Cyprus-Forum.com

[Oracle]

Deniz ...

Not only partition was on the agenda before "ENOSIS", but also rule of the whole island ...

Otherwise, what was the purpose of the Ottomans coming to Cyprus in the first place, and slaughtering the inhabitants?

In that is your answer ...

Partition or the whole island! .... those are the wishes of Turkey .... NOT mutual coexistence!

Actions speak louder than words .....

[zan]

The Bloody Co-existence of
Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots
(1963-1974)
George Nakratzas
Any nationalist expansionist policy can be carried out only by means of war. And the people have to be psychologically prepared for this by a propaganda device, which idealises their own acts and demonizes those of the enemy.
Greece has employed this device in the past, and continues to do so today, one typical exponent being the new Archbishop of Athens, Christodoulos, who has publicly, in the presence of the President of the Hellenic Republic, referred to the Turks as 'the eastern barbarians'.
It's a well-known fact that the Turks treated the Greek minority in Istanbul with great barbarity in 1955; and it is equally well known that dozens, if not hundreds, of Greek Cypriot captives were executed in Cyprus in 1974. Rauf Denktash has publicly admitted it.
But what the young people of Greece have no idea of is that Turkish Cypriots were murdered by the parastatal groups run by Sampson, Yeorgadzis, and Lyssaridis between 1963 and 1967. It should be borne in mind that at that time the Cypriot government was responsible for safeguarding the life, the honour, and the property of all Cypriot citizens, irrespective of national or religious identity.
A somewhat more detailed analysis of the Greek and foreign literature on the events in Cyprus in this period may fill the gap in young modern Greeks' knowledge.
The invasion of Cyprus by the Turkish army in 1974 resulted in the partition of the island into two zones, a northern zone populated by Turkish Cypriots and Turkish settlers and a southern zone populated by Greek Cypriots. Since then, the Cypriot government has steadfastly demanded the withdrawal of the Turkish occupation forces so that Cyprus may be restored to its former status. However, a study of the relations between the two communities between 1963 and 1967 may tell us something about the quality of their 'peaceful co-existence'.
Regarding the Greek Cypriots' supposed intention to live in peace and equality with the Turkish Cypriots, an extract from a speech by Archbishop Makarios in the village of Panayia is particularly telling. It is quoted by Rustem and Brother, according to whom, on 4 September 1962, Makarios said: Until this small Turkish community, forming a part of the Turkish race, which has been the terrible enemy of Hellenism, is expelled, the duty of the heroes of EOKA can never be considered as terminated. (1, p. 47)
A letter from Denktash protesting about the Panayia speech was never answered.
Fourteen months later, on 30 November 1963, Makarios submitted his famous thirteen-point amendment of the Constitution, in direct contravention, as he himself publicly admitted, of the Geneva Convention (2, p. 56). The Geneva Convention ruled out any unilateral change to the Cypriot Constitution, as also any partition of the island or unification with Greece. It should be borne in mind that even today the Republic of Cyprus derives its legitimacy from the Geneva Convention.
Makarios's proposed changes would have meant that the Turkish Vice-President would lose his right of veto and would be elected not by the Turkish Cypriots but by the parliamentary majority, i.e. the Greek Cypriots. These two articles, together with another nine similar ones, would have lost the Turkish Cypriots the rights which the Cypriot Constitution had guaranteed them until then.
The Cypriot mass media presented the Turkish Cypriots' refusal to accept this unilateral amendment of the Constitution as 'Turkish insubordination to the state', which was quite untrue, because, as we have seen, from a legal point of view it was not the Turkish Cypriots, but Makarios who had made a unilateral, arbitrary attempt to violate the Constitution.
General Karayannis, Commander of the Cypriot National Guard,
confirmed that it was not the Turks who initiated the so-called insubordination in an interview in Ethnikos Kirix on 15 June 1965:
When the Turks objected to the amendment of the Constitution, Archbishop Makarios put his plan into effect and the Greek attack began in December 1963. (3, p. 87)
