The Skylloura Area

This troubled area, not representative of the rural districts of the Nicosia Zone, was a demonstration of the dangers posed when central leadership collapsed and local leadership passed into the hands of violent extremists.



In 1963, Ayia Marina was predominantly Maronite (500) with a small Turkish Cypriot minority (70), Skylloura was a mixed village (500 Greek Cypriot and 300 Turkish Cypriot) and Ayios Vasilios, another mixed village of 500 Greek Cypriot and 120 Turkish Cypriot.



Ayia Marina was a very isolated village reached by a narrow track that climbed up an extremely steep slope.....the location offered clear views over the neighbouring villages

In December 1963 there was a significant loss of life in this area and all the Turkish Cypriots left their homes for more secure villages.

The Tripartite patrol reported that, "nothing had prepared them for the concentrated emnity of the Greek Cypriot community towards their Turkish Cypriot neighbours".

During a visit to Skylloura in early January 1964 they described how, "as we approached the Turkish Cypriot part of the village we heard shouts in Greek and saw a flock of scavengers take off from the houses like disturbed vultures".

Many of the Turkish Cypriot houses had been set on fire and the ransacking of others was nearly complete.........all three officers of the Tripartite patrol were greatly affected by this scene of destruction.

Ayios Vasilios is the location of the mass grave of twenty-one Turkish Cypriots that was exhumed in January 1964.
Red Cross officials verified that a number of victims appeared to have been tortured (Richard Patrick - Political Geography and the Cyprus Problem).

One possible explanation for the Ayios Vasilios killings was that the Greek Cypriots feared that the Nicosia-Myrtou road might come under Turkish Cypriot control. With the road from Nicosia-Kyrenia already under Turkish Cypriot control this would have seriously hindered Greek Cypriot road movements to the north.

It is now generally accepted that a proportion of the corpses came from earlier fighting in Nicosia and their bodies were stored in the hospital before being buried in Ayios Vasilios.

In May 2019 I visited the area and discovered that Ayia Marina (now Gürpınar ) is a Turkish army camp. We tried to visit the village but were politely turned away.



From the lower gate of the camp there is a wonderful view of the plain and the Kyrenia mountains.......Skylloura (now Yılmazköy) is within the green area of trees



A safe distance from the camp's gate one can look back up the hill towards the village



In the village of Skylloura (Yılmazköy) is the empty church of Archangel Michael. There is a much larger church on the outskirts of the village (abandoned since 1974 when the Greek Cypriot residents fled from the advancing Turkish army).
An interesting detail courtesy of Christophoros Christophorou:
My father was the priest of Skylloura from 1961. During the troubles around Christmas 1963 it was decided not to celebrate in the large church of the Virgin (Panagia Chryseleousa, the normal place where the mass was celebrated every Sunday). It was deemed too dangerous given its location.......isolated and in close proximity to the Turkish neighbourhood. So Christmas was celebrated in this small church of Archangel Michael.

One rather controversial subject is the mass grave of Turkish Cypriots at Ayios Vasileos (now Türkeli). Information boards in the occupied areas are still describing how unspeakable things were done to the bodies. The information in the 'Secret Report' concerning these actions came from a senior Greek Cypriot minister who delivered this deliberate piece of misinformation to show that harmonious relations between communities was impossible. The recipients of this information now realise that they were deceived and the actions described never happened.



The information panel in the Karaoğlanoğlu cemetery (near Kyrenia) inaccurately quotes the now discredited section from the "secret report" written by Commander Packard.
The actual details given to Commander Packard and the British High Commission by Polycarpos Georgadjis (Minister of the Interior) included the fact that the bodies were incinerated before being "seeded into arable farmland".
The description given in the above information panel excludes the incineration details and paints an even more grotesque picture of events that never occurred.

Ayios Vasileos (Türkeli) is now also a Turkish army camp.