Wednesday, August 21, 2013

A story from Akanthou, Lefkonico, Dali...

A story from Akanthou, Lefkonico, Dali...
 
Sevgul Uludag
 
 
00 357 99 966518
00 90 542 853 8436
 
There had been only 12 Turkish Cypriot families in Akanthou and one of those families was the family of Sami who had been a wealthy man, with a house with two khemeris (arches), with land, fields and animals. Sami had not gone to school since there had been no Turkish Cypriot school in Akanthou – when he grew up a little, his father Hassan would send him to a `galliga` in order to learn the skills of a blacksmith... When he had become a blacksmith himself, he would start going round the villages. The father of Dr. Kuchuk, Mehmet, would be his best friend and business partner. They would go together in the villages of Karpasia and Messaoria in order to buy and sell animals... They were `cambazis`...
One day, Sami would travel to Lapithos and as he was there, he would see a young girl on a horse, passing with her `seyis` (horse keeper). Sami would like this girl and would find out whose daughter she had been. This had been the daughter of `Kara Kadi`, the last Kadi (governor) of Kyrenia, Huseyin. Back in Akanthou, Sami would tell his father Hassan that he wanted to marry this girl and his father would get on his horse and travel to Lapithos in order to see Kara Kadi... Hassan would find him and tell him the reason why he was there. Kara Kadi would ask for a day to think about it...  Although he had sons, he had only one daughter and his wife having died, he would spoil his daughter...But next day, the Kara Kadi would give his consent to this marriage so Sami and the daughter of Kara Kadi, Faika would get married in a few months. Faika would come as a bride with all her dowry to Akanthou and would settle in the house with two khmeris (two arches). She would have a lot of women helping her in the house: Some milking the animals, some making halloumi, some cleaning and washing, some cooking, some working in the fields. Nine months later she would give birth to a baby girl and name her after her mother Emine who had died, the wife of Kara Kadi. Then would come Lutfiye, Hassan, Ayshe and Pembe. Faika would pray to have one more son in order to name him after her father, the Kara Kadi and finally Huseyin would be born.  She would have one more son, Saffet...
Born in 1914, Huseyin Niyazi would attend the Greek Cypriot primary school since there had been no Turkish Cypriot school in the village. He had been going every day to the school before the age of five, sitting and observing what the teacher was saying. So at the age of five, he would be reading and writing Greek, better than Greek Cypriot kids! At the primary school, he would be the first in his class and his teacher would tell the Greek Cypriot kids, `Shame on you! A Turkish Cypriot is at the top of your class! You should feel shame and study more!`
One day the leader of the Evkaf, Irfan Bey would visit Akanthou. All the Turkish Cypriot villagers would gather in the coffeeshop. The villagers would complain that there had been no mosque in their village so Irfan Bey would point out an empty plot in the centre of the village and say `You can build the mosque here` and then he would turn to Sami and say, `Why don't you build the cami? And afterwards whatever expenses you have had, come and find me, we will cover it as Evkaf...`
Sami would give some of his fields and borrow some money in order to build the mosque but this would not be enough. `Irfan Bey would pay it back anyway` he would say and borrow some more... When the cami would be finished, he would go to Nicosia to the Evkaf, in order to find Irfan Bey... They would tell him `But he died two weeks ago!` and so since there had been no written agreement, Sami would not be able to get back the money promised to him by the Evkaf. He would lose some of his land and finally would sell everything and go to Lefkonico to buy a house and live there...Their house would be next to the mammou's (midwife) house... The mammou Aredi had two daughters and no sons and she would really love Huseyin Niyazi, feeding him when he came from school or giving him some pocket money... She would pray to have a son like Huseyin and finally she would give birth to a son... Aredi would even prepare some dowry for Huseyin Niyazi and his daughters would play with Lutfiye, Ayshe and Pembe... Aredi would prepare tablecloths and curtains, as well as sheets and would give these to Huseyin Niyazi when he was going to get married...
Meanwhile Sami's son, Huseyin Niyazi would go to enrol in the Greek Cypriot gymnasium and again he would be very successful... Then he would continue to study at a Turkish Cypriot school in Knodhara and finish the three year school in two years! Then his parents would send him to become a worker in the roadworks. But his Greek Cypriot headmaster would not like that. `You are very bright... You must continue to study` he would say and on a Sunday, after church, at the kafenion, he would put his hat on the table and say `We have a very bright youngster in our village. He finished the school with honors. Now he is working as a worker. If we collect some money, we can send Huseyin Niyazi to the Agricultural School in Nicosia...` So all the Greek Cypriots of the village would donate to the `fund` that the headmaster had created and would gather 5 Pounds, big money in those times! The headmaster would also write a letter to the headmaster of the Agricultural School and send Huseyin Niyazi there. So off he would go to study in Nicosia and when he would graduate, they would send him to build a forest in Dali.
Huseyin Niyazi would build such a forest that people would be amazed because from whichever angle you would take, the trees would always be in a line... An inspector from London would come and visit the forest in Dali, together with the headmaster of the Agricultural School and he would say, `This boy is barely 18-19 and he has built such a forest! Why didn't you send him to continue his studies in London? He is very bright!`
During his stay in Dali, Huseyin Niyazi would fall ill with malaria... After some time, his sister Pembe would come to Dali to look after him but she too would fall ill with malaria... Their brother Hassan, a zaptiye (policeman) would come to Dali on his horse, finding them terribly sick...
`To hell with their forests and gardens! I almost lost you!  You have lost so much weight, you have become so thin! No way, you will not continue with this job` he would tell his brother Huseyin Niyazi. `I will make you a policeman!`
So he would take Huseyin Niyazi and their sister Pembe away from Dali...
After recovering from malaria, Huseyin Niyazi would become a policeman, just as his brother Hassan had promised... This must have been early or mid 1930s... Later on, he would stop from being a police and start working in the Nicosia Municipality... At the end of the 50s and beginning of the 1960s, Huseyin Niyazi would be persecuted by the Turkish Cypriot authorities for refusing to join the underground paramilitary organization TMT and for being good friends with Greek Cypriots. He would die of a heart attack in 1966, sick, penniless and heartbroken...
Huseyin Niyazi is my father and one day, I ask one of my friends from Dali to find out where this garden or forest might be in Dali that my father had created. After some time he tells me that there is only one forest in Dali and all the trees are eucalyptus trees there... When I tell him that my father and his sister both had become very sick with malaria, he says `This makes sense... Because in those times, the British were having eucalyptus trees planted next to the rivers in order to dry up marshlands and to prevent malaria...` He tells me that the only forest in Dali is close to his house...
`If this is the place that my father created` I tell him, `I would like to visit the mayor of Dali and ask to put on one of the trees a small plaque with the name of my father, saying he built this forest...`
`Or we can try to build a park there` he says...
When I tell my son that perhaps we might have discovered the forest that his grandfather Huseyin Niyazi has built, he feels very happy... My father died 46 years ago but perhaps what he has built in Dali has remained... I will go and visit this forest and I will also take my son there... He has never had a chance to see his grandfather but perhaps now, he can see something that his grandfather had created and feel happy with that...
 
7.1.2012
 
Photo: Huseyin Niyazi Uludag
 
(*) Article published in the POLITIS newspaper in January 2012.
 

No comments: