Presidential Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Photis Photiou, on Thursday expressed the State’s appreciation, support but also apology to the families of the victims of the bombing by the Turkish Air Force of the Athalassa hospital in 1974 for taking so long to exhume the remains, during a ceremony for the unveiling of a monument in the memory of 33 people, who were killed on the site at the time.
Answers to these families could and should have been given many years ago, he said, adding that, the monument was erected “in memory of our compatriots, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, who lost their lives on July 20, 1974”.
The monument, with the names of 33 victims, aged between 22 and 80, who lost their lives during the bombings, including three Turkish Cypriots, has been erected on the site where in 1974 the patient wards and other buildings of the Athalassa hospital were housed.
“I want to emphasise today that for us the pain of mothers’ and relatives’ is the same, regardless of whether they are Greek Cypriots or Turkish Cypriots”, he said, adding that, there was no room for divisions in the state’s humanitarian policy.
He noted that the site was bombed by the Turkish Air Force on July 20, 1974, resulting in the destruction of most of the wards and the death and injury of dozens of patients and nursing staff. The bodies of a soldier and a male nurse, were identified and given to their families for burial on the same day, he said, but that, due to the continuous bombing of the area, the bodies of the rest were collected and buried in the craters created by the bombs, by four male nurses.
He added that there was no possibility of delivering the bodies to the families, nor was it possible for the relatives to be present during the makeshift burials that took place.
Photiou said that, as part of the Republic of Cyprus’ programme of excavations and identification of remains, his office carried out an exploratory excavation in 2017 at the site where the monument is located today, “as a result of which the exact location of the burial site and the existence of remains were identified” while, based on the scientific findings, the Council of Ministers approved in September 2017, excavations to locate the remains.
Based on the investigations, information was obtained about the existence of a mass burial site in the area the monument is located, while further investigation revealed four more burial sites in the wider area, he said.
Photiou said that, in recent years, they have intensified efforts while they are taking initiatives and actions to carry out exhumations that have been pending for many years in the areas under the control of the Republic of Cyprus. The goal, he said, is for the state to provide convincing and scientific answers so that the affected families can heal their wounds and close a painful chapter.
The new Nicosia general hospital was built around this area, with Director of Mental Health Services, Anna Paradisiotou, noting in her speech, that staff who had witnessed the bombings and burials made sure to plant trees where the patients were buried to mark the mass grave, and to repeatedly remind the authorities of its existence, especially during the period when the new Nicosia hospital was being built.
Paradisiotou said, that, the State, after a delay of almost half a century, is restoring the memory of the 33 people, perhaps even more, who died during the bombing of the Athalassa hospital, during the first phase of the Turkish invasion of 1974. Among the victims, she added, were Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot patients, staff and citizens.
She said that, in 1974, while hospital officials believed the infirmary was safe from bombing or other acts of war because of the international protection afforded to hospital facilities during wartime, “on the very first day of the invasion, however, it was bombarded mercilessly.”
She added that, Photiou’s initiative, to bring this issue to the attention of the wider society as well as the state six years ago “was of catalytic importance” on many levels, noting that, that the exhumation and identification of the remains of one of the victims, a Turkish Cypriot, was made possible. His remains were given to his relatives to be buried with dignity and respect based on their religious beliefs, she said. “The memory of so many innocent victims forgotten by society and the State was also restored,” she added.
Paradisiotou also referred to the role and contribution of mental health professionals at the time, noting that the psychiatrists and nursing staff, together with other mental health professionals, had to manage and care for the approximately 770 remaining patients, “corresponding to a population of a Cypriot village”, who were highly disturbed and disoriented or even injured by the bombing, as were all the logistical problems that had arisen.
Source: Cyprus News Agency