The dramatic story of the Asia Minor refugee Anastasis Tosunoglou from Alaya in Asia Minor
The importance of historical recording was highlighted at the first official screening of the historical documentary “Memory of a Sweet Motherland” by Stavros Papageorgiou, which took place on Monday evening 17/6/2024 at the University of Cyprus Ceremonial Hall in Nicosia, under the auspices of the Embassy of Greece in Cyprus.
The event, which was organized by the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus, the Association of Asia Minor Refugees of Cyprus and the Cultural Organisation AEI Audiovisual Forum, and was attended by the Archbishop of Cyprus Georgios and a representative of the Ambassador of Greece in Cyprus, Ioannis Papameletiou.
The documentary “Memory of a Sweet Motherland” narrates the dramatic story of the Asia Minor refugee Anastasis Tosunoglou from Alanya in Asia Minor, outlining the history of the Greek-born Asia Minor refugees who made Cyprus their new home.
The Dean of the School of Philosophy of the University of Cyprus and Associate Professor of Modern History, Petros Papapolyviou, in his speech, congratulated Stavros Papageorgiou, adding that “he is responsible for the introduction of the historical documentary film in the high schools of Cyprus through the film workshops of the Educational Action CINeDUCATION, which he and his team have been organizing with such enthusiasm for seven years”.
Mona Savvidou Theodoulou, President of the Association of Asia Minor Refugees in Cyprus, in her greeting, said that Stavros Papageorgiou’s lens captures the presence of second generation Asia Minor people, the adventure of their lives and the lives of their ancestors as well as the preservation of memory through the preservation of their relics.
“The documentary is the culmination, the synthesis of many of the components of the archive of the Association for Asia Minor Hellenism,” she added. “We are looking forward to the other episodes on the relationship between Alanya and Cyprus, the arrival of the Arabic ship under the French flag “Twefik el Bari” in Larnaca, which brought refugees from Alanya in September 1922, as well as many other unique information that preserves the ethos, religiosity, dignity and spiritual fortitude of the people who were our ancestors”, Theodoulou noted.
On her part, Vicky Michaelidou, representative of the Alaya Association of Nea Ionia, said in her greeting “that the Greek Cypriots keep the same or even more vivid memory even from the motherland itself, which has opened its huge arms to our tortured ancestors”.
Referring to the so-called “lost motherland”, Ms Michaelidou said that they “are alive in our own consciousness, in every aspect of our daily life”. “Our association, from its foundation in 1945 until today, has carried out important work with actions that honor our ancestors, culminating in the act of twinning of the municipalities of Alagia and Nea Ionia”, Ms Michaelidou stressed, adding that with the documentary by Stavros Papageorgiou, it is contributing to research on the triptych “Alagia – Cyprus – Nea Ionia”. History is taught and remains unchanged forever, it has no borders, she concluded.
The President of the Cinema Advisory Committee of the Deputy Ministry of Culture
Dr. Elena Christodoulidou, presented the documentary and the overall work of Stavros Papageorgiou. Referring to some of the director’s most important films, Ms Christodoulidou noted that “they constitute an important legacy in our cultural life and in the collective memory of our country”.
Speaking about the historical documentary “Memory of a Sweet Homeland”, Ms Christodoulidou referred to “a documentary about a painful but at the same time infinitely rich in narratives chapter of our history”. She also mentioned that the Association of Asia Minor Refugees of Cyprus through its actions managed to collect valuable information, which became the yeast for the documentary, which – as she said – “screams the timelessness of human suffering but also the power for survival”.
In conclusion, Ms Christodoulidou expressed pride in the contribution of the Cinema Advisory Committee “to the implementation of a project that will be a source of information for the public, a manual and study aid for historical researchers, but also a lesson in the human need for survival and prosperity”.
The creator and director of the documentary, Stavros Papageorgiou, referred to the memories he has of his uncle, Anastasis Tosounoglou, who came to Cyprus as a refugee from Alaia in 1922 and worked in Nicosia as a water merchant, as well as the process of creating the documentary, noting that he took the decision to produce the film in 2017.
Mr. Papageorgiou then noted that the stories of the Asia Minor people of Cyprus “is a field that is still being traced and discovered and we need to record it and give it to researchers and new generations to study it and go deeper”. Through the testimonies he collected, he said, he managed, in a magical way, to get to know his uncle, Anastasis Tosunoglou better, whom he described as a generous man.
For his part, the journalist-researcher Chrysanthos Chrysanthou referred to the “unquenchable and contagious enthusiasm” of Stavros Papageorgiou, which extends to the special publication they are preparing together, which will focus on the lives of the members of Anastasis Tosunoglou’s family, with the help of the Anastasis and Efrosini Tosunoglou Foundation.
After referring to the “shockingly adventurous life” of Anastasis Tosunoglou, Dr Chrysanthou said that “in the publication we are preparing we are trying to unite the threads of the lives of other people who were uprooted from Asia Minor and rescued through Cyprus”, noting that many testimonies were recorded and a huge amount of documents were collected. “Homelands are only lost under the dust of oblivion, they are only considered lost when we forget them,” he stressed.
Subsequently, the documentary “Memory of a Sweet Motherland” was screened, documenting the journey of Anastasis Tosunoglou, a refugee from Alaya in Asia Minor, and the hardships he and other Asia Minor refugees faced when they were uprooted from their motherland.
The documentary is accompanied by testimonies from the descendants of these refugees, while also referring to the rescue of the Greeks of Alanya by American and Greek ships in 1922, in Greece, and the difficulties they faced when they settled in their new homeland. Furthermore, the documentary records the actions of the Church of Cyprus in providing relief to the Asia Minor refugees who arrived on the island, as well as the crucial role of the Bishop of Kition at the time, Nicodemos Mylonas, in the rescue of refugees from Alaya.
Furthermore, it was mentioned that the British colonial administration did not allow 5000 Asia Minor refugees to land in Cyprus, following a “policy of excessive rigidity”.
