YIALOUSA,
THROUGH THE YEARS.
YIALOUSA,
THROUGH THE YEARS.
From N. G. O.
Student of A3 class ,Stavros Gymasium, Lefkosia.
1) Yialousa through the years
(the first years, the last years)
3) The churches
( and the clergy)
6) Professions and Business in Yialousa
7) The last days of Yialousa
(the missing persons)
8) Απόσπασμα μαρτυρίας αιχμαλώτου
9) Photos
(Map of Cyprus,
churches and other places in Yialousa)
The village of Yialousa can be found in the county of Famagusta in the
middle of the region of Karpasia. The main road to Apostolos Andreas monastery
passes through the village. It has been build on the side of a hill over
looking the sea approximately 3 miles from the seaside.
The Cypriot name for the sea is “yialos” and this word is part
the village name. In other words “The village next to the sea”. There
are documents indicating that the village has been build during the Byzantium
ages and another proof is the church of Archangelos Michael.
The first years
East of the village is a place called “Masherconas”. This is the place
where the ancient Greeks called “achaioi” build their town just before
the Troican war. Today someone can see the ruins of that town. Later on
due to the invasion of arabs and other the habitants were forced to build
a new village. Another proof for the ancient origin of Yialousa is the
many classical names of the local people.
Samples of these names are “Eleni, Melpomeni, Menelaos, Persefoni,
Kiveli,Evagoras, Lisimahi, Electra etc.
The last years
In 1850 the population estimated to be about 500 people. In 1911
was increased to 2520. At some stage when a registration task was perform
for the whole of Cyprus , it showed that the total number was 2541 out
of which 2540 Greek Cypriots and 1 (one) Turkish Cypriot.
Between the years 1911 and 1974 there was no drastic change in the
population because a lot of people had to migrate to other countries in
order to have better life due to shortage of work, money, food. Mainly
they went to countries such as United Kingdom, United States, Australia
and South Africa.
Saint Archangelos Michael is the protector saint of the village and
is said that in a number of cases saved the people and the church especially
from the Turks in the years 1571. The new road to Rizorkarpaso and the
monasteri of Saint Andreas open in 1888 and replaced the old road the village
of Galenoporni. Before the 1974 war in the village the following services
operated
a) Post office service (established in 1886)
b) Private bank “Yialousa Savings Bank” (established in 1925)
c) Forestry department
d) Meteorological department
e) Hospital
f) Two primary schools
g) Secondary school
h) Cinema called “Evagoras”
i) Tabaco factory
The primary schools started operate again in 1975 after the 1974 invasion
by the Turkey but the turkish army kicked out all the habitants in the
next one and half years(1977) . Since then everything remains closed.
In general fairs were part of the life for the local people. The two
main fairs were
a) Saint Archangelos Michael
b) Saint Marinas
The biggest and most popular was Saint Archangelos Michael performed
on the 6th of September. There was plenty of space around the church so
all the retailers were able to take part and sale or advertise their goods.
The following churches can be found in and around the village.
a) Saint Archangelos Michael
b) Saint Marinas
c) Saint Mary
d) Saint Georgios
e) Saint Solomoni
f) Saint Therisos
The priests operating the churches since 1974 were
a) Iconomos Nicolaos Loizides
b) Papaloizos Loizides
c) Papayiannis Iconomou
d) Papavriles
e) Papanicolas Tsirtos
f) Papaelias Christakis
Until the year 1930 the school buildings were two rooms next to the
saint Archangelos Michael church. In 1938 the first school building has
been built. It was a nice and big building with large gardens around it.
It was named “Kakoullion” after the name of a woman who sponsored the building
and her name was Kakoulla.
In 1969 in the area of Glykopotami the second primary school was built.
The headmasters of the two schools during the 1974 invasion were Mr Petros
Mixides and Mr Andreas Poyiatzis.
The nearest secondary school was in the town of Famagusta. The
first thoughts of building a secondary school in Yialousa were made by
Mr Pavlo Xiouta in conjuction with the village board. Building the school
became then the wish of habitant and therefore everybody helped.
