I read and wept at the testimony of «M» published on 21.7.22 in «Σημερινή» «Testimony 1974: “I will take my rapes by Turkish soldiers to my grave, only joy for my children and grandchildren».
I personally know some of our compatriot heroines who were martyred in the same way at the hands of the barbarians in 1974. And I had written the article «Second rape 42 years later» in «Σημερινή» on 12 January 2016 in which I referred to two other articles at the time. To the article by my colleague Kostakis Antoniou, and let the country that covered him be light, «Trisalion state with trisalion leaders» in «Simimerini» 19 December 2015 as well as by Aristos Michaelides at the same time in «Phileleftheros» «Working without a brain» 18.12.2015.
Our colleagues had written at the time on the occasion of the complaint on December 17, 2015, by MP Skeyi Koukoumas in the House of Representatives, that they had requested... rape certificates from Greek women raped by Turkish soldiers during the invasions of 1974.
I returned to «Simerini» on 21 June 2021 with my article «1974 - The rape of more than 800 Greek women by the barbaric Turks».
We must remember that these crimes of the Turkish conquerors went unpunished, and why they went unpunished. Honouring the well-known unknown heroine «M» for her courage to give living testimony, I return.
I recall that in London, victims of rape and sexual exploitation of minors, after 30-40-50 years of silence, due to censorship, protection of the establishment and the guilty, now victims are not only invited to give evidence in inquiries ordered into various cases, but can also initiate legal proceedings. For compensation. Naming the guilty (living and dead ), for punishment... Because for these crimes there is no expiration date...
These crimes were reported on the front pages of British newspapers, including the feature SUN(Barbarians), 5 August 1974 (read in the bilingual book of the Movement for Freedom and Justice «Bloody Truth-Bloody Truth», the «Step» London, 8 August 1974 etc.
On 23 January 1977, the British «Sunday Times», after obtaining a copy of a secret Council of Europe report that found Turkey guilty of violating seven articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, published headlines with the condemning headline «Turkish atrocities: What a classified report reveals» and the subtitle «The terrible secrets of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus», information about the Turkish atrocities, murders, rapes, looting in 1974...
Forayne Offices/Turkey
Turkey and Forrester Ophis had become a beast with the revelations of the «Sunday Times», with the F.O. trying desperately for days to find out where and by whom the report was leaked to the newspaper! Because the publication was only three weeks before the Makarios/Denktash/Valdheim meeting, when the minutes of the instructions to the negotiators with the 4 guidelines for the resumption of intra-community talks and the shift of the Cyprus problem from an issue of invasion and occupation to a ... bi-communal dispute were kept!
«The other war of the doctors of 1974»
In June 2014, doctors who examined victims of rape by the Turks in 1974 published a book with shocking accounts and testimonies from those who experienced Turkish brutality. Let them at least read the chilling testimonies of the 85 doctors who handled the atrocities of rape and abuse of women of all ages in Chrysanthos Chrysanthos« book »The Other War of the 1974 Doctors".
British documents
On 27 December 2006, with the release of British documents on the Turkish rape of Greek women during the Turkish invasions, we published reports in Simeri on this subject.
We wrote:
1974: Turkish rapes - abortions in a hospital in the Bases
«The British have preserved hard evidence of the unbearable brutality of the Turkish invaders and occupying forces during July and August 1974. The British bases in 1974 had direct testimony of Turkish rape of Greek Cypriot women. According to newly released documents, the British Bases, at the request of the Cypriot Government, carried out numerous abortions on Greek Cypriot women who had been raped by the brutal Turkish invaders. In fact, in order for those surgeries to be legally covered, the British authorities had to amend the abortion law.
»More specifically, in October 1974, the International Red Cross and the Government of the Republic of Cyprus asked the British Base Authorities to respond with medical assistance to more than 40 Greek Cypriot women - victims of rape - and the Base Authorities accepted," the documents say.
They amended the law on abortion
»However, as the abortion law in the UK does not automatically extend to the territories of the “sovereign” British Bases, it was necessary to amend the law appropriately to protect the doctors involved in these therapeutic procedures. The abortions had begun at the Princess Mary Hospital in Cape Town on 22 October. So the law was amended accordingly on 21 October 1974...»
The British didn't want rape to be an issue!
However, apart from the assistance they provided to the hospitals in the Bases for humanitarian reasons, the High Commission in Nicosia in October 1974 recommended to Forayne Ophis that they should help to bring the rape issue to a substantial conclusion and thus prevent it from reappearing as a problem between the two communities, so that the Clerides/Denktash talks could proceed...
Human rights violations by Turkey
In the second edition of the 2010 Report of the Republic of Cyprus with the above title (Text by Vangelis Koufoudakis, Edited by Miltos Miltiadou, Andreas Lyritsas, Maria Georgiou), there is a chapter entitled «Rape and forced prostitution», which stresses, inter alia:
«Turkish troops, during and immediately after the invasion, committed a large number of proven rapes of Greek Cypriot women and children aged between 12 and 71 years old. This was part of the tactic to humiliate, intimidate and terrify Greek Cypriot civilians in occupied Cyprus. The rape and disgrace of women is a highly heinous crime, with tragic consequences for the victim... The evidence of the rapes came from the testimonies of victim-witnesses, medical personnel and even members of the Turkish military personnel... There is no evidence that any disciplinary action has been taken by the Turkish military authorities for these actions.
»Rape and forced prostitution are expressly prohibited by Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and Article 3 of the European Convention...»
Does the Government have full information
This evidence testifies that the Cypriot Government has full evidence, as has the Red Cross since 1974 (confirmation to Mrs.Koukoumas from H.S. Geneva), the UN, the British, and the Council of Europe, but, unfortunately, for 48 years all governments have «amnestied the murderers for all their crimes». A guilty policy of self-abasement, «on the altar of intercommunal talks and finding an agreement with the state that murdered them», as the British High Commission recommended in October 1974!
This was also confirmed by the Minister of Labour: «Most of them are registered in the records of either the interned or other groups, or even have medical certificates from psychologists or psychiatrists who supported them immediately after the invasion or even later» («F» - 5.1.2016, Marilene Panagi).
Individually and collectively, as M. K. Antoniou wrote, all are responsible, no one except one, for the inhuman disregard of the victims. Even dare to expose even NOW (2022) Turkey to the international courts for compensation, to condemn their criminals - rapists and torturers... as they dare not demand genuine RELEASE...
Fanoula Argyrou, researcher, journalist
