Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda massacre () refers to a massacreOberling, Pierre.
The road to Bellapais: the Turkish Cypriot exodus to northern Cyprus
' (1982), Social Science Monographs, p. 185 of

Turkish Cypriots Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...

EOKA B EOKA-B or Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B (EOKA B ; ) was a Greek Cypriot paramilitary organisation formed in 1971 by General Georgios Grivas. It followed an ultra right-wing nationalistic ideology and had the ultimate goal of achievin ...

; a

Greek Cypriot Greek Cypriots (, ) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2023 census, 719,252 respondents recorded their ethnicity as Greek, forming almost 99% of the 737,196 Cypri ...

paramilitary groupPaul Sant Cassia, ''Bodies of Evidence: Burial, Memory, and the Recovery of Missing Persons in Cyprus'', Berghahn Books, 2007,
p. 237.
/ref> that took place on 14 August 1974 in the villages of

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

Santalaris Santalaris (, ) is a small village located in the Famagusta District of Cyprus, north of Famagusta. The Turkish Cypriot inhabitants of the village were killed by EOKA-B during Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda massacre. Santalaris is under the ''d ...

and Aloda. In the massacre, a total of 126 unarmed Turks were killed, with the youngest being 16 days old and the oldest 95 years old.

Background

According to the 1960 census, the inhabitants of the three villages were entirely

. The total population of Maratha and Santalaris was 207. By 1973, the total population of the villages had risen to 270, with 124 in Maratha, 100 in Santalaris and 46 in Aloda. However, in July 1974, following the first

Turkish invasion of Cyprus The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish Cy ...

, all men of fighting age were taken away as

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

to internment camps in

Famagusta Famagusta, also known by several other names, is a city located on the eastern coast of Cyprus. It is located east of the capital, Nicosia, and possesses the deepest harbour of the island. During the Middle Ages (especially under the maritime ...

and from there transferred to

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

. The Turkish Invasion of Cyprus started in response to a Greek junta-sponsored Cypriot coup d'état five days earlier, it led to the Turkish capture and occupation of the northern part of the island. On 2 July 1974,

Makarios Macarius is a Latinized form of the old Greek given name Makários (Μακάριος), meaning "happy, fortunate, blessed"; compare the Latin ''beatus'' and ''felix''. Ancient Greeks applied the epithet ''Makarios'' to the gods. In other la ...

wrote an open letter to President Gizikis complaining bluntly that 'cadres of the Greek military regime support and direct the activities of the ' EOKA-B' terrorist organisation

Massacre

On 20 July 1974, the men of the villages were arrested by EOKA-B and sent to

. Following this, according to testimonials cited by Sevgül Uludağ, EOKA-B men from the neighboring village of Peristeronopigi came, got drunk in the camp they established in the village coffeehouse, fired shots in the air, and subsequently raped many women and young girls; this continued until 14 August 1974. Upon the launch of the second invasion of the

Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces () is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for Army, land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Significant campaigns since the ...

, they decided not to leave behind any witnesses and killed the entire population of the villages present at the time. In Maratha and Santalaris, 84-89 were killed. The Turkish

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

of Maratha stated that there were 90 people in the village prior to the massacre, and only six people were left. Elderly people and children were also killed during the massacre. Only three people were able to escape from the massacre in Aloda. The inhabitants of the three villages were buried in mass graves with a

bulldozer A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large tractor equipped with a metal #Blade, blade at the front for pushing material (soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock) during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous tracks, ...

. The villagers of Maratha and Santalaris were buried in the same grave.

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

described the corpses as "so battered and decomposed that they crumbled to pieces when soldiers lifted them from the garbage with shovels". ''

Milliyet ''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey. History and profile ''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 May 1950 ...

'' reported that parts of the bodies had been chopped off and sharp tools, as well as machine guns had been used in the massacre. According to Greek Cypriot writer and researcher Tony Angastiniotis, at least one of the attackers used a mainland Greek accent, which suggested that he was a Greek officer.

Reactions

The massacre was reported by international media, including ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''.

Rauf Denktaş Rauf Raif Denktaş (27 January 1924 – 13 January 2012) was a Turkish Cypriot politician, barrister and jurist who served as the founding president of Northern Cyprus. He occupied this position as the president of the Turkish Republic of Nort ...

put off a meeting with Greek Cypriots after the mass grave was uncovered.

References

External links

Mass grave is found in Aloa, Cyprus
Footage of Associated Press from the discovery of a mass grave in Aloa {{coord, 35, 12, 40, N, 33, 48, 00, E, source:kolossus-trwiki, display=title Massacres of ethnic groups Greek war crimes Mass graves Massacres in Cyprus 1974 in Cyprus Cyprus dispute EOKA B Massacres in 1974 August 1974 in Europe Persecution of Turkish Cypriots Deaths by firearm in Cyprus 1970s murders in Cyprus

Background

Massacre

Reactions

See also

References

External links