Maria Spassova

Special grreporter.info correspondent in Nicosia

Early morning, in front of the “Macedonitza” graveyard, the guards of honor are in order in front of the tomb awaiting the governmental delegation. The army orchestra is ready to perform the national anthems. The place is somehow striking respect. Not only because it is a tomb but because it is a military graveyard. It is not by accident that the visit of this place in included in Kostas Karamanlis’ schedule.

This is the place, where the military airplane Nord Atlas crashed, which together with two more airplanes departed from Crete, in order to help the Cyprian army to fight the Turkish invasion. All three military planes flew without any lights on, in order not to be noticed by the Turks. Cyprian soldiers believed the planes were Turkish and took one of them down – Nord Atlas, which crashed in “Macedonitza” graveyard near Nicosia. The night was July 22^nd 1974.

All Greek soldiers but one, on board died. Since then, this place was transformed into a military tomb. 506 soldiers, who died for Cyprus’ freedom, were buried there. Most of them were Greek Cypriots but there are also Turkish Cypriots and some British citizens.

In front of the tomb, a veteran from the liberation war of Cyprus 1955-1959 is waiting for Kostas Karamanlis with the Greek flag and a bunch of basil. He gave me some basil too and told me that he has three British bullets in his chest. But he survived and every year since then, on July 22nd, he comes to the tomb to leave a bunch of basil on his friends graves. Not, he is here to greet Karamanlis.

The official delegation arrived. The etiquette is flawless – military honors, anthems, laying the wreath, the short speech reminding the history, the minute of silence… I put down the basil on one of the graves and I tried to read the name. Pointless. The time, the wind and the sun have almost destroyed the writing.

Kostas Karamanlis’ next stop is at another sad place – the prisoners’ graves in the central prison in the Cyprian capital. A place, which is directly connected with Cyprus’ fight for independence against the British Empire. Those are the graves of the freedom fighters, who were hanged by British soldiers. They were literarily buried – the governor of the island did not allow any funerals, because he was afraid that their funerals might turn into protest processions against the regime. No family member and not even other Greeks could be present at the burial.

The prisoners’ graves are right between the cells of the ones sentenced to death and the gallows, which still remains in its old place. If you want, you can stretch your hand and touch the rope, which took the lives of tens of young men. Even the beige hood is kept, which was put on their heads before the executions. The hanged were not many – about ten boys, just graduated from high school, who did not want to serve in the army of Her Majesty.

Today, except for the official delegation in the central Nicosia prison, there are also many families with children – grandchildren, and great grandchildren of the freedom fighters.

A young woman, with tears in her eyes, showed me the grave of her father. From the faded black and white photo, a 19 year old boy is looking at me. For some reason it is hard perceive this boy as the father of the woman standing next to me. “People remember those heroes so rarely,” says the woman with disappointment. 50 years is a long time – not for the family, it will never forget but for society.

Another place, which is directly connected with preserving the Cyprian national self-consciousness, is the church. “The church in Cyprus has always been the symbol of order, discipline and the system of state,” says our companion Maria. This is why the visit of the Greek governmental delegation in the Cyprian Archbishopric is not a surprise. In the yard of the grandiose building, there is a monument of Archbishop Makarios – the legendary political and spiritual leader who was also chosen for the first President of the Republic of Cyprus. Here, he is all in white. The same monument of Archbishop Makarios is standing in front of the presidential palace in Nicosia, but there, it is made out of black marble.

The Archbishop of Cyprus Chrisostomos personally greeted Kostas Karamanlis and his wife Natasha in the Archbishopric yard, after which he invited them into his office. Accompanying them is also the Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni. The officials stay and they journalists need to leave. The time is 01:00pm and from the other side of the city you can hear the voice of the imam. Religion diversity is part of the charm of this city.