The rape of women during that terrible summer of 1974 is still a taboo subject for Cypriot society
Sunday 23 July 2023, “Haravgi” newspaper
The rape of women during the tragic events of 1974 are still, to some extent, a taboo subject for Cypriot society. Behind closed doors, however, the stories of many young women, both Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot, who suffered the ordeal of rape and utter humiliation in 1974 remain alive. The worst thing was, in many cases, the treatment they received from their own families.
One woman victim was subjected to vaginal surgery to make her look like a virgin…Another was married off to an elderly man to forget her shame…Another said that her husband often insulted her by telling her that she wanted it which is why she was raped…Another recounted how all her relatives urged her husband to leave her… Tragic stories that have no end.
Article by journalist Mihalis Mihail
The rape of women in 1974 was and continues to be a huge taboo subject in Cypriot society, The General Secretary of the progressive women’s movement of POGO Skevi Koukouma and Natassa Frederikou, Vice President of the ‘ZOE Vs War Violence Foundation’, pointed out to “Haravgi”.
Skevi Koukouma noted that apart from some accounts from people who knew about the 1974 rapes, there were only reports in international forums. The POGO General Secretary pointed out that the absence of women over the years from political and public life has played a role in keeping this aspect of the 1974 tragedy in obscurity.
Natasha Frederikou pointed out that rape is repeatedly used as a weapon of war and although it has just as serious consequences as other means of destruction, it is often treated as a taboo issue, as something that brought shame to the victims rather than the perpetrators.
Hidden under the carpet
Natasha Frederikou said that this issue had been swept under the carpet for decades and it was only in recent years that we as a society had begun to discuss it. People after 1974 knew of individual cases of women and girls who had been raped, but it took 41 long years for the issue to be debated in Parliament, for these women to be recognised as sufferers and for them to be able to receive any benefit from the state.
On her part, Skevi Koukouma stated that even though it was belated, in 2015, as an AKEL MP and Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee for the Victims of 1974, she took the initiative to open the issue for public debate, starting with an intervention on the issue from the floor of the Plenary of Parliament.
Mockery and “shame”
Natasha Frederikou said that it is estimated that the number of women who have been raped is much higher than the number of women who have spoken about their experience. Unfortunately, she added, the State and society at the time did not stand by them and made them ashamed of a shame that was never theirs.
There are reports in the press of cases where society mocked them and of victims’ families who tried in every way possible to hide their ‘shame’ and ‘stigma’ by sending them abroad or marrying them off in summary proceedings.
Rape does not only affect Greek Cypriot women
Not only was no one talking about the issue, but even those who did speak out spoke only about the Greek Cypriot rape victims. No one was talking about what Turkish Cypriot women suffered at the hands of EOKA B Greek Cypriot fascists, Skevi Koukouma underlined.
In the case of the Greek Cypriot women, she said, they did not speak because it was taboo and there was stigmatisation. In the case of the Turkish Cypriot women they did not speak because no one wanted to admit that Greek Cypriots had committed such crimes.
Tragic cases of women
The POGO General Secretary added that as soon as the issue was opened, the first contacts were made with victims, but they were difficult to talk to. They needed help, but did not want to be exposed.
In many cases their family, spouse and children were unaware of the tragedy they had experienced. “I am still shocked by the confession of a girl who had sworn to her mother that she would never speak of what had happened to her. “Now my mother is dead,” she told me, “so I can speak.”
She added that to date she has met 76 women victims of the Turkish army and each one’s story is more shocking than the other.
“A female victim told me that she had undergone vaginal surgery to make her look like a virgin. Another said she was married to an old man to forget her shame. Another woman I met told me that her husband often insulted her by telling her she wanted to be raped. Another woman told me how all her relatives urged her husband to leave her “because she was raped and disgraced by the Turks” and not only did she not leave her, but they are one of the most loving couples I have ever met. Others told me that as soon as their pregnancy was discovered, they were taken to the Akrotiri Hospital where they had an abortion.
Similarly, according to the information provided by Skevi Koukouma’s information, there are also cases of Turkish Cypriot women who were raped by members of EOKA B, but who were all covered up by officers of the National Guard.
ZOE vs War Violence
Natasha Frederikou, as Vice President of the ‘ZOE vs War Violence Foundation’, said that the Foundation is a non-profit organization focusing on gender-based crimes and all forms of violence suffered by women/girls and child victims or witnesses during armed conflicts or as a consequence of wars. These include rape, sexual exploitation, harassment or abuse.
The Foundation operates the “Life Again” programme which includes group experiential, psycho-educational workshops aimed at empowering participants. She noted that this first programme of the Foundation and the workshops will not be therapeutic, but psycho-educational in nature. She explained that “through the collection of data we will be able to better map the target groups in order to identify needs and design more specific actions and services”.
Memorial to the women victims of the war in 1974
The Foundation has recently submitted a request to both the First Lady and the Speaker of Parliament that the women who suffered violence and humiliation in 1974 be honored as anonymous martyrs and that the State erect a memorial.
A proposal for the erection of a memorial in the capital in honor of the 1974 Women Victims of War has also been publicly submitted recently by POGO. The General Secretary of POGO stressed that a memorial is the least that can be done for the women who suffered atrocities in 1974, noting that such an act would acknowledge the suffering experienced by these women and shake up years of prejudice that to this day keep women from both communities who during the coup and the war experienced the most abhorrent form of gender-based violence, rape, on the margins of society.
At the same time, POGO considers this memorial helps both to foster gender awareness and to promote the noble ideals of peace, freedom and friendship between the peoples.