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{{short description|Violence between ethnic communities in Cyprus}} | |||
{{Infobox Military Conflict| | |||
image=| | |||
{{Infobox military conflict | |||
conflict= Cypriot Intercommunal Conflict| | |||
| title = Cypriot intercommunal violence | |||
partof=| | |||
| image = Nothing is gained without sacrifices and freedom without blood.jpg | |||
date= 17th Century - Ongoing as ]| | |||
| partof = ] | |||
| date = 1955–1974 | |||
casus = ]| | |||
| place = ], mainly in ] | |||
result= De facto partition of ]| | | |||
| result = ] | |||
combatant1=] <br> Aided by <br> ] ] | | |||
*] | |||
combatant2=] <br> Aided by <br>] ]| | |||
| combatant1 = {{flagicon|Greece|old}} '''Pro-] militias''' | |||
commander1=| | |||
* {{flagicon image|EOKA_flag.svg}} ] (Until 1960) | |||
commander2=| | |||
*] | |||
casualties1=| | |||
* ] (From 1971) | |||
casualties2=| | |||
'''Supported by:'''<br>{{flag|Greece|old}} | |||
| combatant2 = {{flagicon|Turkey}} '''Pro-] militias''' | |||
* ] (From 1958) | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
'''Supported by:'''<br>{{flag|Turkey}} | |||
| commander1 = {{flagicon image|EOKA_flag.svg}} ] (Until January 1974) <br>{{flagicon image|EOKA_flag.svg}} ] | |||
| commander2 = {{flagicon|Turkey}} ] <br>{{flagicon|Turkey}} ] | |||
| conflict = | |||
}} | }} | ||
Several distinct periods of '''Cypriot intercommunal violence''' involving the two main ethnic communities, ] and ], marked mid-20th century ]. These included the ] of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 ''de facto'' division of the island along the ] following the ]. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the ] has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful. | |||
The '''Cypriot Intercommunal Conflict''' refers to periods of inter-ethnic conflict between ] and ], the two major communities of the ] ]. | |||
== |
==Background== | ||
{{main|Cyprus under the Ottoman Empire}} | |||
], an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under ] in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century.{{sfn|James|2001|pp=3-5}} Christian Orthodox ] played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the ] with the employment of the ], which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.{{sfn|James|2001|pp=6}} | |||
The ] of Cyprus brought about radical changes in the demographics of the island. A new ethnic element appeared, the ]. The population of Cyprus, overwhelmingly ] at the time had now a new ruler the Ottomans. | |||
=== |
===''Enosis'' and ''taksim''=== | ||
The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for ''enosis'', union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or ].<ref name=Encarta>" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028030425/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761578820_6/Cyprus.html |date=2009-10-28 }}," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007. 2009-10-31.</ref> EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander ], systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for '']'' (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see ]) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with ]. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then ''taksim'', the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies.<ref>Sachenko, Daria (2012). The Making of Informal States: Statebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria. Palgrave Macmillan. {{ISBN|9780230392069}}</ref> The fact that the Turks were a minority<ref></ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Camp|first1=Glen D.|title=Greek-Turkish Conflict over Cyprus|journal=Political Science Quarterly|date=1980|volume=95|issue=1|pages=43–70|doi=10.2307/2149584|jstor=2149584}}</ref> was, according to ], to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by ] ], the then ], that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.<ref>Copeaux, Etienne, Aedelsa TUR. Taksim Chypre divisee. {{ISBN|2-915033-07-2}}</ref> | |||
Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/Kucuk-1954.htm |title=cyprus-conflict.net |access-date=2007-11-12 |archive-date=2007-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204105542/http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/Kucuk-1954.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to '']'' partition of the island.{{citation needed|date=June 2014}} This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. ] in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.<ref>Dr. Fazil Küçük, 1957. The Cyprus Question: A permanent solution.</ref> | |||
Following the conquest of the island the ] gave ''timars''--land grants--to its soldiers under the condition that they and their families would stay permanently on the island. An action of far-reaching importance because the predefined soldiers became the nucleus of the island's Turkish community. During the ] the Turkish population grew rapidly, mostly by forced conversion argudably by ]. In addition, many Greeks and ]s on the island, in order to escape heavy taxation converted to ]. | |||
The ] community which dates millennia back on the island of Cyprus, endured multiple conquerors. Their call for ] was always silenced by their rulers. | |||
=== Causes of intercommunal violence === | |||
In ], Greeks rebelled against the ] in the ]. The overwhelming majority of Cypriots being Greeks supported the ] effort leading to severe reprisals by the ] in Cyprus. With the Sultan's consent, the Ottoman administration in the island under governor Kuchuk Mehmed, executed 486 Christians on ] 1821, accusing them of conspiring with the rebellious Greeks. They included four Bishops, many clergymen and prominent citizens, who were beheaded in the central square of ], while ] was hanged. The property of the Church was plundered and the Christians were forced to pull down the upper story’s of their houses, an order that remained in force until the British put the island under their control almost sixty years later. When ] became independent in ] Greek Cypriots sought and demanded the incorporation of Cyprus into Greece, but it remained part of the Ottoman Empire. | |||
Lindley Dan, from ], spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (''enosis'' for Greek Cypriots, ''taksim'' for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history.{{sfn|Lindley|2007|p=239}} Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.{{sfn|Yildizian|Ehteshami|2004|p=4}} | |||
== Crisis of 1955–1959 == | |||
"At a time when the Turkish Ottoman Empire was faced with the gravest of dangers from Russia and when as a result of an unfortunate war she was constrained to relinquish a few of her Eastern provinces to Russia, she was in dire need of the help of a powerful ally, and consequently transferred the administration of Cyprus to her ally Great Britain".”<ref> Quoted in Dr. Fazıl Küçük, "Voice of the People", published in Nicosia. </ref> | |||
{{main|Cyprus Emergency}} | |||