That Makarios had a premeditated plan to exterminate the Turks is also indirectly confirmed by the Communist Party of Cyprus, which published the following critique of the Archbishop in issue No. 57 of its organ Neos Dimokratis in July 1979: Armed by Makarios, Mr Lyssaridis . . . formed his own armed bands, which, in 1963-4, together with those of Yeorgadzis and Sampson, waged a 'liberation struggle' against the Turkish Cypriots and as a result brought us the Green Line and, eventually, Attila. (2, p. 67)
That the sole purpose of the so-called liberation struggle was to force the Turkish Cypriots to yield to Makarios's unilateral amendment of the Constitution is also officially revealed by an article in the Cypriot newspaper Haravyi, which was published on the second day of the clashes, 22 December 1963: And since it is accepted that the tension is the result of the climate created by the Zurich and London agreements and the undemocratic terms of the Constitution,... the Turkish government,. . . which is inflaming the tempers of our fanatical compatriots, and the Turkish Cypriot leadership must reconsider their negative attitude and approach the President of the Republic's proposals in a constructive manner. (2, p. 73)
The Greek Cypriot assault on the Turkish Cypriots started
on 21 December 1963, when Greek Cypriot police officers shot and killed a Turkish Cypriot couple in the Turkish sector of Nicosia while attempting to carry out a spot check.
The most serious attack was the assault on Omorfita, a suburb of Nicosia inhabited by 5,000 Turkish Cypriots. The Greek Cypriot parastatals were headed by Nikos Sampson, whom the Greek Cypriot press henceforth dubbed 'the conqueror of Omorfita'. The material damage wreaked by Sampson's parastatals in Omorfita is described in the UN Secretary General's report No. S/5950 to the Security Council, which states that 50 houses were totally destroyed and 240 partially destroyed (4, para. 180). As for the human losses, 4,500 Turkish Cypriots managed to flee to the Turkish sector of Nicosia and 500 were captured and taken to Kykkos School in Nicosia, where they were held with 150 Turkish Cypriots from the village of Kumsal.
On Christmas day, 150 of the 700 or so captives were selected and dragged away, and the sound of shooting followed.
Gibbons reports that an English teacher at Kykkos School told the High Commission that she had seen the results of the shooting; whereupon, for security reasons, the British administration put her on the first plane to London, because she was the only eye witness to what_ha3J§ppened (5, p. 139). As for the 150 captives, the Greek Cypriot authorities told their families for many years that they should regard them as missing. Other major assaults by the Greek Cypriots near Nicosia targeted the villages of Mathiati, Ayos Vassilios, and Kumsal. In Kumsal, the Greek Cypriot parastatals executed 150 people in cold blood.
The most apalling photograph, which went round the world, showed three small children and their mother lying dead in a pool of blood in the bath in their home. These unfortunates were the family of Major Ilhan, an officer in the Turkish expeditionary force in Nicosia (3, p. 95).
In the surgical clinic in Nicosia Hospital, the Greek Cypriots dragged from their beds twenty-two Turkish Cypriot convalescents, all trace of whom vanished for ever (3, 91).
Government and parastatal armed forces continued their attacks on the Turkish Cypriots over the next four months. One notable incident, which almost provoked a Greek-Turkish war, took place at Famagusta, where, on 11 May 1964, three Greek officers and a Greek Cypriot policeman took their car into the Turkish sector, possibly intending to make a display of power. A Turkish Cypriot policeman attempted to obstruct them, there was an exchange of fire, and in the end two of the Greek officers, the Greek Cypriot policeman, and a passing Turkish Cypriot lay dead. Two days later, the Greek Cypriots abducted thirty-two Turkish Cypriots, who were never seen again. The abduction is confirmed by the UN Secretary General's report No. S/5764 (6, para. 93).
Lastly, on 9 August 1964, there was the attack on the Turkish Cypriot enclave of Kokkina-Mansoura, where the Turkish air force ended the hostilities by dropping napalm bombs.
The UN Secretary General's report No. S/5950, para. 142, tells us that, during the period of the hostilities — from 21 December 1963 to 8 June 1964 — 43 Greek Cypriots and 232 Turkish Cypriots disappeared and have been officially posted as missing ever since. The missing Turkish Cypriots include the 150 hostages from Kykkos School in Nicosia and the 32 abductees from Famagusta.
