Lives of the First World War

We are told in the book 'Samovar on the Table: A family memoir" by Lana der Parthogh that over 1500 White Russian refugees arrived in Cyprus in March 1920. She says "When the ships landed in Famagusta, the Russians were placed in a camp for former World War I prisoners-of-war." This is the same camp that Samuel Cooke died in on 1st June 1920. The former Turkish POW camp at Karaolos, today renamed Karakol Mahallesi, is about 2km northwest of the Old City of Famagusta. Of the Turkish POWs; some elected to stay in Cyprus on release whilst others were repatriated to Turkey in two groups which departed in February 1920 - the month before the White Russians arrived. The British administration provided the White Russians with some 20 permanent structures within this camp and some of these buildings still remain (2012) in the vicinity of Gulseren Education Battalion military camp (a Turkish military facility which is out of bounds to civilians) and adjacent current (2018) UNFICYP camp.

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