the most striking experiences that Mrs. Anna remembers up to this day is one with a Turkish-Cypriot woman, who had the ability to foresee the future by looking inside people’s coffee cups. Therefore, both Turkish-Cypriot and Greek-Cypriot women addressed to her in order to find out some information about their future and despite the fact that she never asked to be paid for this, the women sometimes gave her money since she was poor.  Although, Mrs. Anna does not like her future being predicted, because she considers it a sin, the Turkish-Cypriot woman eventually foresaw some future events that concerned her life. Actually everything she had described happened in three days’ time. Mrs. Anna’s words reveal how deeply affected she was by this experience: “Up to this day I have never forgotten what she said to me. Everything she predicted actually happened. Even at night when I go to sleep her words echo in my head”. The woman particularly predicted that Mrs. Anna would go on a pilgrimage, that during her trip she would come across a great fear and that at the end of the trip she would have an encounter with a man, whose arm would be wounded. The striking thing for Mrs. Anna is that everything that woman described eventually took place.

Another memory Mrs. Anna has with this woman is that they used to sit next to each other in the bus and that one day the latter wanted them to go to the hospital together in order to vaccinate their children; something that they eventually did.

Mrs. Anna also recalls another woman, Eminet, who went with them at the hospital. She particularly says that Eminet was so beautiful as if she was “an angel”, this is why Mrs. Anna believes that she was the prettiest woman in the village. She adds that

in 1963, when the conflicts between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots started taking place, that woman moved to Nicosia since her husband was killed, probably, as Mrs. Anna says, by some Greek-Cypriot members of EOKA, because he was politically active. As she states, the killings of Turkish-Cypriots were not uncommon but they were simply silenced by the Greek-Cypriots. However, during the conflicts the Turkish-Cypriots mistreated the Greek-Cypriots as well, since as Mrs. Anna mentions her brother was hit on purpose by a Turkish Cypriot, who hit him with his car. As a result of this hostility by both parties, Mrs. Anna states that the hospitals were full of both Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots, who were fighting against each other. The situation between the two parties had become so tensed that when Mrs. Anna was telling her children about the time when Greek-Cypriots were peacefully living with Turkish-Cypriots, the children could not believe what she was telling them since they appealed to them as “mere fairytales”.

The children’s unwillingness to consider this as true, as Mrs. Anna states, can also be explained by the events they themselves witnessed. For example, Mrs. Anna recalls that one day while some Greek-Cypriot children, including her own, were playing at the beach near some Turkish-Cypriots’ houses, the Turkish-Cypriots told them to go away from “their land” but because they did not do so they called the police. When the police arrived though, they told the Turkish-Cypriots that the beach is public therefore, everyone is allowed to go there and that they should not be bothered so as for others not to bother them.   

While she recalls this unpleasant situation, she mentions that when the Turkish-Cypriots were informed about the upcoming events, they started gathering their belongings during the night so as for the Greek-Cypriots not to see them. They were abandoning their houses, for they were aware of the fact that the Turks were going to attack the village. Their abandoned houses, from which the remaining inhabitants were stealing, as Mrs. Anna claims, were later on reconstructed by the Greek-Cypriot president of that time, Makarios. When this was done, the Turkish-Cypriots were rending their houses, as well as their fields, to the Greek-Cypriots and they were only going back to the village in order to receive their money.  At that time, all the Greek-Cypriots were asking the Turkish-Cypriots why they were not returning to Lapithos, since their houses were reconstructed, but their questions were never answered by their neighbors’ words but by their actions, which were revealed to them later on. More specifically, Mrs. Anna states that among the various items that the Turkish-Cypriots left behind, there were some Turkish books which included a map of Cyprus. On the map though there was a line drawn which separated Cyprus into two; where the green line now is, they had drawn a red line that marked which parts of Cyprus the Turks were planning to occupy. All the Greek-Cypriots of the village were stricken by this finding therefore some of them took the books to the police. The books were also studied by teachers, who claimed that Turkish-Cypriot students were exposed to the idea that the Turks would sooner or later occupy Cyprus.

Thus, in order to protect themselves, the Turkish-Cypriots left their village although as Mrs. Anna claims, the Greek-Cypriots remained there wondering; something evident in an event she brings to her mind. One day, while watching and greeting her Turkish-Cypriot neighbors Mrs. Anna asked one of them: “Why are you leaving? Where are you going? ”. The only answer she got though was: “We are leaving with cars. But let’s see how you are going to leave”. Of course at that time she couldn’t understand what that woman meant.

While talking about the here and now, Mrs. Anna mentions that she believes that things can never be exactly as they used to, although she states that she would not mind if Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots lived together once again. However, she believes that the Turkish-Cypriots would never accept neither this nor the Greek-Cypriots. Nevertheless, the two times she visited her house in Lapithos and encountered the woman, who is now living in it, she found herself feeling comfortable with her and she actually had nothing but good things to say about her. Additionally, since Mrs. Anna was interested in finding out what had happened to her Turkish-Cypriot neighbors, she asked this woman to tell her about them.

Mrs. Anna finally states that the woman, who is now living in her house in Lapithos, treated her very kindly; she welcomed her and she allowed her to cut some fruits from the garden. Moreover, as Mrs. Anna says, she was very friendly since she offered to cook so as for all of them to eat together. What impressed Mrs. Anna the most though, was that she even told her: “This is your house and if you come back to Lapithos, you are the one who is going to live here, not me”.

DEMOGRAPHICS:
Occupation: Housewife.
Age: 81.
Sex: Female.
Nationality: Greek-Cypriot.
Where now lives: Limassol.
Where lived during the events described during the interview: Lapithos.
What was the occupation of the main income earner in the household when growing up:
     Employee at the health department.

Interview conducted Fall 2010 by Eftichia and Natasa, University of Cyprus Department of English Studies


For the previous page: "Turkish Neighbors."