The Cypriot media constantly show pictures of Greek Cypriot women holding photographs of their nearest and dearest and seeking information about their whereabouts; yet the Greek media have never shown similar pictures of Turkish Cypriot women seeking information about their own lost relations.
The termination of the Cypriot government's assaults on the Turkish Cypriots led to the creation of Turkish Cypriot enclaves, where the Turkish Cypriot refugees lived in wretched conditions for no less than eleven years. According to Kranidiotis, in Unfortified State: Cyprus 1960-74 (in Greek):
…these enclaves occupied 4.86 per cent of Cypriot territory Seeing that the Greek Cypriot armed bands were unable to assert themselves over the Turks,... on 26 December, Makarios was obliged to accept the Green Line. . . . Six large Turkish enclaves were formed,. . . which corresponded to 4.86 per cent of the territory of Cyprus. (2, p. 75)
From 1964 to 1967, owing to the restrictive measures imposed by the Greek Cypriot government, the day-to-day efforts of the confined Turkish Cypriots consisted exclusively in a struggle for survival. Apart from imposing an economic embargo on the enclaves, the Makarios administration also banned the supply of strategic commodities, such as cement, tractors, men's socks, and wollen clothing.
The imposition of the military dictatorship in Greece in 1967 heralded fresh problems for Cyprus. On 15 November 1967, Greek and Greek Cypriot forces armed with cannon, machine-guns, and bazookas attacked the lightly armed Turkish Cypriots in the villages of Ayos Theodoros and Kofinou in the Larnaca area. As the defences crumbled, the Greek Cypriots killed twenty-seven Turkish Cypriots (3, p. 139).
The incident brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war, which was avoided only when the illicit Greek division and General Grivas were recalled from Cyprus.
The slaughter and looting at Kofinou were confirmed in the Greek parliament on 21 February 1986 by Andreas Papandreou, who spoke, inter alia, of the 'great provocation of 15 November 1967,' and added that the operation had been 'ordered by the Supreme Command of the Greek Armed Forces [and] killing and looting took place' (2, p. 33).
The military junta brought its political career to an end in 1974 with the invasion of Cyprus and an attempt on Makarios's life. We shall not discuss subsequent events here, because both warring sides perpetrated crimes against humanity during that period.
Even now, both the Greek and the Turkish propaganda do their best to convince us that such acts of barbarity were commited exclusively by the other side. But this sort of propaganda is mainly intended for domestic consumption.
What needs noting is that a war was fought between two nations in 1974, and it is usually the case in any war situation that criminal elements seize the opportunity to legitimise acts that would land them in prison in peace time. The reason why the blame lies so heavily on the Greek Cypriot side is the fact that, between 1963 and 1967, the Cypriot government was exclusively responsible for any acts committed by Greek Cypriot government or parastatal armed forces. During the forthcoming talks on the island's entry into the European Union, the Republic of Cyprus will have two questions to answer.
Since the Cypriot government refuses
1) either to recognise the Turkish Cypriot state
or
2) to countenance a loose Greek-Turkish Cypriot confederation.
Which of the two remaining solutions has it in mind"?
1) That the Turkish Cypriots should return to the villages in which they were living before 1963?
or
2) That the Turkish Cypriots should return to the enclaves in which they were confined for eleven years?
Literatur
1. Rustem, and Brother,. (1998) : Excerpta Cypria For Today
Edited by Andrew Faulds MP , Lefkosha-lstanbul-London
The Friends of North Cyprus Parliamentary Group
The House of Commons, London SW1, ISBN 9963-565-09-3
2. To Kypriako ke ta diethnistika kathikonta ellinokiprion epanastaton. 2nd Edition, Ekdosis “Erghatiki Dimokratia”, May 1989, Athens.
3. Oberling, P., (1982) : The Road to Bellapais, Social Science Monographs, Boulder
Distributed by Columbia University Press, New York, ISBN 88033-0000-7
4. Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Counsil on the United Nations
operation in Cyprus , Document S/5950, 10 September 1964.
5. Gibbons, H, S., (1997): The Genocide Files
Charles Bravos, Publishers, London , ISBN 0-9514464-2-8
6. Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Counsil on the United Nations
operation in Cyprus , Document S/5764, 15 Juni 1964.