By the mid-1950s, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey.<ref>{{Cite web |last2=Hatay |last1=Bryant |first2=Mete |first1=Rebecca |date=January 2015 |title=Turkish Perceptions of Cyprus: 1948 to the Present |publisher=] Cyprus Centre |url=https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/zypern/13468.pdf |via=] |pages=7–18 }}</ref> In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hostage to History: Cyprus from the Ottomans to Kissinger |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim180100011 |access-date=2024-02-02 |website=The SHAFR Guide Online}}</ref> This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule. | |||
===Background: Cyprus as a British Colony=== | |||
{{main| Modern history of Cyprus}} | |||
When the British assumed office in 1879, they were presented with a ] from the ] and the ] community that remained the overwhelming majority on the island calling for ] (Greek for “union”), a term referring to the political union of Cyprus and the kingdom of Greece. The petition was denied. | |||
EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but ], the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots. | |||
Because the ] joined the Central Powers in ] (1914-1918), Britain nullified the 1878 treaty in November 1914 and annexed ]. The British government then offered Cyprus to Greece if Greece would agree to enter the war on the Allied side. Greece was given one week to decide. When the decision was delayed, the British withdrew the offer. | |||
In 1931 in demand for ] riots broke out in Cyprus due to resentment against the British administration. The British suppressed the riots, abolished the legislative council in Cyprus, and banned all political parties. | |||
However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the ] forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the ] was deployed in the streets.<ref name="French258">{{cite book|last1=French|first1=David|title=Fighting EOKA: The British Counter-Insurgency Campaign on Cyprus, 1955-1959|date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780191045592|pages=258–9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cmnuBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA258}}</ref> Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked.<ref name="Crawshaw, Nancy 1978" /> Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression.<ref name="French258" /> Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.<ref name="Crawshaw, Nancy 1978">Crawshaw, Nancy. The Cyprus revolt : an account of the struggle for union with Greece. London : Boston : G. Allen & Unwin, 1978. {{ISBN|0-04-940053-3}}</ref> | |||
At the end of the ] Britain came to realize that her European ] of ] was politically among the most backward of her colonial territories. The Legislative Council had not met since ] when for the second time the Greek members walked out, whereupon a crowd shouting for ] burnt the Colonial Government House to the ground. The Greek press was censored, Greek political parties forbidden, the flying of the Greek flag prohibited by law. In these circumstances the trade unions emerged as the principal element of opposition to the colonial establishment and the only one to cross communal lines. Shortly after World War II ended in 1945, ] demands for ] again stirred tensions in Cyprus. Britain rejected the demands, offering concessions on home rule, or self-government, instead. | |||
On 22 October 1957 ] replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both ''enosis'' and ''taksim''. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in ] on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan. | |||
The British Colonial rule of Cypriots had done nothing to encourage the emergence of a Cypriot nation, though to be sure the Greek and Turkish Cypriots alike displayed the marks of British law and administration. To a certain degree the two communities had been played off against each other. So long as there was a Legislative Council British Governors relied on the votes of the Turkish Cypriot members to block periodic bursts of Greek Cypriot political activism and silence the demands of the majority of the island. | |||
In 1957, ], a ] pro-] paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a ], the Tahtakale district of ], against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Emircan|first=Mehmet Salih|title=Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti'nde Tören, Bayram ve Anma Günleri|pages=80}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=T'NİN KURULUŞ TARİHİ HAKKINDA KKTC'DE YANLIŞ OLUŞAN KAMUSAL/TOPLUMSAL HAFIZA|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328269172|website=ResearchGate}}</ref> | |||
In 1948 the bishop of Citium of Cyprus, Mihail Mouskos, began to organize support for enosis through the Church of Cyprus to exclude communist influence and to restore the temporal power of the church. In January 1950 the British authorities refused his request for a referendum on enosis. Yet when the church hierarchy polled the Greek community, 95.7 percent favored union with Greece. | |||
By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming ] (later renamed to the ]) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Apeyitou|first1=Elena|title=Turkish-Cypriot nationalism: its history and development (1571–1960)|journal=The Cyprus Review|year=2010}} in {{cite book|editor1-last=Solomou|editor1-first=Emilios|editor2-last=Faustmann|editor2-first=Hubert|title=Colonial Cyprus: 1878–1960|date=2010|publisher=University of Nicosia Press|location=Nicosia|isbn=9789963634897}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Isachenko|first1=Daria|title=The Making of Informal States: Statebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria|date=2012|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9780230392069}}</ref> | |||
The British colonial administration however, insisted that it was impossible to discuss any change in the political status of the island due to its strategic location. In August 1954 ], which had previously avoided involvement in ] because of its alliance with ], unsuccessfully sought to have the question of Cyprus’s status brought before the ]. In the subsequent UN discussions, Turkey announced that it opposed a union of Cyprus with Greece and declared that if Britain withdrew from the island, Cyprus should revert to Turkey. | |||
In June 1958, the ], ], was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities.<ref name="Crawshaw, Nancy 1978"/> On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, ], admitted on British channel ] that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension.<ref>Arif Hasan Tahsin. "He Anodos Tou _Denktas Sten Koryphe". January, 2001. {{ISBN|9963-7738-6-9}}</ref><ref>'Denktash admits Turks initiated Cyprus intercommunal violence': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1tUGnWqw2M</ref> On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper ''Milliyet'' in Turkey.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://gazetearsivi.milliyet.com.tr/Ara.aspx?&ilkTar=09.01.1995&sonTar=10.01.1995&ekYayin=&drpSayfaNo=&araKelime=Rauf%20Denkta%C5%9F%201958%20haziran&gelismisKelimeAynen=&gelismisKelimeHerhangi=&gelismisKelimeYakin=&gelismisKelimeHaric=&Siralama=RANK%20DESC&SayfaAdet=20&isAdv=true |title=Denktaş'tan şok açıklama |language=tr |date=9 January 1995 |newspaper=]}}</ref> | |||
