Burial of the 5 Turkish Cypriots murdered by the members of EOKA B the Greek Cypriot armed fascist organisation
The remains of 5 Turkish Cypriot missing persons who were massacred on 14th August 1974 in the village of Maratha by members of EOKA B were buried on Sunday.
They were brutally murdered together with many other residents of the Turkish Cypriot villages Aloa, Sandalaris and Maratha villages from the district of Famagusta. They had been buried in a mass grave and their remains were exhumed and identified by the Committee on Missing Persons.
According to media reports, the Akansoy family lost 30 members.
The remains are 36-year-old Emine Rüstem Akansoy and her four children. 15-year-old Sezin, 13-year-old Mustafa, 12-year-old Erbay and 8-year-old Sibel.
The family’s eldest son, Hüseyin Rüstem Akansoy, who was 17 in 1974, buried his family.
As he characteristically stated, “the events we experienced were caused by the nationalist movement, mass fanaticism and rotten minds. Therefore, what we all need to remember is that this mentality must be completely eliminated from our schools, religious places and all forms of power…. This is very important so that we never experience such pain again.”
It is worth noting that in the village of Maratha a total of 126 women and children and the elderly were slaughtered and then buried in a mass grave.
The fascist, far-right and nationalist forces in both communities have committed abhorrent crimes. Our duty is struggle together in a common front, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, to ensure that these crimes must never be committed again.
The best way to do that is to combat nationalism-chauvinism, bigotry and intolerance, racism in all its forms and to struggle for the solution of the Cyprus problem, for the reunification of our people and common homeland so that lasting peace will prevail, building a Cyprus an example of peaceful and harmonious existence.