Denktas and Kucuk asked for calm when they realised that the aim of the GCs was to have the UN recognise the GCs as the legitimate government of Cyprus and that would allow Makarios to dissolve the Zurich agreement so that he could then follow the dream of ENOSIS. When the calm that Kucuk asked for was achieved, new attacks to provoke was instigated by Makarios and the UN was tricked into accepting the fait accompli of a Greek Cyprus.

[denizaksulu]

Deniz ...

Not only partition was on the agenda before "ENOSIS", but also rule of the whole island ...

Otherwise, what was the purpose of the Ottomans coming to Cyprus in the first place, and slaughtering the inhabitants?

In that is your answer ...

Partition or the whole island! .... those are the wishes of Turkey .... NOT mutual coexistence!

Actions speak louder than words .....

Phoenix, sometimes you talk utter rubbish. If what you say was true, there would not have been a single orthodox left on the island. Carry on spreading your venom by making false allegations.

Oh yes and the Ottomans came to Cyprus to partition the island. Bravo. A very good observation. They made the island theirs, what was the need for Partition woman. You indeed have crazy ideas. You do not know what you are saying. No wonder everybody ignores you, except Paliometoxo. You better stick to 'life in Cyprus' and nothing else, and ofcourse poetry.

[Oracle]

Deniz ...

Not only partition was on the agenda before "ENOSIS", but also rule of the whole island ...

Otherwise, what was the purpose of the Ottomans coming to Cyprus in the first place, and slaughtering the inhabitants?

In that is your answer ...

Partition or the whole island! .... those are the wishes of Turkey .... NOT mutual coexistence!

Actions speak louder than words .....

]Phoenix, sometimes you talk utter rubbish. If what you say was true, there would not have been a single orthodox left on the island. Carry on spreading your venom by making false allegations.

Why should slaughtering all the natives be a prerequisite to ruling the island? ... especially once the true worth of the natives was discovered.

Oh yes and the Ottomans came to Cyprus to partition the island. Bravo. A very good observation. They made the island theirs, what was the need for Partition woman.

Deniz ... I said the "whole" island if you care to read my post above.

You indeed have crazy ideas. You do not know what you are saying. No wonder everybody ignores you, except Paliometoxo. You better stick to 'life in Cyprus' and nothing else, and ofcourse poetry.

Ok .... a signal that you have nothing more to say .....

[Oracle]

Denktas and Kucuk asked for calm when they realised that the aim of the GCs was to have the UN recognise the GCs as the legitimate government of Cyprus and that would allow Makarios to dissolve the Zurich agreement so that he could then follow the dream of ENOSIS. When the calm that Kucuk asked for was achieved, new attacks to provoke was instigated by Makarios and the UN was tricked into accepting the fait accompli of a Greek Cyprus.

... the only "fait accompli" ... was your desire to partition the island ... by whatever means foul or fair, at your disposal.

Why are you still harping on about our meagre attempts to prevent this "fait accompli" of the TCs? Do you now question our right to defend ourselves?

They were obviously not enough, you won, you destroyed our island ... you have everything your hearts' desired (for now).

