WHAT DOES CHRISTMAS MEAN TO YOU , A TIME OF GOODWILL TO ALL MEN, A TIME TO SPEND WITH YOUR FAMILY AND A JOYFULL TIME FOR ALL CHILDREN THIS IS WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANT TO ME . UNTILL CHRISTMAS 1963 IN CYPRUS.

On Christmas Eve, 1963, there were 120 Turks living in the mixed hamlet of Ayios Vasiliosstraddling the road between Nicosia and Myrtou in the Northwest. Some time that evening, cars and trucks drove into the village From the direction of Nicosia. Armed men poured out of the Vehicles. They had a brief discussion at the coffee shop at one end Of the village, then they moved purposefully towards the Turkish Quarter. Shots rang out, rifle butts smashed against locked doors, people Were dragged into the streets.A 70-yr-old Turk was awakened by the sounds of his front door Splintering. Tottering out of his bedroom, he found several young Armed men inside the house. "Have you any children," they asked. Bewildered, he replied, "Yes." "Send them outside," he was ordered. His two sons, 19 and 17 years old, and his granddaughter, aged 10 hastily dressed and followed the gunmen outside. They were lined up outside the cottage wall. The gunmen, Without another word, coolly machine-gunned them to death. In another house, a 13-yr-old boy had his hands tied behind his Knees and was thrown on the floor. While the house was being Ransacked, his captors kicked and abused him. Then a pistol was Placed at the back of his head and he was shot. Altogether, 12 Turks were massacred that evening in Ayios Vasilios. The others were rounded up and kicked and punched along the Highway to Skylloura, a few miles further in the direction of Myrtou, to seek refuge with Turks there. In night attire and bare Feet, they stumbled along in the cold, the Greeks shooting after Them in the darkness. Then the gunmen turned their attention to the Turkish houses. They looted and destroyed and finally, exhausted, they set the Houses on fire. The Greek inhabitants of the village, roused by the Noise, stood watching the orgy of destruction. None protested. After the gunmen had gone, they rushed to the Turkish houses And began to loot the remaining possessions of their neighbours Before the flames took too firm a hold. In isolated farmhouses in the same region, nine more Turks Were murdered. When the Turks of Skylloura saw the flames of Ayios Vasilios, They sent their women and children across the fields to Phota and Krini in the north. As the Vasilios refugees arrived, they too were taken north. By Midnight, Skylloura was also evacuated. Left behind were the Turkish houses, their possessions and their Greek neighbours. The Long, ragged lines plodded wearily north, seeking safety, sanctuary, Respite from this terrifying savagery that had descended on them, Stumbling along in the darkness of the cruel, cold, Christmas morn.

At the same time, over 150 armed Greeks descended on the Turkish Suburb of Kumsal, Northwest of the Nicosia walls near the Turkish village of Ortakoy which straddled the road to Kyrenia. That evening, Hasan Yusuf Gudum, an elderly Turkish Landlord was visiting one of his clients in Kumsal.With him was his wife, Ferideh, his neighbour Mrs. Ayshe Mora with her one-year-old daughter, Ishin, and her married sister, Novber.

They were paying a call on the family of Major Nihat Ilhan, the Chief medical officer with the mainland Turkish army contingent. The major was on duty that "night with his unit. His wife, Muruvvet, was with their three children, Murat, Kutsi and Hakan, aged seven Four and six months. The nine were having supper in the dining room when one of the Greek private armies, augmented by workers from the Severis flour Mill whom had - willingly or under coercion - joined their ranks, Crossed the dry Pedieos riverbed. The conversation around the dining table cut off abruptly when Bullets began to spatter the outside walls, sounding like heavy rain.

The group rose hurriedly, the women dragging the children and Gudum ushered them to the back part of the house.They all, four women", four children and Bathroom and closed the door. The landlord's wife suddenly Changed her mind, left the Bathroom and went into the separate toilet where she locked herself.

Mrs. Ilhan, the major's wife, stepped into the bath, and holding Her baby stood facing the door, her other two children clinging onto her legs.

The two other Woman and Cudum crawled terrified into the Corners beside the door. Mrs. Ayshe Mora held her baby close. There was a crash as the front door burst open and a continuous roar as machine-gun bullets Spewed through the house. Footsteps came to the locked bathroom, an unknown hand Impatiently rattled the knob, and a voice called in Greek, ` "How would you like Enosis" Then a hail of bullets tore through the wood and Mrs. llhall and Her children, caught directly in its path, were lifted off their feet and Dumped on to the bottom of the bath. The killers smashed the door lock and jumped inside. One of The major's children moaned and was scolded into permanent Silence by a short peremptory burst. Then the raiders saw the others Huddled on the floor. They played their guns on them like impatient Children forced to water the garden flowers. The three Turks were All wounded some seriously. A bullet struck the foot of the baby Ishin. The locked door of the toilet drew the gunmen's attention to The landlord's wife. The door was beaten in by machine-gun butts And the woman was dragged out whimpering. A pistol was placed To her head, one shot was fired, and she slumped to the floor, dead. The killers whooping and jeering, charged through the house, Machine-gunning cupboards, smashing furniture, slipping and Sliding on the dark red blood that crept out of the bathroom. lshin Mora, the baby, survived, and after several operations her Foot was saved. Today, aged 35, lshin is married with a young son. She owns the supermarket Can (pronounced Jan) Kan on Shakespeare Avenue in Nicosia. Her limp reminds her of the Atrocity she was too young to understand.