Restoration of cemeteries in Cyprus restores trust between communities

• The restoration of cemeteries in Cyprus is supported by the UN and the EU.
• Greek and Turkish Cypriots are collaborating to restore trust.
• The project encompasses 15 cemeteries from both sides of the divide.

TOXNI, Cyprus — On both sides of the ethnically divided Cyprus there are places that have not been visited since the war. In the southern part, controlled by Turkish Cypriots, broken crosses are scattered in Greek Cypriot cemeteries. In the north, in Turkish Cypriot cemeteries, Muslim gravestones lie under the rubble. Until 2003, neither side could cross the buffer zone under UN control to pay respects to their loved ones.

For nearly five decades since the Turkish invasion, vandalism and the ravages of time have transformed hundreds of cemeteries in Cyprus into witnesses of geographic and political division. However, despite the chances of bi-communal negotiations regarding the completion of the division seeming minimal, Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots united to restore trust and promote peace, one grave at a time.

The restoration is ongoing in 15 civil cemeteries from both sides known as the Green Line, which separates the island. Plans are underway to expand the project with a budget of nearly 700,000 euros ($815,000) for additional cemeteries.

“Maintaining and restoring cemeteries is one of the biggest symbolic and morally significant actions for the places that aspire to reconciliation,” said Sotos Ktoris, a member of the committee from both communities that oversees the work.

Consequences of the war

The Turkish invasion in 1974, sanctioned by a coup, supported by Athens, resulted in nearly 160,000 Greek Cypriots fleeing from their villages in the south, where a recognized government is located. About 45,000 Turkish Cypriots moved to the north, where ten years later they proclaimed independence. To this day, only Turkey recognizes the sovereignty of northern Cyprus.

Among those displaced were the guardians of places of worship and cemeteries, both of Orthodox and Muslim faith. Churches in the north were destroyed and vandalized. Mosques in the south were also neglected.

Within the framework of UN resolutions aimed at achieving a peaceful settlement, both sides found ways to resolve past grievances, including the restoration of churches, mosques, and other monuments by the committee.

Earlier this year, the president of the Greek Cypriots Nikos Christodoulides and the leader of the Turkish Cypriots Ersin Tatar expanded the committee's work on the restoration of cemeteries with the support of the European Union and the UN. The work began in April.

Honoring the dead

Greek Cypriots last month restored a 100-year-old stone wall in one of the Muslim cemeteries in Toxni, a village located in the mountainous region of southern suburbia. Turkish Cypriots previously outnumbered Greek Cypriots here more than three times before they were displaced in the months following the completion of the Turkish invasion.

Many Turkish Cypriots from the north now return to the village to restore ties with the past, find ancestral homes, and honor their ancestors, reported the leader of the Greek Cypriots of Toxni, Harula Efstratiou.

“Just as we demand to be remembered, our dead, our religion and so on, I believe we should also remember them,” said Efstratiou.

In the cemetery of Toxni, a small clump of red flowers appeared from the perennial roots of a man who was 65 years old, recently planted by his descendants.

Restoration of crosses

In the village of Palaitikrito, which Turkish Cypriots relocated to Balikesir, broken crosses in the Greek Cypriot cemetery were once again placed at the moment of their full restoration. Practically nothing has remained unscathed. Turkish Cypriot leader Recep Guler stated that restoring the external walls and the gate was not easy.

Murad Erzen, the leader of the Turkish Cypriots in the village, expressed the thought that the cemetery is part of the shared cultural heritage. “When I saw this place, I was very surprised, asking myself why it had become like this,” said Erzen.

When Erzen became the leader of the community, she decided to do something about this situation. Sotiroulla Mina Iniati, the leader of the Greek Cypriots of Palaitikrito, noted that the restoration of the crosses will be covered by relatives or the municipal council. Greek Cypriots continue to elect their own community leader to reaffirm their right to the land they lost and preserve their memory.

“For us, this is a sacred place,” said Iniati. “We believe that in this way the souls of our dead, who have remained unburied for 51 years, will find peace.”

Unresolved issues

The last major attempt to achieve a peace agreement in Cyprus failed in 2017. Today, Turkish Cypriots and Turkey are distancing themselves from the UN framework, supported for the unification of Cyprus into a federation. They are insisting on agreements about two states, which Greek Cypriots reject, considering that the division harms the island's influence on the Turkish Cypriots with their military technology and troops, which remain there forever.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met twice with Christodoulides and Tatar this year and, as expected, will meet with them again next month to support peace negotiations on the island.

Tags: Europe/Politics