After the Turkish propaganda lets now finally see some facts.
Genocide did happen in Cyprus, and that was committed by Turks against the Cypriots. When turks first invaded Cyprus, in one of their attacks alone, killed 20.000 people, a huge proportion of the Cyprus population at that time.
From the country studies of the USA Library of Congress:
In the summer of 1570, the Turks struck again, but this time with a full-scale invasion rather than a raid. About 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of Lala Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on July 2, 1570, and laid siege to Nicosia. In an orgy of victory on the day that the city fell--September 9, 1570--20,000 Nicosians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted.
According to Ottoman census in 1571 when they first invaded Cyprus the population of our island was 197.586. When the British took over 3 centuries later the population was only 186.173. Over those 3 centuries the population of Cyprus should have at least doubled, not reduced. However Cypriots where constantly killed and starved to death by the Turks, actions that can clearly classify as genocide.
Such mass murder did not happen again in Cyprus until the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 where within days the Turks have killed 1000s of Cypriots and ethnically cleansed 100s of thousands.
Now to the Turkish propaganda claims, some answers with facts:
It is a usual Turkish propaganda tactic that they commit the crimes and then not only they do not admit them, but by gross exaggerations and lies they are trying to put the blame on the other side in order to excuse further crimes against them. (The Armenian genocide is another example).
During the inter-communal conflict an about
equal amount of people had been killed from
both sides. So even if you want to classify the killing of a few 100s of people spread over a period of several years as genocide, then you would have to claim the same for the Greek Cypriots killed by the TCs during the exact same period. How can the killing of a few 100s of TCs constitute a genocide, while the killing of a few 100s of GCs during the exact same period and conflict not constitute a genocide?
Personally I believe that calling a conflict where the victims of each side where less that the people that die today in road accidents in Cyprus every year is a gross exaggeration, but if you want to do it then you can not use double standards and you have to claim it for both sides.
According to the demographic facts between 1960 and 1974 there was no demographic change in the population of Cyprus, something which clearly shows that there was no genocide during that period, and that any killings where "balanced" between both sides, and
not a genocide of one side against the other:
From a Council of Europe report:
According to the censuses which took place in Cyprus before the factual partition of the island, the Greek Cypriot community amounted to 447,901 (78,2%) in 1960, and to 498,511 (78,9%) in 19734. The Turkish Cypriot community numbered 103,822 (18,1%) people in 1960, and 116 000 (18,4%) in 1973. The total population of Cyprus was 572,707 in 1960 and 631,778 in 1973 (see Appendix 3, Table 1). An average rate of annual growth for both communities between 1960 and 1973 was similar and amounted to 0,8%. In consequence, the ethnic distribution of the population did not change between 1960 and 1974 and the proportion of each community remained stable.
http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/Worki ... OC9799.htm
So, is there anybody who would like to talk with facts, or you know your propaganda has no chance against the truth and you will resort to your usual name calling and empty slogans?
