Kumsal martyrs who were massacred during the Greek-Greek Cypriot attacks on 24th December 1963 in the Kumsal district of Lefko\u015fa were commemorated in front of the \u2018Monument of Kumsal Martyrs\u2019 at the Museum of Barbarism yesterday. President Ersin Tatar, Prime Minister Ersan Saner, other state and government officials as well as the military officials attended the ceremony.<\/p>\n
57th anniversary of the Kumsal Massacre\u2026That night from the eyes of witnesses\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n On 21st December 1963 Greek Cypriots, who swore to put the Akritas Plan into practice, started attacks which became known as the \u2018Bloody Christmas\u2019 and martyred many Turkish Cypriots all over the island. On the night of 24th December the massacre in a detached house in the Kumsal District of Lefko\u015fa has gone down in history as the most brutal attack.<\/p>\n On 24th December, 1963 at night time while Turkish Armed Forces Medical Officer Major Dr. Nihat \u0130lhan was with his regiment, his wife, three sons, their landlords Hasan Yusuf Gudum and his wife Feride Hasan Gudum and their neighbours Ay\u015fe Cankan, her daughter I\u015f\u0131l Cankan and Ay\u015fe Cankan\u2019s sister N\u00f6vber \u0130brahimo\u011flu were in the house in the Kumsal District.<\/p>\n That night, the people in that house were faced with a terrifying attack and three children and two women were mercilessly martyred. The surviving witnesses told what happened that night after 57 years to Turkish News Agency-Cyprus, which passed to history as the \u2018Kumsal Massacre\u2019 – Ay\u015fe Cankan, I\u015f\u0131l Cankan Altuncuo\u011flu and Memduh Erdal, who was the first person to enter the house after the massacre.<\/p>\n 5 martyrs, 4 veterans<\/strong><\/p>\n At around 7 o\u2019clock that night EOKA members attacked the Kumsal District at the command of a Greek officer. At first gunshots were heard from the west side of the Kanl\u0131dere Stream, then the voice of Hasan Yusuf Gudum shouting \u2018we are raided\u2019. People in the house ran to the bathroom, which they thought was the safest place. However, bullets were like rain on the house.<\/p>\n Armed Greeks kicked down the door and volleyed the house with gunfire. Following looking into the empty rooms they first shot at the bathroom door then inside the bathroom over and over. M\u00fcr\u00fcvvet \u0130lhan with her sons, six month old Hakan, 4 year old Kutsi and 6 year old Murat, were martyred in the bathtub. Feride Hasan Gudum who was in the toilet room right next to the bathroom was martyred with a shot to her head.<\/p>\n N\u00f6vber \u0130brahimo\u011flu who was trying to keep the bathroom door closed was badly injured in her hand and doctors had to amputate her hand at the wrist during her treatment. Two year old I\u015f\u0131l was shot in the knee and six bullets hit her mother Ay\u015fe Cankan, she was not able to walk because of the bullets in her both legs. Also Yusuf Gudum was injured.<\/p>\n Ay\u015fe Cankan: \u2018I was worried if no one found us, we would bleed to death\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Ay\u015fe Cankan, who was injured in that house but survived with her two year old daughter I\u015f\u0131l and sister N\u00f6vber spent nights with their neighbours because her husband was on duty as a Turkish Cypriot m\u00fccahid and she was afraid to stay in her own house.<\/p>\n Ay\u015fe Cankan, talked about that night where she was one of the victims:<\/p>\n \u2018On 24th December towards evening we went to M\u00fcr\u00fcvvet \u0130lhan\u2019s house. We prepared some food and ate together. The landlord Uncle Hasan was standing guard. We heard the gunshots. At first they shot at my brother-in-law\u2019s house but they could not find anyone there. They only destroyed the house.<\/p>\n When Uncle Hasan shouted \u2018we are raided\u2019, we were fully shocked. We ran into the bathroom. I fell down next to the sink. I\u015f\u0131l was two years old and she was in my arms. My sister tried to close the bathroom door and the bullet hit her hand. Doctors amputated her hand afterwards. Uncle Hasan was injured in his elbow but his wife Feride was martyred. 3-4 bullets hit my body and my leg was badly injured. A bullet hit I\u015f\u0131l\u2019s kneecap.<\/p>\n \u2018Mrs. M\u00fcr\u00fcvvet and her 3 sons looked like they were sleeping in the bathtub\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Mrs. M\u00fcr\u00fcvvet took her three sons and got into the bathtub. They were martyred there\u2026 we spent all night in the bathroom together, it seemed like they were sleeping. No one came that night, I have no idea how long we stayed there. I was worried if no one found us, we would bleed to death\u2019.<\/p>\n Ay\u015fe Cankan stated that Uncle Hasan and her sister N\u00f6vber, because they were able to walk, went out of the house and said: \u2018my sister N\u00f6vber looked for help while walking to the hospital and told the hospital that there were injured people seeking help\u2019.<\/p>\n Mrs. Ay\u015fe went to Ankara with her pyjamas on and came back to her country 4 years later<\/strong><\/p>\n Mrs. Ay\u015fe was half-stunned and stated that she could not remember when and who came to help. She only remembers that they were taken to a hospital and had the first treatment. They were then taken to Ankara with a special flight for patients and she recovered in Ankara.<\/p>\n \u2018I was upset that I\u015f\u0131l\u2019s leg will remain short\u2026\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the treatment in Ankara, I\u015f\u0131l did not get well and Mrs. Ay\u015fe went to London for I\u015f\u0131l\u2019s treatment.