United for Cyprus

Forging of History

 

Towns, villages and toponymies in Cyprus take their name from mythical persons and events from the depths of history. Kyrenia, Lapithos, Salamina, Paphos, Soli, Amathus and countless other sites on the island have been founded or took their name from heroes of the Trojan War or from persons of the ancient Hellenic world, like Praxandros, Teucer, Agapinor, Kipheas, Solon, Nomothetes and many others. In many cases there are names of saints or names connected with traditions, myths, legends and various events of life on the island. Through the ages, for thousands of years, these names have survived. Foreign conquerors respected tradition and did not engage in the change of names. Among the conquerors, the Ottoman state, during the 3 centuries of its domination over Cyprus did not change the situation. Since 1974, the Turkish conquerors introduced a new ‘order’. All settlements were given new Turkish names, while the old ones were wiped off the face of the map. All road-signs have been replaced by new ones with purely Turkish toponymies.

 

One of the first moves in the campaign to change the cultural character of northern illegally Occupied Cyprus involved giving new names to localities, towns and villages and the streets and squares therein and to adorn the newly named squares in settlements of any size with busts of Kemal Ataturk. Agios Georgios the village where the Turkish army landed, became 'Karaoglanoglu', from the first officer killed in that engagement. 'Sinda' became 'Inonu' in honour of the Turkish Prime Minister. And once again reverting to their central Asian origins, the renaming of  'Peristeronari'  to 'Cengiskoy' (the village of Genghis Khan).

 

In the occupied area there were well over 500 Christian churches and cemeteries that have been desecrated by the Turks and turned into stables, toilets, mosques, coffee shops and night clubs.

 

Not a single undesecrated cemetery was found in former Greek villages. The places of rest of the departed became targets of the most intense destructive mania. According to this and other testimonies, the crosses on graves were cut away and broken to pieces. Tombstones were also overturned and crushed to pieces, while the invaders violated the graves, spurred on by the superstition that the Greeks have valuables buried with them. Some other villages, such as Marathovouno and Pyrga, were sealed by the Army and access to the church itself was not possible.