The building was opened by the late Archibishop Makarios III in 1958. The
first headmaster was Mr Pavlos Xioutas.
During the 25 year of it’s life the school served thousands of students
from Yialousa and the near by villages. Other headmasters served the school
and their origin was Yialousa are: Mr Nicos Pallari, Lois Demetriou and
Mr Christodoulos Kaoutzanis.
The plants around the village were rich and most of the year green due to the climate conditions. In 1916 the association of the tabacco farmers together with the village board managed to build a factory to processes the tabacco plants.
Generally most of the habitants were farmers. There were also a number of other people working as bakers (4 people), barbers (7 people), Butchers (12), carpenters(15), car mechanics(10), bus, lorry drivers and taxi drivers (50), dentists (2), general practician doctors (5), dry cleanest (4), primary school teachers (10), secondary school teachers (15), fishermen (15), grocery men (20), pharmacies (4), printers (1), dress and costume makers (12), restaurant owners (15) and tabacco merchants (6).
Without any doubt Yialousa after the year of 1970 became a kind of a
commercial centre in the region of Karpasia. The number of government offices
operating & serving people, the hospitality of the habitants, the sixth
form high level school, the statue of Stavros Stylianides who was killed
by the British during the 1955 querilla war were giving a nice and different
view to the village.
The news about the invasion came like a thunderstorm. The people of
Yialousa were not able to accept that the Turkish invaded Cyprus.
All men that were able to hold a gun and fight were enrolled in the
army camp of Acrades.
During the second phase of the invasion on the 14/8/1974 and the occupation
of Famagusta, the area of Karpasia was cut off. Roughly 22000 people were
enclave. On the 17th of August 1974 a number of military tanks and turkish
soldiers arrived in Yialousa. Some of them passed through and went to the
village of Rizokarpasso.
On Monday, the 19th of August the turkish soldiers were running through
the streets of the village shouting and trying to fear the people. Later
on the same day, more soldiers came together with a number of Turkish Cypriots
soldiers. At some stage a Turkish Cypriot soldier who was speaking Greek
started calling a number of names written on a list. On that day they arrested
9 people and at a later date they arrested another four. Until today all
of them are still missing.
The missing persons of Yialousa are :
1) Takis Hadjigeorgiou – Judge
2) Stelios Neophytou Savvides – emigrant form England
3) Panayiotis Kemmekis – student
4) Pavlos Evagora hadjidimitri – music teacher
5) Savvas Kalli hadjipanteli – employee of a saving bank
6) Odysseas Elia – policeman
7) Yiannakis Savva Liasi – soldier reservist
8) Michalis Paraschou - emigrant form England
9) Christos Cosma – policeman
10) Pieris Adamou – employee of E.A.C
11) Christodoulos Kaoutzanis – teacher
12) Koumis Karagiorgis – farmer
13) Yiannakis Charalampoudes – former at SOK factory
On the 24th of August 1974 the tyrkish army arrested another 126 people,
among them were my dad G.O. and my grandfather N.O.
For two nights, they were held at Acrades army camp and after that
they were transfer through the mountain of Pentadactylos and the town of
Kerynia to the turkish prison in the occupied Nicosia.
During the following 3 years all habitants were rout out. In 1977 the
village of Yialousa was depopulated. Twenty five years later Yialousa still
waits for the people to return back.
8) Extract from a prisoners document.
Sunday, 24th of August 1974. Five days after the arrest of 13 local
people from a team of Turkish Cypriot soldiers and Turkish soldiers from
Turkey. Until today they are missing. One of them is my uncle S.H, brother
of my mother.
An ordinary summer day but without any comparison with the previous
days. Every body was scared waiting for the Turkish army to invate the
village. Any thoughts of leaving the village were lost since everybody
new that the town of Famagusta was occupied by the Turkish army and the
main road was closed. The last groups of Greek Cypriot soldiers left the
area on the 16th and 17th of August. Two families managed to leave the
village with great difficulty. The rest of the people had no choice but
to remain in the village.
