Funeral held in Aloa for 15 Turkish Cypriots killed in 1974

Aloa, Cyprus. A funeral service was held on Friday evening for 15 missing persons, including nine children, whose remains were recovered by the Committee on Missing Persons. The youngest person buried was 40 days old.

Victims buried

The 15 people were killed by Greek Cypriot militias in Aloa on August 14, 1974. Similar violence in the nearby villages of Maratha and Sandalaris resulted in the deaths of a total of 89 Turkish Cypriots.

Those buried were 28-year-old Tulay Suleyman, 10-year-old Hasan Suleyman, six-year-old Kemal Suleyman, three-year-old Okan Suleyman, 12-year-old Gurhan Ali Cerkes, 56-year-old Ayse Hasan, 16-year-old Narin Hasan, 22-year-old Kiymet Hasan, 16-month-old Betul Arnavut, 36-year-old Mualla Ali Osman, four-year-old Gulden Ali Osman, two-year-old Ozlem Ali Osman, 40-day-old Seldem Ali Osman, 46-year-old Fatma Tahir and 22-year-old Emine Tahir.

Officials attend service

The service was attended by Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, Turkish Cypriot prime minister Unal Ustel, Turkish ambassador in Nicosia Ali Murat Basceri and other dignitaries.

An opening event was held after the funeral for a museum built to document the massacres.

Erhurman’s remarks

Erhurman said those who killed the victims had “not only murdered our people; they murdered humanity, they murdered humaneness, they murdered civilisation”.

He said the 15 “innocent and defenceless people” were buried “with the same pain as the day it happened”, adding that what happened in Aloa would not be erased from the memory of the Turkish Cypriot people.

Erhurman said the Turkish Cypriot people had endured suffering, paid a heavy price and waged a difficult struggle for existence. He said they owed a debt to those buried and to all those who had sacrificed their lives for the people’s existence.

Missing persons issue

He said the Committee on Missing Persons had carried out meticulous and sensitive work for a long time, calling on Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot politicians to ensure that the missing persons issue and the committee’s work were not politicised.

Erhurman criticised Disy member of the European Parliament Michalis Hadjipantela over an amendment passed last year to the EU budget calling for a monument only to those who went missing as a result of Turkey’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus.

He said Hadjipantela, who represents the Turkish Cypriot people in the European Parliament, was using the institution to produce resolutions against Turkish Cypriots.