denizaksulu wrote:You have a vast resource of links on the Cyprus Issue. Do you have any regarding the 'Auxillary Police' issue? Like official British documents saying why these Cypriots were recruited. We know how they were used, as you keep on reminding us.
The dastardly british were the legal goverment at the time and were 'legally' able to recruit whoever they wanted. Is it true that a number of GCs also were recruited into the Auxillaries? I know some of the TCs were eliminated, did the same fate visit the GC Auxillaries.
You seem intent on using these people as an excuse/reason for hating the TCs whenever it suits you. The original Eoka might have had a noble cause if there sole aim was to rid Cyprus of its British yoke, but we know that was not the case. The eventual aim was Enosis. You perfectly well know that. Dont you?
I don’t like quoting independent GC, TC, or BC authors because they are prone to bias and I don't like the risk but for now ponder on these writings if you like while I gather
official UN info on the matter...
Emergencies and Disorder in the European Empires After 1945, Robert F. Holland wrote:p.189-190
In policing the emergency the ethnic balance of the security forces became a crucial issue, in political as well as practical terms. The combination of the EOKA campaign directed against Greek Cypriots in the police and the need to expand rapidly the police services to cope with the Emergency had a dramatic effect upon recruitment. By 1958 the size of the Cyprus Police Force had increased to 3,014 men, from a pre-emergency (1954) figure of 1,397 (see Table I). This increase was achieved by the secondment of over 600 British and colonial police officers and by the recruitment of more than 900 Turkish Cypriots. Over the same period the actual numbers of Greek Cypriots in the force increased only by 53. By 1958 Turkish Cypriots in the Cyprus Police therefore outnumbered Greek Cypriots by a ratio of 5 to 3 and only 30 per cent of the forces were Greek Cypriots as compared with 62 per cent in 1954.
p.190
The British were almost entirely dependent upon the support of the Turkish community to police the island from the summer of 1955. Even prior to 1955 the ethnic balance in the Cyprus Police had not accurately reflected that of the island as a whole. Although in 1954 less than 20 per cent of the Cypriot population were Turkish, 37 per cent of the Cyprus Police were drawn from the Turkish community.
p.191
The Auxiliary Police Unit, established one month later, each had a more significant anti- terrorist role. The principal function of the Auxiliary Police was to guard government buildings and take on escort duties, relieving the Cyprus Police of the many routine labours that Grivas had hoped the EOKA campaign would tie them to.” Virtually all the recruits were Turkish Cypriots, many being farmers who worked as Auxiliary Police only during the slack part of their agricultural year. They received no formal training and their quality was widely acknowledged to be very poor. Though considered essential during the emergency, the Police Commissioners urged that the force be disbanded at the earliest opportunity once civil order was restored. The Mobile Reserve Unit was a more professional body. Consisting entirely of Turkish recruits, but officered by Colonial Police with experience of disturbances in Palestine, Kenya and Malaya, it was initially formed to reduce the role of the army in policing urban disorder. Recruits were given specific training in riot control and the Unit was extensively used during the urban riots of late 1955 and 1956. During 1956 the Mobile Reserve was greatly expanded with two further units being recruited, these being used for cordon and search operations in Greek Cypriot villages, an activity that was entirely satisfactory from the security point of view but which engendered much resentment among Greek Cypriot villagers.
p.192
Taking all forces into consideration, the policing services consisted of 5,878 men by 1956 of whom more than 70 per cent were Turkish and fewer than 15 per cent were Greek. It has been argued that the recruitment of Turkish Cypriots represented a deliberate policy by the British to place them in the front line of the EOKA attack, but it is difficult to see what alternatives were open to Harding. However, the British were well aware of the vulnerability of Greek Cypriot police to the intimidation of EOKA, and following the capture of Grivas’ diaries and other EOKA documents in 1956 they knew of the explicit instructions issued by Grivas to avoid inflicting casualties upon Turkish members of the security forces
Cyprus: The Impact of Diverse Nationalism on a State by Halil Ibrahim Salih; University of Alabama Press, 1978 wrote:page 9
The Turkish Cypriots were opposed to the EOKA operations and joined British law-enforcing operations in attempts to crush the guerrilla movement.
At first, the objective of EOKA was to leave the Turkish Cypriots alone and to concentrate on the British; however, when the Turkish Cypriots joined hands with the British in hunting down the guerrillas, they also became targets. The Turkish Cypriots created their own underground organization, known as VOLKAN ("volcano"); and later it changed its name to Türk Müdafaa Teşkilati ("Turkish Resistance Organization") or TMT. TMT was able to organize a united front against the EOKA forces, but it never did become as organized or as disciplined as the groups under Grivas.
page 10
The TMT members did undergo some military training in Turkey, and money and arms were also supplied by the Turkish government. Under the leadership of Dr. Fazil Küçük, the Cypriot Turkish party was organized all over the island and among the Turkish Cypriots on the mainland. The conflict on the island was no longer between the British colonial government and the Cypriots but had shifted to a confrontation of the two major ethnic groups.
page 111
As the EOKA guerrilla warfare intensified against the British colonial administration in all parts of the island, the tension between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots escalated, and civil war seemed imminent. The Turkish Cypriots organized their own underground movement called Volkan (Volcano); later it was named the Türk Müdafaa Teşkilate (Turkish Resistance Movement) or TMT. The objective of TMT was to protect Turkish Cypriots and deter those who challenged the guidance of their leaders. The EOKA members were also antagonized by the willingness of certain Turkish Cypriots to assist the British forces in the interrogation of the captured guerrilla members and to join the sweeping operations in tracking down the terrorists. A number of Turkish Cypriots lost their lives in serving the British colonial government.
