The story that I want to tell is a real story which happened between 1963-1974. I talked with my father about this story because he is the owner of the story. Here are his words:
The date was 22 December 1963 and, as it was repeated every day, most people of Tepebasi village went to Lefkosa. Some of us went to our schools and some to work. First everything was fine, until we learned that there would be an attack by Greek people on our village, and we wanted to turn back to our village and defend our families and our village. Everything happened very fast. Unfortunately, those who couldn't reach the buses to turn back got lost or died.
So, as we turned back to our village we understood that the Greeks were getting ready for an attack. This would happen sooner or later. A Turkish policeman was warned and sent home. Then a group of Greek policemen were patrolling in the Turkish part of the village, making people nervous. These events and gossip between the two communities in the village put pressure on the Turkish people. This pressure made the people of our village get prepared to protect themselves from their enemies. After one month we understood that this would be easy, and we decided to migrate to another village called Hisark”y to have better possibilities for defending ourselves. The date was 21 January 1964. We had a hard time getting used to this village. People of this village were very friendly and helpful. We stayed there for six months, though it was a small village for so many people. Armies of both villages defended their people.
After six months we mujahits (freedom fighters) of the Tepebasi village moved to Lefkosa to strengthen the defenses of Lefkosa. Then we lived there until 1974, which this year was the turning point for us Turkish Cypriots. In 1974 there was a big war between two parts in the island, where lots of people died. After the war had ended some of these (our village's) people turned back to our village and some of us did not. These two dates "1963 and 1974" are very important for the history of our defence.
DEMOGRPAHICS:
Occupation or life's work: Agricultural Engineering.
Age: 50.
Sex: Male.
Nationality: Turkish Cypriot.
Where now lives: Nicosia.
Where lived during the events described during the interview:
Migrating from place to place. His village (Tebasi) is near
Kyrenia.
What was the occupation (or life's work) of the main income
earner in the household when growing up: Farmer.