===In 1954 Turkey said it owns Cyprus=== | |||
<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: ] of ], two swords and the wolf ] of ]]] --> | |||
By ], the communal leader ], was voicing nationalist ideas, spurred perhaps by the growing demand for ] among ]. The following is from a column he wrote in his own newspaper, Voice of the People, published in Nicosia: | |||
“''The cause of ceding Cyprus to Britain is still continuing; the time to consider handing back Cyprus to its former owner therefore may not have arrived. But if Great Britain is going to consider this enosis question at all or is going to quit the island she has a legal as well as a moral duty to call Turkey and hand Cyprus back to Turkey, and ask the Turkish government to deal with the enosis problem which the tolerant and ill-advised British administration has fostered in the island. From a legal as well as moral point of view, Turkey, as the initial owner of the island just before the British occupation, has a first option to Cyprus. The matter does not end there. From a worldwide political point of view as well as from geographical and strategical points of view Cyprus must be handed to Turkey if Great Britain is going to quit''”. | |||
The strategical view of the Turkish Cypriot leader towards the overwhelming Greek populated island of Cyprus is evident by his above statement. ] is treated as lost Ottoman land, and the demands of its population becomes irrelevant. | |||
The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the ] on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of ].<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111115505/http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/communal_strife%20-%20%2758.html |date=January 11, 2016 }} The Guardian, London.</ref> | |||
==1955 Greek Cypriot anti Colonial warfare- EOKA== | |||
==Republic of Cyprus== | |||
The ] however never endorsed the ] nor viewed themselves as Turkish subjects. They demanded repeatedly ] and ultimately Union with Greece. Their requests for self determination being the majority of the island were rejected repeatedly by the British Colonial rule. The British response prompted an armed underground campaign against colonialism by a movement of Greek Cypriots known as the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or ]). | |||
After the ] campaign against British rule began, the ] began looking for a way to extricate Britain from the situation. To this end, the Eden ministry resolved to temper demands for ''enosis'' in Greece and Cyprus by encouraging the Turkish government of ] to publicly express their support for Turkish-Cypriot cause, which they estimated would ensure the issue would not reach the ].<ref>Anthony Eden, 2005. Memoirs, Full Circle, Cassell, London 1960, p.400.</ref> The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of ''enosis'', Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British ] and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".<ref>Arif Hasan Tahsin. "He Anodos Tou _Denktas Sten Koryphe". January, 2001. {{ISBN|9963-7738-6-9}} page 38</ref> | |||
] waged a guerrilla campaign against the British colonial administration demanding the right of self determination and ultimately union with Greece. The campaign was led by the Greek commander ] and systematically targeted British colonial authorities. | |||
<!--Removed as significance not established, see WP:DUE. Avrupa is also a speculative, unreliable source, a more reliable source could be preferable. Avrupa can then be used to add perspective if the claims are strong enough, but using Avrupa alone strongly violates WP:V, WP:POV. ''Avrupa'', a Turkish Cypriot newspaper, claimed that "Ahmet Muzuffer Gurkan was shot dead by a hit-man of the TMT organization. It says that the hit-man, H.C., (full name not given) served the TMT until 1974 as commander of a squad. It reports that H.C died in 1984 in a hospital in Famagusta from excess use of alcohol and cirrhosis. However, adds the paper, H.C during his last days in the hospital confessed the crime he had committed to a male nurse at the hospital". At the time ] had declared that ], the then Interior Minister of the Cyprus Republic, ordered the lawyer's killing.<ref></ref>--> | |||
As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that ''enosis'' was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop ], now set independence for the island as his primary objective.<ref>David Hannay, 2005. Cyprus the search for a solution. I.B Tauris, p.2</ref> | |||
Right after the ] campaign began British Colonialism was succesful in turning the Cyprus issue from a British Colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted back stage influence to ] government, so that Turkey becomes active in Cyprus. For the British the attempt had a twofold objective. On one hand the EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, on the other hand Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British Colonial claims over the island and the island would remain under the British. <ref>Anthony Eden, 2005. Memoirs, Full Circle, Cassell, London 1960, p.400.</ref> | |||
Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. ], respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The ] stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The ] allowed for two small ] and ] contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two military bases in ]. | |||
===Turkish tactical maneuver=== | |||
On 15 August 1960, the ] became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the ]. | |||
Turkey and Turkish Cypriot leadership claimed that Cyprus should be returned to Turkey. After the beginning of the ] anti colonial campaign however, Turkey implements a tactical change. | |||
The further development of the Turkish political goal ] are two memos of the Turkish law professor and politician ] to Turkish prime Minister ] government on 24th of November 1956 and 22nd of December 1956 that were endorsed. | |||
Erim stressed that Turkey could not continue to request that Cyprus as a lost Ottoman land be returned to her in case the British resign from power, because that demand could not be substantiated internationally. Instead he proposed that self determination rights of Cypriots be achieved separately for the two communities so that a part of Cyprus is at least ] to Turkey. | |||
The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them, since although they made up 77.1% of the island's population, had lived on the island for over 3,000 years, and paid 92.5% of Direct & Indirect and 94% of Income taxes, the new constitution allocated 30% of the public sector jobs and 40% of ] to Turkish Cypriots, who made up 18.2% of the island's population, who had lived on the island for just under 400 years, and paid 7.5% of Direct & Indirect and 5% of Income taxes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccha-ahdr.info./items/show/768 |title=Cyprus Critical History Archive: Reconsidering the culture of violence in Cyprus, 1955-64 | What Greeks and Turks contribute to the government revenue |publisher=Ccha-ahdr.info. |date=2012-08-06 |access-date=2017-03-29}}</ref> | |||
Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities exist and sidestepped her former claim that “the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects” . | |||
== Crisis of 1963–1964 == | |||
In doing so Turkey aimed that self determination of two to-be equal communities would in effect lead into de jure partition of the island ], justifiable to the international community against the will of the overwhelming population of the island, the Greeks. ] in ] had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.<ref>Dr. Fazil Küçük, 1957. The Cyprus Question: A permanent solution. </ref> | |||
<!--The above section header "Crisis of 1963–1964" is currently (April 2019) the target of a redirect, "Cyprus crisis of 1963–1964" and "Cyprus crisis of 1963-1964". Please check and update those redirects if you change the section header. --> | |||
===Proposed constitutional amendments and the Akritas plan=== | |||
] also supported that the demographics of the island of Cyprus should be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that the Greek Cypriots cease to be the majority. Both strategies are evident today, ] by ] and altering of the demographics by mass transfers of Turks to Cyprus. When Erim visited Cyprus, as the Turkish representative, he was advised by ] (the then Governor of Colonialism) that Turkey should send educated Turks as emigrants in Cyprus.<ref>Copeaux, Etienne, Aedelsa TUR. Taksim Chypre divisee. ISBN 2915033072</ref> | |||
{{main|13 Amendments proposed by Makarios III|Akritas plan}} | |||
Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position.<ref>{{cite web|last=Stephen|first=Michael|title=Cyprus: Two Nations in One Island|url=http://www.mediaprof.org/tcvoices/bowwhole.txt|access-date=9 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703214001/http://www.mediaprof.org/tcvoices/bowwhole.txt|archive-date=3 July 2007|format=TXT|year=1987}}</ref> Makarios proposed ], which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070217102905/http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html |date=2007-02-17 }}, ''The Main Narrative'', by Keith Kyle</ref> Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots. | |||
The British looked upon the idea of separate self determination favorably, because it was a way for the British administration to silence the claims of the overwhelming majority for Union with Greece and the visible threat of ending British colonialism on the island. “The Colonial Secretary, in presenting the Radcliffe Report to Parliament made the classic blunder of stating that if the time ever came at which it would be possible to grant self-determination it should be granted to both communities”. | |||
The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The ], written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister ], called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible."<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724222930/http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/akritas_plan.html |date=2008-07-24 }}, ''The Akritas Plan''</ref> Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards ''enosis'' had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to ''enosis''".<ref>David Hannay, 2005. Cyprus the search for a solution. I.B Tauris, p.3</ref> Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing ''taksim'' (partition) the best safeguard against ''enosis''. | |||
==Signs of Intercommunal conflict== | |||
''Turkish Cypriot minority sides with the British Colonial Authorities'' | |||
Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly. | |||
The British amid of the escalating violence and in search of means to quickly silence the guerrilla campaign, and justify colonialism internationally looked for internal allies. The Turkish Cypriot minority was ideal to be used as a means of silencing Greek claims for self determination and Union with Greece. The British soon conscripted Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus intermingled with British troops thus creating the first signs of intercommunal conflict on the island. It was inevitable that Turks as British policemen would get killed or injured during EOKAs guerrilla campaign. The death of Turkish Cypriot policemen were met with riots by the Turkish community similar to ], while British Colonialism remained passive. Greek stores and neighborhoods would be burnet and Greek civilians would be injured or killed. Such events would create chaos and bring the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey. <ref>Crawshaw, Nancy. The Cyprus revolt : an account of the struggle for union with Greece. London : Boston : G. Allen & Unwin, 1978. ISBN: 0049400533</ref> | |||
===Intercommunal violence=== | |||
However such events were beneficial to the British colonialism as they would justify internationally their rejection of the overwhelming majority’s demand, Union with Greece, based on “minority’s fierce opposition” a practice known as ] | |||
{{main|Bloody Christmas (1963)|Battle of Tillyria}} | |||
An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as ],<ref>{{cite book|author=Ali Carkoglu|title=Turkey and the European Union: Domestic Politics, Economic Integration and International Dynamics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-IIzJty4sYC&pg=PA67|access-date=17 August 2012|date=1 April 2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-7146-8335-5|page=67}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Salomon Ruysdael|title=New Trends in Turkish Foreign Affairs: Bridges and Boundaries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SmLPR0-a8tEC&pg=PA299|access-date=17 August 2012|date=1 September 2002|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-0-595-24494-2|pages=299–}}</ref> when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner.<ref>{{cite web|title=Her şey buradan başladı |url=http://www.havadiskibris.com/her-sey-buradan-basladi/|publisher=Havadis|access-date=28 March 2017|date=21 December 2014}}</ref> Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."<ref name=solsten>Eric Solsten, , US Library of Congress, retrieved on 25 May 2012.</ref> | |||
In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the ], without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and ]. A force of Greek Cypriot ] led by ] entered the Nicosia suburb of ] and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.<ref name="Borowiec 2000">{{cite book|author=Borowiec, Andrew|title=Cyprus: A Troubled Island|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hzEDg6-d80MC&pg=PA55|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780275965334|date=2000|pages=55–57}}</ref> | |||
On the 22nd of ] ] ] replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested a comprehensive plan for the settlement of the Cyprus problem. The plan was proposing 5 to 7 years of Self governance of the peoples of Cyprus before any final decision be made. The plan rejected both ] and ] of ]. The plan was presented in ] on 28th of January ]. For the first time the ] created anti-British demonstrations in ] on 27th and 28th of January ] rejecting the proposed plan because the plan rejected partition. | |||
The British army intervened against the demonstration killing seven demonstrators. These events forced the British to withdraw the plan before it was presented to the Greek Cypriots. | |||
Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "]". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.<ref name="Borowiec 2000" /> | |||
In ] ] the British prime Minister ] was expected to proposed a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development the Turks created fierce riots in Nicosia aiming to promote the idea that Greeks and Turks could not live together and therefore any plan that would promote that would not be viable, instead partition would be the only viable solution. On the 7th of june 1958 the Turks bombed the Turkish Press and Information office of the Turkish Embassy in ] and blamed the Greeks and accused the British that they do not take effective measures to protect the Turkish minority of Cyprus. Later on the Turkish ambassador in Cyprus Emin Dirvana mentioned the above in a Turkish Newspaper Milliet. <ref>Milliet 15.5.1964 H.D. Purcell, Cyprus. Ernest and Ben Ltd, London 1969 p. 312</ref> | |||
] has been the symbol of ],visible in TMTs emblem above; showing Pan Turkism ideology of TMT ]]] | |||
Turkish riots followed the bombing, with Greek Cypriots deaths and looting of Greek owned stores and houses through out Cyprus. So chaotic was the situation that Greeks and Turks started to evade mixed populated villages that the respective were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of segregation of the two communities. <ref>Crawshaw, Nancy. The Cyprus revolt : an account of the struggle for union with Greece. London : Boston : G. Allen & Unwin, 1978. ISBN: 0049400533</ref> | |||
In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence.<ref name=oberling120>{{cite book|first=Pierre|last=Oberling|title=The road to Bellapais: the Turkish Cypriot exodus to northern Cyprus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XIK6AAAAIAAJ|year=1982|isbn=978-0880330008|publisher=Social Science Monographs|page=120}}</ref> 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into ] and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.<ref name="O'NeillRees2005">{{cite book|author1=John Terence O'Neill|author2=Nicholas Rees|title=United Nations Peacekeeping in the Post-Cold War Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agjfb622gOIC&pg=RA1-PA81|year=2005|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-7146-8489-5|page=81}}</ref><ref name="securitycouncilreport.org"></ref><ref>{{cite web |title=REPORT BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ON THE UNITED NATIONS OPERATION IN CYPRUS |url=https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/wp-content/uploads/Cyprus%20S%205950.pdf |publisher=United Nations |access-date=17 December 2018 |date=10 September 1964 |quote=The trade of the Turkish community had considerably declined during the period, due to the existing situation, and unemployment reached a very high level as approximately 25,000 Turkish Cypriots had become refugees.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Risini |first1=Isabella |title=The Inter-State Application under the European Convention on Human Rights: Between Collective Enforcement of Human Rights and International Dispute Settlement |date=2018 |publisher=BRILL |page=117 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HGhjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA117|isbn=9789004357266 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Smit |first1=Anneke |title=The Property Rights of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: Beyond Restitution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NT1lTrxDR14C&pg=PA51|date=2012 |publisher=Routledge |page=51|isbn=9781136331435 }}</ref> | |||
By 1958 signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both signs, with Turkish Cypriots now forming Volkan, later known as the ] paramilitary group as a means of promoting partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menteres plan. ] would also target Turkish Cypriots and then blame the Greek Cypriots for the killing and also accuse the British Colonial rule that effective measures are not taken to protect the Turkish minority. | |||
Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to ''The Times'' in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes.<ref>The Times 04.01.1964</ref> The ''Daily Express'' wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes".<ref>Daily Express 28.12.1963</ref> The ''Guardian'' reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.<ref name="Stephen1997">{{cite book|author=Michael Stephen|title=The Cyprus Question|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJy6AAAAIAAJ|year=1997|publisher=British-Northern Cyprus Parliamentary Group|page=15}}</ref> | |||
==The Republic Of Cyprus== | |||
Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a ] (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President ], anxious to avoid a conflict between ] allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the ]. | |||
The ] campaign forced British Colonialism to end and discuss the future of ] with its people. On the 11th of february 1959 the Zurich agreements were signed. Eight months after the agreements, specifically on the 18th of October 1959 the Turkish ship Deniz was caught transferring weapons and ammunitions to the Turkish Cypriots on the island. According to testimonies of high ranking officers of TMT, five thousand Turkish Cypriots that had earlier being trained in Turkey secretly received weapons on different occasions before the ship was caught. TMT did not dissolve but was supplied with weapons. | |||
At 1 January 1964, Turks attacked a monastery massacring three unarmed Greek monks with shotguns and injuring additional four.<ref></ref> | |||
TMT has been accused by the ] of numerous acts of ] and the murders of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots . AVRUPA (Turkish Cypriot newspaper) reports that “Ahmet Muzuffer Gurkan was shot dead by a ``hit-man'' of the TMT organization. It says that the hit-man, H.C., (full name not given) served the TMT until 1974 as commander of a squad. It reports that H.C died in 1984 in a hospital in Famagusta from excess use of alcohol and cirrhosis. However, adds the paper, H.C during his last days in hospital confessed the crime he had committed to a male nurse at the hospital”. At the time ] had declared that ], the then Interior Minister of the Cyprus Republic ordered the lawyers killing. | |||
Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at ], provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease.<ref> | |||
As Turkish Cypriots began to look to ] for protection, it soon became apparent to Greek Cypriots that enosis was extremely unlikely, with Makarios's objective now turning to independence.<ref>David Hannay, 2005. Cyprus the search for a solution. I.B Tauris, p.2</ref> | |||
BBC On This Day. | |||
1964: Guns fall silent in Cyprus</ref> The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by ], a former ], and UN-appointed mediator ] had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces. | |||
The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, ], reported the damage during the conflicts: | |||
Britain thus resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cypriot state. In 1959 all involved parties signed the Zurich agreements: ], Turkey and Greece as well the natural Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. ] respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an important veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich accords were also supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that union or secession with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene should this be violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island whilst the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in ] and ]. | |||
:''UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting''.<ref name="securitycouncilreport.org"/> | |||
On August 15, 1960, the Republic of Cyprus was proclaimed. | |||
== |
== Crisis of 1967 == | ||
The situation worsened in 1967, when a ] overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve ''enosis''. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of ''enosis''. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} The ] and ] began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of ] and ], and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-07-20 |title=Κύπρος: Η τουρκική εισβολή |url=https://www.pemptousia.gr/2022/07/kipros-i-tourkiki-isvoli/ |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=Πεμπτουσία |language=el}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-11-20 |title=The 1967 crisis |url=https://unficyp.unmissions.org/1967-crisis |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=UNFICYP |language=en}}</ref> | |||
By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed.<ref>: Cyprus - Intercommunal Violence {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041108125029/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+cy0023%29 |date=8 November 2004 }}</ref> Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that ] be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1974-01-28 |title=Gen. George Grivas Dies; Led Cyprus Underground |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/28/archives/gen-george-grivas-dies-led-cyprus-underground-out-of-retirement-in.html |access-date=2023-04-16 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that ''enosis'' was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable." | |||
Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 that Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position.<ref>http://www.mediaprof.org/tcvoices/ukhist.html Stephen, Michael. 1987. "Cyprus: Two Nations in One Island." Bow Educational Briefing No.5. London. Pages 1-7</ref> Makarios went on to propose thirteen amendments to the constitution, which according to the historian Keith Kyle had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour.<ref>http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html</ref> Both Presidents would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots. | |||
==Greek Cypriot coup== | |||
The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The discovery of the Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Policarpos Yorgadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to lay the foundations for Cyprus’s union with Greece. The plan stipulated an organised attack on Turkish Cypriots should they show signs of resistance to the measures, stating “In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible.”<ref> http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/akritas_plan.html</ref> Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely dissapeared with independence, with Makarios going as far to describe independence as "a step on the road to enosis".<ref>David Hannay, 2005. Cyprus the search for a solution. I.B Tauris, p.3</ref> Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing ''taksim'' (partition) the best safeguard against enosis. | |||
{{main|1974 Cypriot coup d'état}} | |||
After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned ''enosis'' in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece. | |||
On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or ]), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for ''enosis'' under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} | |||
Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly. | |||
The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.<ref>Ioannou, G., n.d. The Normalisation of Cyprus' Partition Among Greek Cypriots. p.27.</ref> | |||
==Turkish invasion== | |||
{{main|Turkish invasion of Cyprus}} | |||
'''Turkish invasion and peace talks''' | |||
During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Treaty |url=http://www.kypros.org/Constitution/treaty.htm |access-date=2022-05-16 |website=www.kypros.org}}</ref> This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Camp |first=Glen D. |date=1980 |title=Greek-Turkish Conflict over Cyprus |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2149584 |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=95 |issue=1 |pages=43–70 |doi=10.2307/2149584 |jstor=2149584 |issn=0032-3195}}</ref> Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oberling |first=Pierre |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8911512 |title=The road to Bellapais : the Turkish Cypriot exodus to northern Cyprus |date=1982 |publisher=Social Science Monographs |isbn=0-88033-000-7 |location=Boulder |oclc=8911512}}</ref> Subsequently, the ] collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. ] was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a ] by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tocci |first=Nathalie |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/76800662 |title=The EU and conflict resolution : promoting peace in the backyard |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-41394-7 |location=London |oclc=76800662}}</ref> The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Resolution 367 |url=http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/doc/367 |access-date=2022-05-16 |website=unscr.com}}</ref> | |||
== Intercommunal violence == | |||
'''Aftermath''' | |||
On 21 December 1963, a Turkish Cypriot crowd clashed with the plainclothes special constables of Yorgadjis. Almost immediately an organised attack by Greek Cypriot paramilitaries was launched upon Turkish Cypriots in ] and ]. Though the TMT - now charged with defending the Turkish Cypriots - committed a number of acts of retaliation, Kyle notes “there is no doubt that the main victims of the numerous incidents that took place during the next few months were Turks”.<ref>http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html</ref> 700 Turkish hostages, including women and children, were taken from the northern suburbs of Nicosia. ] led a group of Greek Cypriot irregulars into the mixed suburb of Omorphita and massacred the Turkish Cypriot population indiscriminately.<ref> Andrew Borowiec, 2000. Cyprus: A troubled island. Praeger/Greenwood p.56</ref> By 1964, 193 Turkish Cypriots and 133 Greek Cypriots were killed, with a further 209 Turks and 41 Greeks missing, presumed dead. | |||
