On 17 June 2015 I visited Polis Chrysochous again. I interviewed Father Andreas, an 88-year-old priest who welcomed us into his home with so much warmth. He was the first in his family to become a priest and was ordained as a Deacon by Archbishop Makarios III. Father Andreas had not finished high school, but once he had become a […]
On 13 June 2015 I visited the village of Kontea / Türkmenköy in the north of Cyprus. I had found out from a friend that a special concert was taking place and I could not resist – I had to go! The concert organized at the grassroots level, bringing together the Greek and Turkish Cypriots of Kontea, and was performed […]
On Monday June 8, 2015, my parents and I took my great-uncle Andreas to his birthplace, Agia Irini. Andreas was born in 1933 and had been a farmer since he was about 12 years old. He had meningitis, a complication of measles, as a child and since the age of 5 he has been deaf, and blind in one eye. […]
On 14 June 2015 I visited Morphou / Guzelyurt to meet with Ibrahim, a former history teacher, who grew up in Agia Irini, who would help me to make contact with Turkish Cypriot refugees from Polis Chrysochous, many of whom settled in Morphou/Guzelyurt after 1974. Ibrahim took us to one of his favourite cafes, which is patronised by academics and […]
On 9 June 2015 I visited Alaminos again to interview Giorgios, who was born in Alaminos in 1948 and moved to Australia in 1974, just one month before the war began. His friends joked that he must have had inside knowledge about what was going to happen and that’s why he left! His father was born and lived in the […]
On Sunday 7 June i visited my grandmother’s village of Polis Chrysochous. It was a lovely day spent with many family members. I interviewed one of them, my great-aunt Maria. Maria was born in Agia Irini and moved to Polis Chrysochous when she married my great-uncle Chrysanthos in 1949. Maria is still very sharp and remember fine details of her childhood […]
On Tuesday June 2, 2015 I revisited Alaminos. The mayor – Aristos – had arranged three interview participants for me. The first was a couple (Aristos’ parents), Despina and Panayiotis. I had met Despina a week earlier, she is such a warm woman who makes you feel instantly comfortable in her presence. Panayiotis initially seemed like the more quiet of […]
On Monday June 1 2015 I visited Agia Irini (Akdeniz) for the second time this year. Again, my friend Erol had set up two interviews for me. Ibrahim joined me in Erol’s cafe, along with my parents, Erol and another villager. Everyone drank Cypriot coffee, except for me; I had dondurma (Turkish ice-cream) instead. It was delicious! Ibrahim spoke Cypriot […]
On Wednesday 27 May 2015 I visited Alaminos, a village in the South of Cyprus, which spans from the mountains to the sea. My father and I had met Aristos, the Mayor of Alaminos, in 2014, when I had explained my PhD research project to him and he had kindly agreed to help me. We met with Aristos again this year; […]
On Monday 25 May 2015 I arrived in my Pappou’s village, Agia Irini (Akdeniz). My friend Erol gave me and my research assistants (my parents) a warm welcome. He had arranged two elderly Turkish Cypriots for me to interview. The first was a man named Hüsayin. He was a beautiful and lively man; he and his wife Emine were incredibly […]
Stories of Friendship from Cyprus 
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