Missing since June 1964, Major Macey’s case is still a `mystery' Buried in Konedra?

Sevgul Uludag

Major Ted Macey, a professional English soldier called `The Lone Wolf` was barely 46 years old when he went `missing` in Cyprus.

He had served in Greece during the Second World War, learning there to speak very good Turkish and Greek. He could also speak Italian and Spanish. After the Second World War, between 1947-1950 he had served as a liason between the Greek army and the British based in Selonica (Selanik). He had some medals from that time given by the Greek government. In 1956, Macey had become a major…

In 1964, he was serving in Cyprus as a liason between the United Nations and Dr. Fazil Küçük, the Vice-President of the Republic of Cyprus. There was another person serving as liason between Archbishop Makarios, the President of the Republic and the UN.

On the 11th of May, 1964, after the killing of the son of Pantelis, who was the chief of police of Famagusta, many Turkish Cypriots went missing… He had been given the task to search for the Turkish Cypriot missing – around 32 on that day but it would go up to around 70-80 in the following days – who were taken as prisoners and were thought that they were kept alive.

Many people liked Major Macey and many Turkish Cypriots remember him as someone who helped them in difficult times…

In February 1964, the two sides had taken some hostages… The small village called Gaziveran, next to Xero (Gemikonagi) had taken 75 Greek Cypriot hostages. The UN negotiated so that the hostages would be freed by both sides. General Young, in charge of the UNFICYP at the time, convinced Dr. Küçük to let the hostages go and convinced the Greek Cypriots to do the same. But there was a problem: There was no contact between Nicosia and Gaziveran. Ted Macey, volunteered to go on a mission to Gaziveran and convince them to let the hostages go. He would do that in the name of Dr. Küçük. This was a dangerous mission but he managed to have the hostages exchanged…

This was not the only case where Macey served on `dangerous missions`. He had served again in March 1964, during another hostage crisis in Paphos. Ulus Irkad, barely a child at the time, remembers him very well…

`I saw Major Macey on the 8th of March 1964… On the 7th of March, 1964 – it was a Saturday – hundreds of Greek Cypriots were taken as prisoners and brought to the Turkish section of Paphos called Mutallo. On that same day 7 Greek Cypriots were killed in the market. It smelled of a provocation, the whole event. Perhaps the main aim was to force Turkey to intervene, despite the UN Security Council decision of 4th of March, 1964…`

Greek Cypriots had retaliated, killing 14 Turkish Cypriot youngsters and fighting pushed Turkish Cypriots to their enclaves.

`I remember seeing Major Macey on the 8th of March 1964, in front of the coffee shop of Yusuf Dayi in Mutallo. He was in charge of the operation of freeing the Greek Cypriot hostages. I was barely 7 years old at the time. Macey was not only taking photos of the hostages but our photos as well. My father Huseyin Irkad, who was the only English teacher in the area was also there. Macey was speaking to us both in Turkish and English. I know that he knew my father from before since my father would serve as translator.

Later I remember Macey in our house – he was coming for lunch and he really liked the Cypriot style meat and potatoes in the oven. On one of those visits, he had brought us a hockey stick as a gift… At the time we did not know what hockey was but kept this gift until 1974… Macey liked kids and distributed sweets and chocolates to us. Maybe because of this, children of the area would call out `Hello, chocolate!` to all the British soldiers they saw afterwards!

I remember Macey helping to serve food rations to Paphos… When we heard that he was killed, it was like losing a member of our own family…`

Others from Famagusta area also remember Macey, helping to serve food rations to the walled city, during those days of conflict.

But such help brought about the reaction of the extreme nationalists… Some Greek Cypriot nationalist newspapers began a campaign against him, claiming that he was `spying` for Turkish Cypriots.

Major Ted Macey went to Galatya (Mehmetchik) looking for the missing Turkish Cypriots on the 7th of June 1964. He was there with his chauffeur Platt. He left the village at 15.15 and was never seen again…

Vartan Malyan, an Armenian Cypriot, was working at Dhkelia at the time… When one of his Turkish Cypriot friends went missing, he began searching for him. Malyan, a human rights activist for the last five decades, was also looking for Macey… He found a Greek Cypriot, who might have been involved in such acts. The guy said `If you give me 3 thousand pounds, I will bring you the uniform of Macey and will show you where he is buried…`

Malyan went back to the bases and informed the British officials of this. That there might be a lead to this. The British refused to give any money. Malyan thinks that this was a lost opportunity. The guy later showed him a burial site – a well – on the old Nicosia-Limassol road, claimed that this was a place where they had buried some Turkish Cypriots. `This guy who knew something about the Turkish Cypriot missing and about Macey, later moved to Australia…`

I wrote all of this in the newspaper Yeniduzen, publishing a detailed interview with Vartan Malyan, as well as memories of Ulus Irkad, about Major Macey… I found various websites with information about Macey and published the information in the paper in my long series called `Cyprus: The Untold Stories`… But there was nothing new coming…

Just as I was losing hope, one night, during a wedding, one of my cousins came up to me:

`I read what you wrote about Macey… Don’t you know that he is buried in Konedra?`

`What?!…`

`Don’t you know he was shot in the coffee shop in Konedra that day and he was buried on the side of the road going from Konedra to Tirmen?`

`What are you talking about?`

`But my dear cousin, everyone knows this, except you!`

`Tell me! Tell me!`

`They were sitting in the coffee shop. Major Macey was also there… There were around 20 people in the coffee shop. A shooting team of the Turkish Cypriot underground came and shot him in front of everyone. They buried him just outside Konedra, on the road to Tirmen… They also buried his car…`

`But why?`

`In those times they considered him a `spy`!`

`But some Greek Cypriots also considered him a `spy`!`

Members of three families from Konedra (Gonendere), a small village in the Messaoria, was involved in the killing and some of them are not alive today… When you speak to people from Konedra, they confirm that this incident was true but they are still afraid to speak up since some of the killers from the shooting team of the underground organization, as well as those who gave the order to kill are still alive today… Some

I call on the Cyprus Missing Persons Committee to make enquiries about what happened in Konedra and find out where Major Macey is buried… As far as I know from the websites created by Macey’s friends, his family was not given back his bones… After 42 years since the time Ted Macey is missing, doesn’t this country owe his family at least his bones, to be taken back to England and buried properly? Don’t we all need to know, what actually happened in the past?…

(*) Article published in the weekly CYPRUS TODAY on the 23rd of September, 2006