In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coufoudakis |first=Van |title=Cyprus the Referendum and its Aftermath |journal=The Cyprus Review |pages=67}}</ref> The 1983 declaration of the independent ] resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General ] in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start.<ref name="Moulakis 531–556">{{Cite journal |last=Moulakis |first=Athanasios |date=July 2007 |title=Power-sharing and its discontents: Dysfunctional constitutional arrangements and the failure of the Annan plan for a reunified Cyprus |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00263200701348854 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |language=en |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=531–556 |doi=10.1080/00263200701348854 |s2cid=145461086 |issn=0026-3206}}</ref> International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coufoudakis |first=Van |title=Cyprus the Referendum and its Aftermath |journal=The Cyprus Review |pages=68–72}}</ref> | |||
Approximately 20,000 Turkish Cypriots fled their homes and villages to live in enclaves, much of their villages and homes looted.<ref>http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html</ref> As Professor Clement Dodd notes, referring to the majority of the Turkish Cypriot population “They had, of necessity, to relocate themselves in about 3 per cent of the land they owned, estimated at about 34 per cent of Cyprus. Many left the country in those years to seek living in Britain, Australia and Turkey, and elsewhere, with active encouragement by Greek Cypriots.”<ref> Quoted in Andrew Borowiec, 2000. Cyprus: A troubled island. Praeger/Greenwood p.58</ref> Dodd's estimate would mean that about 118,000 people were crammed into a space of less than 95 square kilometres. | |||
Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the ] was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coufoudakis |first=Van |title=Cyprus the Referendum and its Aftermath |journal=The Cyprus Review |pages=70}}</ref> The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against.<ref name="Georgiades 573–586">{{Cite journal |last=Georgiades |first=Savvas Daniel |date=September 2007 |title=Public Attitudes Towards Peace: The Greek-Cypriot Position |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022343307080856 |journal=Journal of Peace Research |language=en |volume=44 |issue=5 |pages=573–586 |doi=10.1177/0022343307080856 |s2cid=73374351 |issn=0022-3433}}</ref> The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years.<ref name="Moulakis 531–556"/> Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 ] that could remain on the island.<ref name="Georgiades 573–586"/> These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Loizides |first=Neophytos |date=September 2011 |title=Contested migration and settler politics in Cyprus |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0962629811001405 |journal=Political Geography |language=en |volume=30 |issue=7 |pages=391–401 |doi=10.1016/j.polgeo.2011.08.004}}</ref> However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Coufoudakis |first=Van |title=Cyprus the Referendum and its Aftermath |journal=The Cyprus Review |pages=74–75}}</ref> Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.<ref name="Moulakis 531–556"/> | |||
Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets became visible over Nicosia, but were dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus (]) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot still persisted, particularly in Limmasol. Concerned at the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript based army entitled the National Guard. A general from Greece would take charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus.<ref>http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html</ref> Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President ], anxious to avoid a conflict between ] allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the ]. | |||
A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties. | |||
Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at ], providing them with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease.<ref>http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html</ref><ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/10/newsid_3037000/3037898.stm | |||
BBC On This Day. | |||
1964: Guns fall silent in Cyprus</ref> The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries ammasing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by ], a former Secretary of State, and UN appointed mediator ] had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard as well as the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organization of the Greek forces. | |||
==See also== | |||
The situation had worsensed in ], when a ] had overthrown the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship, nor in triggering a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup. Grivas escalated the conflict when his armed units began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot encalves of Ayios Theodhoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots. By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed<ref>http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+cy0023) Country Studies: Cyprus - Intercommunal Violence</ref>. Turkey replied with an ultimatum for Grivas to be removed from the island, along with the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance as well as lifting the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves. Grivas resigned his position and 12,000 Greek troops were duly withdrawn, with Makarios now attempting to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, as well as creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In ], acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."<ref>http://www.cyprus-conflict.net/www.cyprus-conflict.net/narrative-main-%203.html</ref> | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
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== References == | ||
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}} | |||
==Sources== | |||
After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an ‘attainable solution’, many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspirations for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece. Makarios was branded a traitor to the cause by Grivas and in 1971 made a clandestine return to the island. On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agonistan B or ]), drawing comparisons with the ] struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950's. The Junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle, and directed funds to Grivas to carry out a number of terrorist attacks as well as fund a propaganda campaign through the creation pro-enosis newspapers. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, with its officer class dominated by mainland by Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target. | |||
* {{cite book|last=James|first=Alan|title=Keeping the Peace in the Cyprus Crisis of 1963–64|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y2CIDAAAQBAJ|date=28 November 2001|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-1-4039-0089-0}} | |||