[Nikitas]

"The Greek Cypriot assault on the Turkish Cypriots started
on 21 December 1963, when Greek Cypriot police officers shot and killed a Turkish Cypriot couple in the Turkish sector of Nicosia while attempting to carry out a spot check. "

If I recall correctly a police officer was also shot dead in that incident. A detail which some might consider relevant and significant butconveniently ommitted in this obviously objective account.

[denizaksulu]

"The Greek Cypriot assault on the Turkish Cypriots started
on 21 December 1963, when Greek Cypriot police officers shot and killed a Turkish Cypriot couple in the Turkish sector of Nicosia while attempting to carry out a spot check. "

If I recall correctly a police officer was also shot dead in that incident. A detail which some might consider relevant and significant butconveniently ommitted in this obviously objective account.

That was a bad ommision Nikitas, I agree.

Do you know of the second shooting incident? I was present there at the time. I would be interested to see the GC version of this as I remember it from the first event leading up to it.

[repulsewarrior]

...what is important to remember today is that extremism wins with the island divided. It is what the extremists, (and the interlocutors) desired, as they still do today, that much we have proof of from history. Tolerance, liberty, and fraternity are the losers if this argument succeeds with our isolation from each other. This is the fight of good against evil we are talking about. It has very little to do with "Greeks" and "Turks".

[zan]

Deniz ...

Not only partition was on the agenda before "ENOSIS", but also rule of the whole island ...

Otherwise, what was the purpose of the Ottomans coming to Cyprus in the first place, and slaughtering the inhabitants?

In that is your answer ...

Partition or the whole island! .... those are the wishes of Turkey .... NOT mutual coexistence!

Actions speak louder than words .....

Hahahahahaaaa!!!! First the Megali idea and then....

Enosis Rumour and Turkish Reaction
19 April 1881
The British Prime Minister, Gladstone, informed those Greek Cypriots who advocated union with Greece -Enosis, that "while H.M. Government leniently desired the happiness of Cyprus they must remind the inhabitants that the island is held by England under the convention with the Porte -Ottoman Government, as a part of the Ottoman Empire and that proposals which would be a violation of that convention can not be discussed".

First Enosis Memorial and Turkish Objection
29 August 1881
The Greek Cypriot Archbishop, Bishop and the Greek representatives of 6 districts sent a pancprian memorial to the Colonial Secretary, Lord Kimberley, saying that "they considered it a secret duty to report the wishes of the people of Cyprus -meaning the Greek Cypriots, who declared recently that their only desire is union with mother country Greece."
December 1881
The Turkish Cypriot leaders visited the British High Comissioner and informed him of their objection to the proportional representation, demanded by the Greeks, because the two communities were always represented equally in such Ottoman institutions and reminded the British Authorities that even in provinces where the Christians were in a minority they had equal representation in local councils.

First Constitutional Changes Favouring Greeks
10 March 1882
The British Government decided to change the constitution in order to meet the Greek Cypriot demand for proportional representation which was based on the 1881 census.

25 March 1882
The Mufti of Cyprus, Esseid Ahmet Asim Efendi, sent a telegraph to Lord Kimberley complaining that, "By this arrangement our ancient and present privileges shall be trodden under foot. We reject most positively the proposed system."

28 June 1882
Lord Carnarvon, speaking in the British House of Lords, stated that the Turkish claim to have equal representation was justified. He maintained that by disturbing this equality, the 1882 constitution would create deep differences between the two communities.

29 January 1893
A Turkish Cypriot deputation headed by the Mufti visited Sir Walter Sendall, the then British High Commissioner and protested the Greek claims for the cession of the island to Greece. Turkish Cypriot community were content with the existing administration as long as Cyprus remained an integral part of the Ottoman Empire.

Enosis Agitation and Greek Aggression
22 April 1895
Mufti Ali Rifki and other Turkish Cypriot leaders visited the High Commissioner and complained about the Greek agitation for enosis and anti-Turkish campaign.

