PAPATSETSOS: |
Two days after the coup, on 17 July, I witnessed something which has perhaps never
been witnessed by any mortal before. I saw a
young Greek Cypriot buried alive. That was
when two Junta officers came to my house
and ordered me to accompany them to the
cemetery. I taught they were going to kill
me, but they said they only wanted me for
burying some dead people.
In the cemetery there were two open graves
and two bodies lying beside them. I went to
see if I could recognise them. One was dead.
But the other, a curly haired, fair-com-
plexioned, 18 year-old youth, was moving.
Startled, I turned back and shouted:'But
officer, this man is alive!'
'Shut up you dirty priest, or I will shut you
up for good', the officer retorted. Then the
youth was pushed into the open grave which
was filled with earth. I swear to God that they
buried this youth while he was still alive!
[Pointing at the cemetery, Papatsetsos said]
Here people were buried like dogs by the
Junta. There were also bodies which had
been dumped outside the cemetery. They
were not identified, and not claimed. As a
priest my conscience is troubled, but they
were holding a pistol to my head at the time.
I remember the day they first came to me.
They said 'Father, we have some dead bodies
which we want you to bury'. 'Certainly', I
replied and asked how many bodies they had.
SEVENTY-SEVEN they said. An hour later a
lorry arrived and I heard someone order:
'Dump them outside.' They were the dead
bodies; they were all put in one common
grave, without waiting for identification by
their relatives. The Junta men produced some
small crosses(seven only), wrote some names
on them and put them on the grave.
The Junta men scornfully called persons
loyal to Makarios 'Muskos supporters', and
wanted to bury them 'like dogs', in a sheep fold outside the cemetery. And that is what
they did in the end. They dug two graves
with excavators-one inside and the other outside the cemetery. They buried their own dead
(27) inside the cemetery and others(5) outside.
|