Sevgul Uludag
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Years ago, we sat down with Giorgos Genagritis at the Journalistic Village in Pervolia, Larnaca, to tell me about the “missing” Michalis Kokkinovoukos. We had found grandfather Kokkinovoukos who was “missing” from Contea, but not grandson Michalis. Michalis was a close friend of George Genagritis. We had managed to find the burial place of Konstantinos Kokkinovoukos (they called him “Tallantis”) with the help of one of our readers. He had been killed and buried in a well just outside Contea. His family did not bury his bones, but they are waiting for Michalis' bones to be found so that they can do the funeral together.
They were close friends
George's father was Apostolos and he was a farmer and his mother Margarita Hamnis was from Contea. Together they had five children, four boys and a girl. George's brother, Kyriakos Genagritis is the one I have known for years, Kyriakos is the backbone of the Journalistic Village. He was the one who arranged for his brother George to talk to me. George Genagritis told me the following about his close friend Michalis Kokkinovoukos:
*** Michalis' father was called Kyriakos, a shepherd, and his mother Eleni. Michalis had two brothers and a sister. We were the same age, in the same class in elementary school.
*** We were both members of EDON. First, we were members of PEOM which was the student organization of the secondary schools. Then we participated in the provincial committee of EDON. Together with Michalis we tried to organize the young people in Kontea, as well as the surrounding villages such as Lysi, Assia, Vatili.
*** When I finished high school, I went to the Higher Institute of Technology, so I did not go to the army that year. Michalis had gone to do his military service and when the coup took place, he was already a soldier for a year.
*** Between the first and second invasion he had taken leave and came and found me in the village. He had told me that he had been sent to Jiaos, 3-4 days before the second invasion. He was told not to return because he would be killed, but he said he did not want to leave the army.
*** I later found out that he was near Mia Milia and had invited his family the day before the second invasion. After this incident, he was “missing”. A woman from Voni had come after the second invasion and had a list of soldiers who had gone to her house to change into civilian clothes and had the name of Michalis Kokkinovoukos on that list. Thus he was “missing” from Voni… (This woman was Frosso Dimou from Voni – SU).
*** Michalis also wrote poems. Some of them were published in the school yearbook. He also participated in the cultural activities of the village.
Michalis Kokkinovoukkos, second from the right, with his friends at school.
Fotios Kouzoupis: His other close friend
When I published the story of George Genagritis in my pages in the newspaper Yeniduzen, about what he remembers about his “missing” friend Michalis Kokkinovoukos, Fotios Kouzoupis wrote to me and I asked him to share his memories: of 1970, we were classmates from the 4th grade of the Internship at the 1st High School of Famagusta (AGA). We graduated from the F2 department of the Minutes of AGA in June 1973. We were leftists and members of the student organization of PEOM and we had contacts and relations with EDON and AKEL. Student unionism was illegal and that is why it existed and everything was done in extreme secrecy. Nevertheless, as PEOMites we organized a bus trip for a small fee in Kandara where the members of PEOM and our friends took part “. We had correspondence with the Greek section of the Radio Moscow radio station where we asked for and dedicated Greek songs. In our high school, there was a strong group of people on the Left who supported Makarios and were against anything nationalistic or chauvinistic. In fact, there were 4-5 husky and so the Far Right could not impose its positions. All this in the period 70-73, where there was an intense confrontation between Grivikas and Makariaki. There were many tensions in the AGA at that time and the Police were called several times to bring order and calm. Michalakis came and went to his village in Kontea every day by bus. Nevertheless, when we had student mobilizations, they took an active part and were always there until the end and together with the organizers.
Michalis Kokkinovoukkos
I was serving in the 201st Infantry Division in Famagusta when the fascist coup of EOKA B took place and the traitorous coup officers, officers and hoplites in the National Guard arrested me at the beginning of the coup. Ten other people were arrested along with me. But a friend brushed through my personal glass the photos I had inside and kept them and gave them to me after the war when we met again.
In July 1973 we enlisted in KEN Karaolou to serve our military service. Michalakis after the first training of 40 days was transferred to 120 LVO and served in the PAO of 106 mm that are placed in military landers. When we left KEN I did not see Michalakis again. Official information states that the last time he was seen alive was after retreating to Voni on 15 August 1974.
Photo given to Fotios Kouzoupis by Michalis
Kokkinovoukos.
Of the 33 students in our department, 11 were girls and 22 were boys. Of the 22 boys, 9 with the beginning of the fascist military coup of EOKA B on 15/7/1974 were arrested and isolated inside their camps until the Turkish invasion. We also had a dead person (Sotos Hadjiprokopiou from Famagusta who was killed near KASA by an air raid on 7/22/1974 and is buried in the cemetery of Stavros in the enclosed Famagusta), 3 missing (Michalis Kokkinovoukos from Conteo, Achna [to be located and last seen in Trachonas on 7/22/1974] and Adonis Christoforou from Achna [who was located, identified and buried in Dasaki of Achna on August 21, 2018]) and some injured ( not seriously) “.
MY GARDEN
In my own garden
Whatever demand you will find.
You want lilies. There they are!
Blooming as it is
They scatter everywhere
A sweet smell.
Anemones
Their time is over
And they are about to dry out.
But as if they bloom again
The garden ornament will grow.
Roses, carnations
My garden has it all
Everything that is rare in the world exists
he definitely has it.
Kokkinovoukkos K. Michael
I WILL FORGET
To plant a tree I say,
the tree will sprout will take root,
for a century on earth will remain.
And when worms destroy me
remembrance to the descendants will provide for me.
But at the same time I think,
the tree will sprout, it will take root,
until when
One day dead too
on earth will remain
and timber to the world will provide.
And I think again
when the tree turned to ashes, as next is,
what in later generations will remind me
Of course, I will completely forget.
And I say, that in truth
this day will come.
that I will forget forever,
in life as much as I play a great role.
Kokkinovoukos K. Michael
THE HEATING
It is time to harvest. The time has come when our farmers will be rewarded for their efforts and toil.
But if they do not get the fruit in the warehouse, when do they not say that they had euphoria. From the moment they sow until the moment they reap, they have a thousand or two questions. It will rain this year, the earth will be fertile, we will finally be rewarded for our efforts. How much and how much they concern our poor farmers from sowing to harvest.
And now the harvest is approaching. Although they see that this year the fields are fertile, they still do not calm down, because they do not rule out the unexpected. A sudden storm or hail in the spring and their dreams take wings!
The last moment has come. With modern means the harvest becomes a game. The fields are filled with “combine harvesters” that replaced the scythes and other primitive types of harvesting. The fruit is automatically separated from the cane and arranged in the warehouse.
The farmer is quiet. He sees this year's harvest that was rich and thanks God who rewarded him for the efforts of an entire year.
All the question marks he had in the past disappear only now, when the fruit goes to the warehouse. And he is optimistic for the new year.
Kokkinovoukos Michael
