Topic: Memories from a time when Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots lived in peace before 1963.

Mrs. Eleni's Story

Mrs. Eleni is an eighty-nine year old woman who lives in a small neighborhood in Ipsonas (Limassol).  As we entered the house, very old in age, we first noticed the old photographs hanging on the walls, the old furniture and some very old objects.  We were firstly introduced to her, talked a bit about ourselves and the reason we were there meeting her.  She was very hospitable and well-intentioned to help us.  She also seemed like having a lot of nice things to talk about and relevant to our topic. 

We began our interview by asking her about some general information about her life and she responded that she moved to Anarita (Paphos), which was a mixed village, in 1942 when she was about fourteen years old with her family.  As she told us, her parents and sister had to work for their living but because she was quite young she had to stay at home and do all the house works.  It was really difficult for her as she did not know how to deal with them; she did not how to cook, bake bread etc.  To that point she introduced us her Turkish-Cypriot neighbor, Hairie, who was the person who taught her how to cook and how to clean the house and generally she was the one who was helping her when she was having difficulties.

Hairie was a married woman who unfortunately could not have any babies.  She had two sisters, Fatma and Katrie who were also married with children.  However, Mrs. Eleni told us that Hairie was the closest one to her and that she loved her more than her sister; with Hairie never had an argument and as long as they were close to each other lived in peace. Apart from all this general information she gave us, we then asked her to be more specific and call to mind some specific strong events she had with Hairie. 

The first thing she told us was that Hairie was present in all her three accouchements and she was taking care of her during her pregnancy and after it.  Hairie was standing next to her as a mother, a friend and a sister and never cross their minds that they were different regarding their religion.  Since we have mentioned the notion of religion, Mrs. Eleni described an event which impressed us.  Hairie was daily going to the church of the village and she was lighting the vigil candle because as she confessed to Mrs. Eleni she was having visions of Saint Marina who was appearing in front of her tall and thin with a white rope.  Surprisingly Mrs. Eleni confessed to us that she, as a deeply faithful, Christian Orthodox, never had such a vision and Hairie who believed in another religion (she was Muslim), was visioning her daily. 

Concerning the good relationship that Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots had, it is vital to mention the wedding ceremonies.  Mrs. Eleni mentioned that Greek-Cypriots were inviting Turkish-Cypriots to their wedding ceremonies and vice versa.  Despite their religious differences they were equally celebrating at each others ceremonies and what made us a great impression was that they were respecting each other’s religious traditions (Muslims do not eat pork).  Even more, when the Greek-Cypriots were celebrating Easter and respectively Turkish-Cypriots were celebrating Bairami, they were asking from each other to look after their flocks of sheep.  In other words as Mrs. Eleni told us they were exchanging workmen and they were helping each other.  They also were exchanging products without being paid for them and to be more specific Vaspish, who was Mrs. Eleni’s neighbor and he had beehives, he was usually offering her honey-pies. 
   
As about the men of the village, they were meeting at the coffee shop, discussing peacefully, working together and they were very good friends.  Remembering a case, Mrs. Eleni said that Hairie was cooking and offering food to all the men that were in the coffee shop in order to show the hospitality of her and her husband’s.  Mrs. Eleni added that vital friendships came up through that period considering also that of their children who were playing and behaving as equal children of different religions.    

Finally, she narrated a story that she considered to be for her a lesson for life.  She told us that during the 1954 [?], the Turks (Giouroukides) came to her village to move the Turkish-Cypriots to another village called Mandria. Mrs. Eleni got very upset and terrified for her family’s safety and because her husband was not at home, she felt that she should go next door at Hairie’s house. There, Hairie’s husband Iseyinis calmed her down and advised her to go back home and promised her that nothing would happen to them as far as he was there. Mrs. Eleni considered this event to be very important to her because she felt them as part of their family and even today she does not want to think what would happen if Hairie and Iseyinis were not her neighbors.   

DEMOGRAPHICS
Occupation: Housewife
Age: 81 years
Sex: Female
Ethnicity: Cypriot
Nationality: Cypriot
Where now lives: Limassol (Ipsonas)
Where lived during the events described during the interview: Anarita / Paphos
Family Occupation: Father – shoemaker

Interview conducted Fall 2010 by Antonia and Andria, University of Cyprus Department of English Studies


For the previous page: "Turkish Neighbors."