<\/p>\n They went to London by train from Ankara. Ay\u015fe Cankan said: \u2018We lived in London for nearly four years after 24th<\/sup> December 1963. I did not see my husband for almost four years. I was very upset that I\u015f\u0131l\u2019s leg will remain short but thank God we are alive\u2019.<\/p>\n She needed to escape from her neighbourhood during the ceremonies<\/strong><\/p>\n The Cankan Family continue their lives in the Kumsal District of Lefko\u015fa, close to the house where the massacre took place, which is today the Museum of Barbarism. Stating that she needed to escape from her neighbourhood during the ceremonies held at the Barbarism Museum every year to commemorate the Martyrs of Kumsal, Mrs.Ay\u015fe said that she was called to the Museum several times to tell about the incident and she had to enter the house, but she did not want to go inside unless she had to.<\/p>\n I\u015f\u0131l Cankan Altuncuo\u011flu: “All My Life Changed There”<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u015f\u0131l Cankan Altuncuo\u011flu, who does not remember what happened because she was 2 years old on December 24, 1963, said, \u201cI had to enter this house several times, but I do not prefer to do so. Even though I don’t remember what happened at that house, my whole life changed there.\u201d Mrs. I\u015f\u0131l who continues her life with a short leg due to the bullet which hit her leg in the Kumsal Massacre, sincerely shares the physical and emotional effects left on her that night:<\/p>\n “My childhood passed not playing, but always in Hospitals”<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI had a constant health problem. Children like to run, play, ride a bike, swing in the park. My childhood passed at hospitals with things that a child should not have in his\/her life, such as surgery, non-healing wounds, pain, crutches…<\/p>\n I am happy to be alive, but is it one hundred percent happiness? I wished I had not suffered this pain, I don’t remember the event but I had that feeling. I bear the traces. There are people who always want to chat about the subject. It seems like something is breaking away from my life every time\u2026 ”<\/p>\n Photos were placed inside the bandages of the wounded<\/strong><\/p>\n Mrs. I\u015f\u0131l tells the story of Mrs. M\u00fcr\u00fcvvet and her children’s dead bodies in the bathtub, and the memorable photograph of the Kumsal Massacre being delivered to Ankara: \u201cTMT Commander, Veteran Y\u0131lmaz Bora was also injured and went to Ankara on the same plane with us. Because he was injured in his chest, they had put the photographs inside the chest bandages. Even the bullets were taken to Ankara as evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n Memduh Erdal, Photographer of the Incident\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n The photograph, taken by Memduh Erdal, one of the members of the Turkish Resistance Organisation (TMT) who first entered the house after the attack, showing the lifeless bodies of the mother and her children in the bathtub, was effective in making the massacre echo in the world.<\/p>\n “First I saw booties in the corridor … I heard a woman’s voice saying ‘I have melted from the Bullets’. \u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Memduh Erdal describes the event he encountered and what happened when he arrived at the house, number 2 Kumsal Street: \u201cThe doors were closed, we broke into the house. The first thing I saw was the booties in the hallway. The children’s booties had fallen off\u2026 I went to the bathroom, pushed the door. I heard a woman\u2019s voice saying ‘I melted from the bullet’. I told her not to be afraid, that I was Turkish and that I came to help. We entered the bathroom, the photographer left the camera when he saw the scene and ran away. I took the photos, and collected the bullets on the floor. The children in the bathroom were wearing blue straight lined pyjamas. The woman was lying in a coat at the bottom. Her children were in her arms. The children’s eyes were open, staring at the ceiling. Blood flowed from the bath to the floor. Bullets and shells in blood … I took them one by one and put them in my pocket. The blue-eyed girl was shot in her leg. She was lying under the sink, and crying. I opened the other toilet door and the black-haired woman was on the floor covered in blood. She was shot and killed. I photographed them.<\/p>\n Major Nihat \u0130lhan received the bad news from shepherd H\u00fcseyin<\/strong><\/p>\n Major \u0130lhan talked about how he received the news of his family’s death at the meeting held in Ankara on 25 June 2007. Nihat \u0130lhan said that shepherd H\u00fcseyin brought the bad news to him and when he asked shepherd H\u00fcseyin whether he was taking milk and bread to his children, he answered, \u201cNo, I did not. Your children no longer eat bread or cheese. They are with God.”<\/p>\n Museum of Barbarism<\/strong><\/p>\n The house, number 2 in M\u00fcr\u00fcvvet \u0130lhan Street in the Kumsal District in Lefko\u015fa, which witnessed one of the most brutal massacres of not only Cyprus but also human history on 24 December 1963, today serves as the Museum of Barbarism.<\/p>\n The house, which was opened to visitors as the Museum of Barbarism on 1 January, 1966, displays articles published in the foreign press about the events between 1963 – 1964, photographs and personal belongings of those who were in the house on the day of the Kumsal Massacre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kumsal martyrs who were massacred during the Greek-Greek Cypriot attacks on 24th December 1963 in the [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pio.mfa.gov.ct.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}