On the 24th of August 1974 following an order from the Turkish army
commander all the habitants gather in the churchyard. A board of Turkish
commanders ordered the women, girls, boys and the older people to separate
from the rest and they were let free to go home. The rest of the men passed
through the board of commanders and they selected 110 prisoners.
Among them were my father and myself. Using seven busses they took us to
the army camp called “Akrades” just outsude the village of Saint Andronicos.
There we were put in shelters and forced to sit down. Those who had moustache
were ordered to weed it out. Luckily for them, it happened to have on me
a nail clipper so they used it to cut their moustache. One of them was
my father.
We were held for two days without food and water. Continuously they
were questioning all of us especially those they believed that had involvement
in the coup to overthrown Makarios .
A Turkish cypriot soldier was hitting and kicking everybody. At some
stage he ordered a teacher sitting next to me to open his legs so that
he can kick him. Unlucky for me, he missed and he kicked my feet. One of
my sandal was broken and therefore for the rest of my capture I was without
shoes.
We were taken in teams to the toilet. Actually 3 or 4 people every
time. Some soldiers were accompanied us. It was very difficult to escape.
On the 26th of August 1974 they brought 120 new prisoners from the
village of Rizokarpaso and Ayia Triada. They put them in shelters next
to the one we were kept. The next three days were horrible. Most of the
prisoners were interrogated, including myself. The soldiers were kicking
and hitting with their guns the prisoners. We had no food for three days
and things were getting worse. Personally, I was thinking that soon they
free us.
Of course I wrong was because on the 27th of August they embarked us
on several buses and we headed towards the town of Famagusta. Basically
we had no idea where we were taken. Armed soldiers were guarding the busses.
Therefore any thoughts of escaping was out of question.
At some point the busses turned right heading towards the mountain
of Pentadaktylos and more specifically towards the castle Kantara. Suddenly
we saw a United Nations helicopter closing us. The helicopter landed next
to the busses and the UN officers started talking with the Turkish officers.
After 2 or 3 hours the busses started to move again. On the way we
were able to see the burned forests and the abandoned village of Davlos.
We passes through the town of Kyrenia and headed towards Nicosia.
Around 7 o’clock in the night we reached the outskirts of Nicosia.
Of course in the occupied area.
Suddenly a mass of Turkish cypriots civilians children, men, women
and older people started shouting and hitting the busses with wooden bats.
Some of them were saying “Kill them, kill them”. It was the first time
that I felt scared.
In a while we reached the garage of Pavlides. This was the place where
prisoners were searched and registered. The whole process ended around
midnight. Being tired from the journey and the whole process we started
looking for a place in that building to have a rest. The prisoners were
on top of each other. The toilets were sordidly.
My main concern was not to loose my father and the rest of the people
from my village.
This was the fourth day in the prison without food……….
Αιγιαλούσα
Αιγιαλούσα που με κάλλη είσαι πλουτισμένη
μας δίνεις καρπούς σαν μέλι.
Ανάμεσα στις δυο θάλασσες είσαι βαρμένη
και κει πάντα ριζωμένη.
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Αιγιαλούσα έχεις μεγάλο ριζικό
και λαμπρό πολιτισμό.
Τους δοξασμένους Αχαιούς έχεις πλαστουργούς
και Ελληνες δημιουργούς.
--------------------------------------
Αιγιαλούσα είσαι της Καρπασίας ψυχομάνα
και της Κύπρου παραμάνα.
Τώρα πηγαίνεις τους Τούρκους βαρκάδα
που σε’χουν αράδα αράδα.
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Αιγιαλούσα δεν θα σε ξεχάσω
και μακριά σου δεν θα ησυχάσω.
Αιγιαλούσα θα προσμένω
του γυρισμού την μέρα θα αναμένω.
Ν. Γ. Ο.