1895
In almost every town the Greek Cypriots were provoked by the mainland Greeks who were settled in Cyprus such as Frankudi, Katalyanos and Zannetos and particularly by the Greek consul Philemon to organize enosis meetings and raise the Greek flag on every occasion. The Turkish Cypriots resented the Greek agitation and demanded the return of the island to Turkey.

9 May 1899
The Commissioner of Limassol reported to the Chief Secretary that the Greek Consul, Philemon, used the occasion of sports festivities at Limassol for Hellenic propaganda. The Commissioner expressed his opinion that the Turkish population stood firm in the face of the Greek agitation and behaved with great sense and moderation. He recalled that Cyprus was still part of the Ottoman Empire, ruled by Britain, and the vast majority of those Greeks addressed by the Greek Consul were subjects of the Turkish Empire.

Hellenic Propaganda in Greek Schools
1902
Canon F.D. Newham, the inspector of schools reported that in the Greek elementary schools the teachers were engaged in Hellenic propaganda. "A song book consists of material intended to inflame Greek patriotism and songs against the Turks. In practice, whenever I ask to hear children sing, it is a war song."
"FORWARD, FOLLOW THE DRUM THAT LEADS US AGAINST THE TURKS"

Agitators Trained in Athens
20 FEBRUARY 1901
The Cyprus High Commissioner Sir W.F. Haynes Smith reported that, "The agitators are mostly Athens-trained professional people such as doctors, advocates and teachers. They return to the island imbued with Hellenic propaganda... they have been bred up in the history of the success of agitation applied to the 'Ionian Islands' and may have seen the success of organised agitation and violence in Crete."

Return It To Turkey
22 June 1902
Representatives of Turkish Cypriots of Paphos district send a telegram to the Colonial Office saying that "Should the island be handed over to an uncivilized and unjust government the evil methods of the Cypriot Greek, which are known to you, will increase and the catastrophe of the Muslim -Turks, is ensued certain... should you deem it necessary to hand over Cyprus to another nation we pray it may be returned to Turkey whose right is indisputable."
PRO Document: CO 883/6

Similar telegrams were sent to London also by the Turkish Cypriot leaders of other towns.

Greek Insults and Attacks
1912
The Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912 and the defeat of the Turks in Tripoli caused excitement and joy among the Greek Cypriot community On 27 May 1912 Turkish Cypriots who were travelling to Limassol from Malya village in two buses were attacked by Greeks. The Greeks insulted the Turks in the buses, threw stones and bottles at them and started beating them with sticks. They repeated their attacks on Turkish parts of the town, stormed the mosques, beat the Turks in shops and at the fair, stabbed a Turkish hair-dresser -barber, to death in his shop, destroyed, plundered and ransacked Turkish properties and wildly shouted the slogan "Long live Greece... Long live Enosis..."

The British authorities, had to call for reinforcements from Egypt to help to maintain the law and order.

Unilateral Annexation
5 NOVEMBER 1914
An Order in Council was published on 5th of November 1914 declaring the annexation of Cyprus, still an Ottoman Empire territory, to Great Britain, thus unilaterally violating the terms of the Convention of 1878, by which only the administration of Cyprus was handed to England.

Conditional Offer To Greece
16 OCTOBER 1915
Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, in an emergency meeting of the Cabinet managed to have the decision of offering Cyprus to Greece made on condition that Greece should join the war helping the Serbs who were attacked by Bulgaria.

27 OCTOBER 1915
The Greek government headed by Zaimis and the King were not willing to renounce Greece's neutrality and join the war. Thus the offer was not accepted. Therefore the British offer to hand over Cyprus to Greece lapsed and the British parliament was accordingly informed on 27 October 1915.


What I would like you to do now Oracle, is to provide the proof, for all to see, that partition was there long before or even marginally before ENOSIS or the Megali idea, which is one and the same...Proof please.

[DT.]

people who are talking about the megali idea and enosis in 2008 should be forced to listen to 24 hours of Kenny G.

Add that to the next plan re Christofkia.