* {{cite journal | last=Lindley| first=Dan | title=Historical, Tactical, and Strategic Lessons from the Partition of Cyprus | journal=International Studies Perspectives | publisher=Oxford University Press (OUP) | volume=8 | issue=2 | year=2007 | issn=1528-3577 | doi=10.1111/j.1528-3585.2007.00282.x | pages=224–241 }} | |||
* {{cite web |last1=Yildizian |first1=Arax-Marie |last2=Ehteshami |first2=A. |year=2004 |title=Ethnic Conflict in Cyprus and the Contact Hypothesis: An Empirical Investigation |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228677594 }} | |||
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== Further reading == | ||
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*] | |||
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==External links== | ||
* An independent and comprehensive website dedicated to the Cyprus conflict, containing a detailed narrative as well as documents, reports and eye-witness accounts. |
* An independent and comprehensive website dedicated to the Cyprus conflict, containing a detailed narrative as well as documents, reports and eye-witness accounts. | ||
* Detailed information on Cyprus, covering the various phases of the Cyprus conflict. | * Detailed information on Cyprus, covering the various phases of the Cyprus conflict. | ||
{{Foreign relations of Northern Cyprus}} | |||
== Notes == | |||
{{Foreign relations of Cyprus}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 01:48, 10 January 2025
Violence between ethnic communities in CyprusCypriot intercommunal violence | |||||||
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Part of Cyprus problem | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Pro-enosis militias
Greece |
Pro-taksim militias
Turkey | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Georgios Grivas (Until January 1974) Nikos Sampson |
Daniş Karabelen Rauf Denktaş |
Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.
Background
Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.
Enosis and taksim
The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.
Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island. This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.
Causes of intercommunal violence
Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.
Crisis of 1955–1959
Main article: Cyprus EmergencyBy the mid-1950s, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.
EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.
However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.
On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.
In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.
By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.
In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.
The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.
Republic of Cyprus
After the EOKA campaign against British rule began, the Eden ministry began looking for a way to extricate Britain from the situation. To this end, the Eden ministry resolved to temper demands for enosis in Greece and Cyprus by encouraging the Turkish government of Adnan Menderes to publicly express their support for Turkish-Cypriot cause, which they estimated would ensure the issue would not reach the United Nations Security Council. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".
As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his primary objective.
Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two military bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.
The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them, since although they made up 77.1% of the island's population, had lived on the island for over 3,000 years, and paid 92.5% of Direct & Indirect and 94% of Income taxes, the new constitution allocated 30% of the public sector jobs and 40% of security force jobs to Turkish Cypriots, who made up 18.2% of the island's population, who had lived on the island for just under 400 years, and paid 7.5% of Direct & Indirect and 5% of Income taxes.
Crisis of 1963–1964
Proposed constitutional amendments and the Akritas plan
Main articles: 13 Amendments proposed by Makarios III and Akritas planWithin three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.
The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis". Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.
Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.
Intercommunal violence
Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of TillyriaAn armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."
In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.
Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.
In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.
Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.
Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.
At 1 January 1964, Turks attacked a monastery massacring three unarmed Greek monks with shotguns and injuring additional four.
Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:
- UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.
Crisis of 1967
The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup. The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.
By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Georgios Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."
Greek Cypriot coup
Main article: 1974 Cypriot coup d'étatAfter 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.
On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.
The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.
Turkish invasion
Main article: Turkish invasion of CyprusTurkish invasion and peace talks
During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.
Aftermath
In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.
Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.
A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.
See also
- Modern history of Cyprus
- Turkish Resistance Organisation
- Civilian casualties and displacements during the Cyprus conflict
References
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The trade of the Turkish community had considerably declined during the period, due to the existing situation, and unemployment reached a very high level as approximately 25,000 Turkish Cypriots had become refugees.
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Sources
- James, Alan (28 November 2001). Keeping the Peace in the Cyprus Crisis of 1963–64. Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-1-4039-0089-0.
- Lindley, Dan (2007). "Historical, Tactical, and Strategic Lessons from the Partition of Cyprus". International Studies Perspectives. 8 (2). Oxford University Press (OUP): 224–241. doi:10.1111/j.1528-3585.2007.00282.x. ISSN 1528-3577.
- Yildizian, Arax-Marie; Ehteshami, A. (2004). "Ethnic Conflict in Cyprus and the Contact Hypothesis: An Empirical Investigation".
Further reading
External links
- Cyprus-Conflict.net An independent and comprehensive website dedicated to the Cyprus conflict, containing a detailed narrative as well as documents, reports and eye-witness accounts.
- Library of Congress Cyprus Country Study Detailed information on Cyprus, covering the various phases of the Cyprus conflict.
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