Turkish journalist Selim Esen has confirmed the authenticity of a photograph showing the blindfolded “giant” Greek Cypriot prisoner of 1974, the Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network, CIReN, reported.
Esen, who worked at the time as a correspondent for the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, TRT, in Cyprus, told CIReN that he has the original version of the photograph.
The image has circulated on social media in recent weeks, prompting comments and discussion about the fate of thousands of people missing since the war, as well as questions over whether the photograph was authentic.
The first version of the photo was shared on May 4 by researcher Odysseas Christou, administrator of the Facebook group “1974 Eyewitness Accounts and Evidence”.
According to the report, CIReN contacted Esen, a former TRT journalist who is now 83.
Esen told CIReN that the person on the right in civilian clothes was him.
He said the civilian standing next to the blindfolded man on the left was, as far as he remembered, a member of TMT.
Esen said the photograph was taken in Mia Milia on August 14, 1974, the day the second operation began, by either his cameraman friend Vedat Gurez or Sonat Konor, who had travelled with him to Cyprus. At the time, he said, he was working as a journalist for TRT’s news centre.
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Researcher identifies 1974 captive in haunting photo