Stella’s Story

A First-Hand Account

While in Larnaca we stayed one night with Nicolas and his mother Stella. Before the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus, Stella and her family had moved to the U.K. because her husband had found work there. But in 1974 Stella had returned to her village of Rizokarpaso(in the north) with her four children because her mother had passed away; her husband had stayed behind to work in England.

When the Greek Cypriots of Rizocarpaso had learned that Turkish troops had entered the island and cut off the north from the south, they knew they could not escape to the south so they hid in the forest. Stella described the night as: “Terrifying…It was the most fearful night of my life. We did not sleep that night.”

The neighboring village of Galinoporni, populated by Turkish Cypriots were good friends of the Rizokarpaso residents. Stella said they were extremely close, like “brothers and sisters”. Her friends in Galinoporni spoke to the Turkish troops explained their relationship, asking the troops to leave the village alone. Stella credits her friend’s actions for their safety.

Moving forward, She would like to see Cyprus unified and she believes the Turkish Cypriot friends she remembers would want the same.

“We all want Cyprus to be unified so we can all go back to our homes and our land. Our families were farmers. We lived off this land and we want to go back to it.”