MISSING TURKISH CYPRIOTS FROM ALEMINYO
In order to eliminate the realities of the Missing
Persons issue, the Greek Cypriot Administration has engaged in a new
initiative. On 20 July 1974, in the village of Aleminyo in Larnaca, 13
Turkish Cypriots were taken from their homes by Greek Cypriots to an unknown
area, and in order to cover up the brutal murder of these 13 Turkish
Cypriots the Greek Cypriot Administration is trying to distort the reports
on Missing Persons.
According to information received from eye witnesses, the
Committee for Missing Persons has reports verifying that on 20 July 1974,
under the leadership of Greek Colonel Vassilos Panayopoulos, Turkish
Cypriots were taken from their homes by a unit of 400 men from the Greek
Cypriot National Guard, and after being detained for three days and three
nights at the Greek Cypriot primary school, the women and children were set
free, and the 13 Turkish Cypriot men in question were taken to an unknown
location by bus.
Steering the American group of experts known as the
"Physicians for Human Rights", which has been appointed by the
Greek Cypriot Administration to do DNA and identity tests on their own
missing, to carry out exhumations at Aleminyo during the month of Ramazan
and on the eve of Bayram, which is an important time for the Moslems, has
led to some suspicion. The results of the exhumations revealed that the 13
missing Turkish Cypriots in question were buried in the mass graves pointed
out by Greek Cypriot villagers, who had buried our Martyrs. On the eve of
Bayram the families of the missing have experienced a new tragedy.
Additionally, while it was necessary for Turkish Cypriot member Rüstem
Tatar from the Missing Persons Committee to be informed of the issue
beforehand, this was not the case, and Mr Tatar was unable to observe the
exhumation, where the atrocity took place.
It is evident that the Greek Cypriot Administration, who
is preparing to become an EU member, by creating scenarios to conceal the
fact that they violated human rights on the island and committed merciless
murders, is trying to distort the situation of the missing persons.
Essentially, UN documents in question have been prepared according to
information given by Greek Cypriot eye witnesses and according to this the
unarmed persons in question were shot by a firing squad and buried in the
mass graves. During the same dates, two more people from the village of
Aleminyo were also shot and murdered by a firing squad, and to get rid of
any evidence the Greek Cypriots burned one of the bodies. It is evident that
as a result of the Greek Cypriot Administration’s initiatives, reference
in the Annan Plan prepared by the UN on Cyprus to the issue of Missing
Persons was prepared with the aim of reducing the number of missing Turkish
Cypriots.
However, it will not be possible for the Greek Cypriots
to make fraudulent alterations to international documents that have been
prepared with statements from eye witnesses. War correspondent Peter Arnet,
who became famous during the Gulf War, during that time, was a correspondent
for the Associated Press in Cyprus and this is how he reported this incident
to world public opinion:
"The village of Aleminyo was in the news because of
the murders, three weeks ago, of 13 Turkish Cypriots from that village. The
results of an investigation carried out by the United Nations revealed that
13 people were killed by a firing squad".
PHOTOGRAPHS OF SOME OF THE MISSING TURKISH CYPRIOTS FROM
ALEMINYO
